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Seizure or Emotional breakdown?
Mon, 04/16/2007 - 09:45I can set my clock to this happening every month. The day I ovulate, I wake up and about an hour after I'm up etc...my left side gets very weak. I notice it and think "what makes this happen every month..how long is THIS going to last?"
Then sometime after this I become hair-trigger angry and I would even say viscous. Verbally assaultive to whomever is around. It doesn't take much but a slight breeze to set me off, I simply cannot control it. I have tried month after month. Simultaneously ,as it is happening I am thinking to myself, "God, just shut your mouth and isolate, you have no reason to even be angry!" but I cannot stop yelling. Whomever is in my path gets blasted. The anger lasts maybe a few minutes. Then I get very teary afterwards. The sadness seems to be not just the guilt for having screamed, although I always feel ashamed, but somehow a part of the emotional outburst. Because try as I may, I cannot stop crying. Then the weakness on my left side resolves, the anger is gone, the sadness and I am just left feeling ashamed.
Could this be a part of a seizure? or am I just needing psychiatric help once a month? I have a first visit with Dr. Andrew Cole at Massachusetts General Hospital. It if for a second opinion for to rule out TLE. My first neuro couldn't say whether had it or not and wants an epileptologist to look at my case.
please, any replies would help
Comments
Re: Re: Seizure or Emotional breakdown?
Submitted by wldhrt13 on Mon, 2007-04-16 - 14:04
Kelly,
thanks for the reply. how did they find the cyst? because I have had a high resolution MRI and MRA (done on a 1.5 Tesla Boring) the strongest magnet here in the Boston area. It showed no masses etc... it was "clean" as they say. I had 4 EEG's total. 2 Ambulatory and 2 sleep deprived. 1 Ambulatory and 1 sleep deprived came came back mildly abnormal. Both showed "slowing" in the Left temporal lobe, and both showed "sharply contoured waves" in the LTL as well. But my neuro (who is not an epilpetologist) said that because they do not show spike wave forms, it is still unclear if I have epilepsy.
The bottom line is that I have never had any of these events while hooked up to ANY of the EEG'S so in that sense, they are useless.
Re: Re: Re: Seizure or Emotional breakdown?
Submitted by Kelly G. on Mon, 2007-04-16 - 15:36
Hi. My doctors at Albany Med found the cyst by doing an MRI. It was right there in my left temporal lobe about 7 millimeters by 11. Pea sized, but still noticable on the scan. I also had EEG's and EKG's. They all showed the cyst. But you're right, if the time was wrong during the month, then less problems would show up on the tests. I used to keep a diary of the seizure occurences and then we knew when the perfect time would be for testing. During ovulation, when the cyst was 'turned on' due to hormanal changes triggering it. You're in the Boston area? My best friends just moved out there and are doing great. It must be a very good place for good hospitals. Keep a diary and write everything down, from times and feelings (mental and physical) to thoughts and after affects. If you have a spouse or family member that sees the problem, let them tell you what they saw as well and write that down, too. The more they occur, the better time that would be for testing. Good Luck. And if you don't like the doctors, get another one. A second opinion is always great. -Kelly
Re: Seizure or Emotional breakdown?
Submitted by Kelly G. on Mon, 2007-04-16 - 13:38
Intersting, yet not good. I just had Brain Surgery this past October, removing a pea sized cyst from my left temporal lobe. I used to have seizures every month during ovulation, when the hormonal changes would trigger the cyst and 'turn it on.' I never knew the cyst was there until I was 20. I woke up in the hospital and the doctor told me I was pregnant and had a seizure. I said, "What's a seizure?" The pregnancy turned the cyst ON, after never having a seizure before that day and I couldn't keep the child, due to the seizures I was having everyday for about 2 weeks straight. So, every month after that, I had seizures during that time of the month. My old doctor, for 8 years told me I could never drive, nor have children, nor could I ever stop taking meds. After having a bad seizure visit to the local ER, the male nurse asked me who I saw. He said that the meds I was on, were doing nothing for me and that I should maybe go to Albany Med and get a new doctor. He was write. The doctors at Albany Med took tests for about a year on my head, my seizures and my hormonal changes. And then they performed the surgery, removing the cyst just on the inside of my skull, not even on the brain at all and i've been seizure FREE for 6 months already. I have gotten my memory back and I am trying to write to the local papers about my old doctor who is not up with the times. He kept saying i'd be epileptic forever. What a joke. So, if you don't like what your doctor tells you, go to someone else. I wish you the best of luck and hope you feel better. Y/F - Kelly