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Please Help...

Sun, 07/08/2012 - 03:43

5 years later and still no answers, no diagnosis for seizures except, "convulsions by history." I'll try to be as succinct as possible in order to obtain any little feedback on what seem to be very uncommon symptoms: I've had 7 seizures from 2007 to 2008, was put on Keppra in August of 2008, was seizure free for 2 years and 11 months until this morning when I had another seizure.

This description has been witnessed by two people:

Tonic seizure:
During the night, or early morning, I will wake approximately 5 seconds before the seizure and grasp my partner's arm to let him know that one is imminent. The aura starts in my left foot and rapidly consumes my entire body. When the seizure takes place I will become stiff and my eyes will go to the 2 o'clock position (from the perspective of an observer). I will remain in this position for approximately 15-20 seconds while a very minor shivering or shaking movement takes place.


I remain semi-conscious and a very painful sensation will start to travel upward from my legs while I am in this position. Once it travels up my body, through my torso and neck and reaches my head I will lose consciousness.

I am is conscious for these episodes and feel excruciating pain and the feeling of being unraveled, twisted or depixelated, sometimes pain like I'm in a vise or my limbs and body are being corkscrewed. The pain is overwhelming.

Afterwards I am unconscious and my breathing is labored. I salivate and that mixes with the air passing through my lips to create a foam that runs down the side of her face.

Approximately 5 minutes after losing consciousness I will be awake for 6-8 seconds at a time followed by an equal time of unconsciousness. I am receptive to verbal commands at this time, but as I lapse back and forth I will go limp until the next cycle of being conscious. This lasts for 3-5 minutes after which I remain awake and finally speak with some difficulty. My words are difficult and usually slurred.

The recovery period after that is usually around 20 minutes to an hour.

Aura:

Essential, left arm tremor. I have a tingling numbness and pulsing sensation in my feet, big toe twitches (primarily my left, but it manifests in either) right before having a seizure.

Questions:
1. From what I've read usually Tonic seizures don't have a recovery period like this afterwards or the lapse of consciousness (the articles I've read specify that this usually happens after a clonic seizure). Is this indicative of anything in particular?

2. Is it possible she is experiencing both a tonic and clonic seizure at the same time and that is why she doesn't have the muscle jerking or twitching that I usually read about for such a seizure? (she remains in her initial position with the exception of her right arm extending and doesn't shake or convulse).

3. I've read about somatosensory seizure:
"Other somatosensory features in epilepsy are body image disturbances, such as feeling of movement or altered posture in a stationary limb, feeling of floating, twisting or even disintegration of a body part."
( http://www.e-epilepsy.org.uk/pages/articles/show_article.cfm?id=88 )
This seems to be in line with what I'm experiencing

My neurologist seemed to sort of give up after putting me through every test imaginable, eeg, veeg, cat scan, heart monitor, mri of head and body, sleep study, ad naseum. I'm seeing a new neuro on the 24th of this month but I am terrified he will tell me psychosomatic seizures or else just give up like my old doc.

Could this be transient ischemic attack?

 

Thanks so much for your time and attention in answering these questions,
-Demeter

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