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How would you classify...
Thu, 06/01/2006 - 14:11I need help classifying something.
It is almost like deja vu, but not quite. I've been getting it in different situations all day, and it is EXTREMELY distracting.
It's a sense of remembering something, but not quite remembering it. Like remembering a dream sequence that is related to what you are doing. Almost like the next step happens thusly because you had this dream and this is what you were doing and this is what happened next because it happened that way in your dream.
Would you classify that as deja vu?
It's an odd deja vu if it is, and like I said it is distracting. It's like I'm remembering a fragment of something or like I have a half a memory. And I was in the middle of doing what I am doing now, which is why the memory comes. But it doesn't come in full. And I pause and can't seem to get on with my work because I'm trying to do what I was doing while trying to remember. And I can't STOP trying to remember.
It has passed now, but this is the third time today this has happened to me.
If my ears start ringing again, I think I am going to cry.
Comments
Re: Re: How would you classify...
Submitted by Colina on Thu, 2006-06-01 - 15:16
Wow! Good description Susan. I too have tried to remember them because some are always the same senario but it is impossible. Sometimes it starts and it's like oh no not this one again! Ditto also about trying to concentrate to hard and the seizure getting more itense. So I guess I'm part of the weird club too. LOL. Smiles
Re: Re: Re: How would you classify...
Submitted by heidi on Thu, 2006-06-01 - 17:17
I get this EXACTLY. In fact, it was one of the first symptoms of seizures I had, and trying to explain it to anyone, let alone a doctor, was difficult. I've copy/pasted this definition of the term "presque vu" from Wikipedia:
Presque vu: From the French language, meaning "almost seen," the expression means almost, but not quite, remembering something. Often very disorienting and distracting, presque vu rarely leads to an actual breakthrough. Frequently, one experiencing presque vu will say that they have something "on the tip of their tongue". Presque vu is often cited by people who suffer from epilepsy or other seizure-related brain conditions, such as temporal lobe lability.
As far as feeling disconnected, I get that too, along with the occasional feeling that the things around me should look familiar but aren't. I think this definition, also from Wikipedia, helps explain that feeling, for me at least:
Jamais vu: From the French, meaning "never seen," the expression means explicitly not remembering having seen something before. The person knows it has happened before, but the experience feels unfamiliar. Often described as the opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before. Jamais vu is sometimes associated with certain types of amnesia and epilepsy. An old internet joke referred to this feeling as "vujà dé."
This happens to me all the time. Reading that it happens to other people, too, makes me feel 1) sad, because I know how annoying/scary/distracting it is, but also 2) incredibly relieved after wondering if I had totally lost it for a few months. So thanks for sharing this experience. I hope the above definitions help! I actually printed them out and brought them to my neurologist.
Re: How would you classify...
Submitted by aquila316 on Thu, 2006-06-01 - 15:03
As far as classification, i don't think I've ever tried to classify it, or tried to explain it to anyone else for that matter. I know (at least mine) has to do with TLE, simple and complex partial sz's. I was telling someone the other day that I usually only have memories of things that happened during another sz's, but sometimes I'm sure I've had false memories, but I'll only remember what I pictured in this sz the next time I have one (does that even make sense--I've had some strange feeling partials today between the excitment, waking up at 3, and being hormonal). I will tend to get these the day after a bad day of partials, and my days of simple's tend to follow days of com partials. I read another post of yours about being "disconnected" which is about the only way I can describe some of the auras, as well as the day following a bad day of complex partials. The time around my period is the worst, I only rarely have sz's any other time. So I guess my experience is that I can recall everything up untill I start to get a "vision" which is also described as "leaving" (kind of like an out of body experience, combined with deja vu, and a vivid dream). I'd give anything to remember some of the visions/memories, but I've kind of given up trying. I've noticed that sometimes if I try to concentrate to much during a partial it makes it more intense. Maybe I'm just weird, it's ok, I don't mind =) Susan