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Epilepsy/Seizure Caused Hallucinations?

Wed, 09/10/2008 - 14:58
I have been reading about the different types of seizures and epilepsy and am pretty sure I have temporal lobe epilepsy (my neuro won't put a name on it yet). I just have a question. I spent a week in a neuro unit going from being just confused to almost a complete vegetable before my neuro finally ran an eeg and started me on Keppra. I have read that people hallucinate during seizures, but it also says the seizures only last 30 sec to 2 min. I was in the hospital a week, but it felt like years due to the constant hallucinating. I had a constant feeling of wanting to "make things right" or explain to someone what was wrong with me, even though I didn't know. Unfortunately, in my hallucinations, everytime I would come close to "making things right," one of my six children would die in some awful way. It was like a constant nightmare. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? The hallucinations described here under different forms of seizures are exactly right, but they lasted way longer than 2 minutes... is that possible? I don't know what to think. I know that Keppra made them go away even though I was still confused for days later. I'm so afraid of this happening again. I'm mainly just wanting to know if anyone experienced seizures that caused long hallucinations like this. Thank you. :)

Comments

Re: Epilepsy/Seizure Caused Hallucinations?

Submitted by uberzwitter on Mon, 2008-10-20 - 19:46
I haven't had this- but will say that a seizure can last much longer than the typical time frame. My first seizure ever was a simple partials (I have complex partials that generalize now) I was in the hospital four days before they gave me an EEG, a diagnosis, and an anti-convulsant. The entire time my head and arm was jerking and I was having 4 or 5 major convulsions a day. I have had complex partials where I am definetly acted stoned that have lasted hours when I was on lower doses. If I went by the timing standards I would have been at the emergency room sooo many times over, but then again I have clusters. Point being, everyone is different and I think the 30 sec. to 2 min. is a general standard of what an everyday seizure is. That doesn't mean that people don't have more serious ones, don't go into status, things like that. Whatever seizure type causes hallucinations, well you had a much stronger type of it. Same as how someone can have a simple partials sz that lasts a minute and I had one for four days. Can it happen again? I don't know, how this happened in the first place? Is this the first time? Were you not on any AED's? For me that was 5 years ago and since being put on meds I have had bad seizures but never again something like that. I don't want to imagine being on nothing though...

Re: Epilepsy/Seizure Caused Hallucinations?

Submitted by deirdre2 on Sun, 2008-11-16 - 20:35

Your ccomment about "wanting to make things right" struck a chord with me.  I'm wondering if your sensations and hallucinations are from the Keppra, and not the seizure.  Keppra made me feel very "responsible" to the point that I spent all night dreaming about fixing and counting and sorting things and organizing people.  Once I talked to my doctor about these obsessional thoughts, he added Elavil at bedtime, which helps me stay asleep and also lets me dream normally.  I even talked to myself in a dream once when I started to obsess, and said "Stop it.  You don't have to do this!" and I did.

 

 

Best wishes for a calm spirit,

 

Ramona

Your ccomment about "wanting to make things right" struck a chord with me.  I'm wondering if your sensations and hallucinations are from the Keppra, and not the seizure.  Keppra made me feel very "responsible" to the point that I spent all night dreaming about fixing and counting and sorting things and organizing people.  Once I talked to my doctor about these obsessional thoughts, he added Elavil at bedtime, which helps me stay asleep and also lets me dream normally.  I even talked to myself in a dream once when I started to obsess, and said "Stop it.  You don't have to do this!" and I did.

 

 

Best wishes for a calm spirit,

 

Ramona

Re: Epilepsy/Seizure Caused Hallucinations?

Submitted by srchtt3 on Sat, 2009-11-07 - 04:54
I went to see a doctor for something similiar to this and he told me that I wasn't loosing my mind, thank heavens, it just depended on where the seizure was occuring at in my brain. It made me feel much better. When I have nocturnal seizures I sometimes feel as if I'm dreaming and yet can't make it better. But I can't come 'out' of it because I'm seizing. Hope this helps.

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