Tonic-Clonic Seizure?

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A while ago (8 months), I had my first seizure. Before this, I never had any kind of medical problem. I got two concussions and 2 weeks after the second one is when my seizures began. I am pretty sure the first seizure I had was a tonic clonic seizure... Hours before the seizure, I was hallucinating. I saw catapillar buses and strange things like that. I also seemed to like the hallucinations. I remember smiling and wanting to interact with the hallucinations. When I got to school that morning, i told my friends about this...because i thought it was so cool! A while later, I started getting a bad headache. (Which wasnt uncommon for me. I was having severe headaches ever since the concussions) I didnt think much of it since it happened all the time. But my teacher thought differently and sent a student with me to call home. Well...in the hall, I stopped and made a strange noise then fell on the ground. -the strange part is I remember only part of the fall...but it was all like an out-of-body experience. The next thing I know the student that was with me was right beside me crying and there were teachers all around asking if I was alright. I, not knowing what happened, told them i was fine and I just fell...But they saw the seizure and asked if ive ever had an EEG. I was so confused. Why would I need an EEG? I dont even know what that is! I had several more seizures that day and ever since then. -Does this sound like a tonic clonic seizure? Most of my EEGs have been normal, but the prolonged ones come back with abnormal spikes. I have only lost bladder control once.

Comments

Re: Tonic-Clonic Seizure?

Submitted by JessicaGray on Tue, 2007-07-24 - 15:44

Hi there. I had my first tonic-clonic seizure on May 9th of this year. A tonic-clonic seizure is when all of your body convulses. You almost always lose consciousness. There are 3 phases in this type of seizure. In the first part, the Aura, you may feel lightheaded, dizzy, or even feel deja vu sensations. In the second phase, the Tonic phase, your whole body tenses up. You usually pull your arms up to your chest, bending your elbows. You may sometimes make a loud noise, like the one you made. This phase lasts only a few seconds usually. In the third and final Clonic phase, the person's muscles will start to contract and relax rapidly, causing convulsions. These may range from exaggerated twitches of the arms and legs to violent shaking or vibrating of the stiffened extremities. The person may roll and stretch as the seizure spreads. The eyes typically roll back, the tongue is often bitten, and incontinence is seen in some cases. Post-ictal sleep invariably follows a tonic-clonic seizure. Confusion and amnesia upon awakening is usually experienced. Hope this helps you. Good luck, and I hope you do not have epilepsy! -Jessica

Re: Re: Tonic-Clonic Seizure?

Submitted by Bee91 on Wed, 2007-07-25 - 20:59

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I usually only have complex partial seizures. But I didnt know if this was different or not..I guess it was...Thanks for all the info! But I have one more question..I had an aura, but it was a few hours before the seizure...Does that usually happen? Or maybe I had another seizure before that without knowing?

Hi Bee... Since everyone

Submitted by dtsecofr21 on Tue, 2007-09-04 - 09:14

Hi Bee... Since everyone with epilepsy/seizures have different auras, sensations, types, etc, anything is possible. Whatever it is that's causing your problems, it sounds like you're trying to get it resolved, so that a good thing. Certainly sounds like you had a tonic/clonic at school. My first hand knowledge, will tell you that the longest aura I've ever had was over an hour long (most are like 10 minutes); so I'm sure that your aura a few hours before is entirely possible. At least you seem to be recognizing auras; thats a good thing too. Are you on meds? I'm sure that you are aware that different meds work for dirrerent people and sometimes it takes a combo to help. I've had tonic/clonic and psychic seizures for over 30 years (due to a head injury) and they usually begin with a very sick feeling in my stomach which then becomes an "underwater" sensation of where everything becomes garbled; wish I had the caterpillar bus, that sounds more fun. ;-) My tonic/clonics are usualy bad enough to land me in the hospital because I usually have 2-3 at a time; luckily, I only experience about 1 episode per year. I have had psychic seizures on a daily basis which seemed to be in total remission for many years, but are now coming back on a much more regular basis. I haven't had any of the agressive behaior that can accompany them, but they do make me cry which can be embarrassing in meetings at work. Luckily my co-workers are very understanding. So don't be worried about what your true friends think; most likely, they'll help you when you need it. I currently take 3 different meds which seem to keep things under control for the most part (keppra, lamictal, klonopin) so I am very thankful for that. The bottom line is that your seeing a neurologist and having tests done; you need to take care of yourself. If you keep getting odd sensations, etc regularly, you may want to get some sort of id bracelet so that your family can be contacted if something serious happened (God forbid). God bless ya and hang in there. Doug