psychadelic seizures

OK, this is gonna sound nuts, but here goes: before i knew i had epilepsy, this trange thing happened to me. i live in an apartment with lots of antiques, and in my bedroom there was a beautiful image of the madonna and child. I AM NOT RELIGIOUS. repeat NOT RELIGIOUS, so this is not some sort of conversion experience. one night when i was about 19 i shot out of bed and walked over to the painting. the virgin appeared to be illuminated and 3-D. i reached out, half-asleep and touched it, but alas, it was all in my head. i went back to sleep. this same phenomenon occurred about two or three more times, and while i was fascinated by it, it bothered me and i sheepishly asked my mom to move the painting out of my room. she laughed at me, and since i'd had "space-face" episodes my whole childhood (undiagnosed absence seizures) that i grew out of, this was just another weirdo thing to laugh about. sometimes, when i'm in the country, i'll wake up suddenly at dawn and look out the window, the leaves on the trees will look emerald green, and i'll say, in a weird, almost childlike voice, "they're soooooo green," and the leaves will look brilliant to me. i've heard of these sensory seizures before, but i've never understood the madonna thing. why would i wake out of my bed? that still puzzles me four years on. my neurologist doesn't get it, but he's so busy that i don't think he's really interested (no offense to him; i mean he runs an entire epilepsy center, so i understand that he's got a lot more stuff to worrr about!). any thoughts? thanks!