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Is it all in my head? ( no pun intended)
Fri, 05/19/2006 - 15:28Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Im a 43 yr old male, diaganose with simple and complex partial seizures. My history is congenital hydrocephalus and a congenital heart condition, mitral stenosis. Both conditions are stable, I no longer have a bad heart valve but have a mechanical heart valve which requires me to take blood thinners (Coumadin). As a result of the blood thinner, i develped a cranial hematoma and had lapsed into a coma for a short time. I had a "craniotomy" 3 times emergently that night but recovered after about 2 yrs getting myself back on track. I have an abnormal EEG with spikes and "fading" (?). My symptoms I didnt asociate with seizures until my doctor told me that is what they were ( one-sided numbness in my right arm and leg ( the hematoma was on my left side of the brain). I get nausea and a metallic taste and my speech slures and my tongue shakes and quivers, especially if I dont get enough sleep. I am totally aware of where and when I am at the time but feel "disembodied". I also have flashing lights that start in my peripheral vision and last for 20 min with no headache afterwords. Are thise common for seizures? Am I "normal"?? I just feel like its "all in my head" sometimes. I count myself fortunanate that I have thise symptoms only mildly and not too often but still, it doesn't seem to "fit" as to what I percive epilepsy to be. Please write back and talk to me! Thank you so much!
Comments
Re: Is it all in my head? ( no pun intended)
Submitted by ralphlake on Fri, 2006-05-19 - 23:35
The disembodied feeling, flashing lights and the nausea and metallic taste are all characteristics of the so-called aura that is the seizure essentially in simple partials and precedes the seizure in the case of both complex partials and the tonic clonic varieties. Complete consciousness is a characteristic of simple partials but not of the others. My own case remains unclear but seems to be simple partials if anything. From what I've seen and read you are perfectly normal (you would be in any case--epilepsy doesn't make you less normal--but in the limited sense in which you mean--yes, those symptoms are consistent with epilepsy. Like Campbell's soup there are many varieties of e--40 apparently and the aura has many characteristics peculiar to the sufferer. Good luck
Ralph
Re: Is it all in my head? ( no pun intended)
Submitted by aquila316 on Sat, 2006-05-20 - 11:03
Yes, and along with all the mentioned symptoms, some others include a strange odor (for me always the same, but I never know what it is afterwards), tightning of the stomach muscles, and extreme heat. Sometimes it also includes getting sick to my stomach, although, I can usually control that by breathing steadily. I also usually get kind of a strange deja-vu feeling. Unfortunately, I only get auras before my complex partials, and not the tonic-clonic sz's (those just hit without warning). I know these are usually the symptoms you don't think about when you think of epilepsy, but we live with this every day, and sometimes can tell more from experience than some books.
Susan
Re: Is it all in my head? ( no pun intended)
Submitted by ccruse on Fri, 2006-05-19 - 19:59
My seizures are also mostly flashing lights in my peripheral vision, nausea, and a sort of a general weakness which I guess you could call almost a shakiness. Like yourself, I am completely aware of where I am but have a feeling of being outside of myself. I didn't know that these were seizures either until one of these turned into a full blown grand mal. I have to be careful to get enough sleep as well. There is a lot of variation with epilepsy, and a lot of range within the different symptoms. I also consider myself very fortunate in that mine is very well controlled with medication and have had to learn to take better care of myself and be aware of my condition and the things that may trigger seizures.