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Simple Partials/Auras
Sun, 06/04/2006 - 10:52I have had seizures for 6 years now and still have many unanswered questions. I have seen many different doctors and they all have their own opinions but there are still many missing pieces to the puzzle. My aura starts off with a feeling of a yo-yo going from my throat down to my stomach and back up again and then my heart begins to feel like its racing. Most of the time it stops there but sometimes they progress into a complex partial. I used to take Trileptal and that didn't stop them from spreading into a grand-mal but Lamictal has stopped them from going that far.
A couple doctors thought that I was having non-epileptic seizures and suggested I try anxiety meds but I said no and would then switch to another doctor. My current doctor did a video EEG. I only had one seizure the whole time I was there and it was an epileptic seizure in the right temporal lobe so I thought I made some progress. I am going back into the monitoring unit to hopefully have more seizures and see if I am a candidate for surgery.
I would like to here from others who experience auras to see if there are similarities.
Re: Simple Partials/Auras
Submitted by gretchen1 on Sun, 2006-06-04 - 22:39
Hello Missy and Welcome - I'm sorry your post wasn't answered for a long time. I hesitated to post to you because of all the sz's I have, simple partials and auras for me have never been so simple to understand. I still havae a lot to learn about them, in fact just learned something new yesterday posted here. I'd like to refer you to a post by "Spiz" on ummmm. heck, can't remember the name of the thread but it's about researching about epilepsy. On the Adult Forum, towards the top of the thread list. It's the last post and address's what the term "psychic" is regarding simple partials. The rest of that post's explanation is me very easy to understand and I found new info for me. There is also an excellent clickable I read. I happen to know this person's skills finding accurate information is very good so I tend to read what she posts and her clickables. I'drecommend you read that. There is not a doubt I have active refractory epilepsy but you know what? I've had a few doctors in ER's say I had a pseudosesizure, when that term was used. Twice. I found it incredibly insulting particularly since how can I defend I know I had a sz when I'm so postictal, can barely talk. I've had ambulance attendants twice deliver me to an ER and in front of my husband say I was having an "atypical tonic seizure". Sorry boys, you don't have diagnostic abilities. Plus how much time did they spend with me in my small town? 15 minutes tops? The only way anyone can tell if you had a, what is known now is an NES or nonepileptic seizure is by EEG. My epileptologist's office has literature stating even with visual observation and an EEG there is a 30% chance an NES sz is being misdiagnosed. Many of us here have had this experience. I doubt I've had my last. I do wonder what the ambulance boys in their minds think an atypical sz is tho bcause my husband asked them and they suddenly lost their gift for medical terminology. For me personally and from what I know a VEEG is a very valuable test and can also take the guess work away and be diagnostic. I thought it very cute when you said - you were going back in the morning to hopefully have another seizure. That's the one time we want one huh? I hope that appt went well for you. But am I detecting you and your doctor are having communication problems? I think my epileptologist for me is the very best I could have but I have to remind him at times he's talking over my head, didn't answer one of my questions and several times I felt he was telling me something he didn't have the time to discuss so I asked him if he could talk to me about it later, when he had more time. He knows when he gives me bad news I tend to loose my ability to hear and understand, respects that too. It took us awhile of knowing each other to figure out each other's strengths and weaknesses in just communicating but it's very important. If you can't accomplish that or feel put down by your doctor? I think that's a bad fit, not necessarily a bad doctor but many of us have had to switch just for that reason. Good luck. You'll get it all figured out. Maybe some day I will too! Gretchen