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new and testing the waters

Sun, 10/22/2006 - 23:19
Hi, my online name is Sophist. I am 25, female, have Asperger's Syndrome and undiagnosed Neocortical Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, and am a psychology/neurology FANATIC. I am currently in undergrad getting my bachelors in Psychology and then plan to move onto grad school for my doctorate in Experimental Psychology (no worries to any animal activists out there; I have NO intention of ever using animals in my research). As for my epilepsy, my TLE is very very mild and I am able to keep it under control without medications. Since all my triggers are auditory (my main trigger is actually a lack of noise and dead quiet) I almost always have on some fan or something for white noise to keep my seizures from coming on (this works pretty well). Also, if one comes on even with the white noise, I am able to put on headphones and listen to some music and it magically stops. My seizure symptoms include: *head buzzing (almost like an electric current running through my brain) *tinnitus *vertigo and dizziness *blurry white flashes of light *color spots of red, purple, or yellow (very rare) *motor tics in my left arm, hand, and shoulder *knocking/slapping sounds My "aura" is almost always the head buzzing and the tinnitus. I don't know whether I have CPSs or not. If I do, they are only momentary (which as I understand it would be unusual for CPSs) which is why I'm not certain. At most I can definitely conclude I have Simple Partials. On occasion I will also have the motor tics occur alone without any sort of aura and they do not generally turn into anything more than that. My seizures are brought on by a change in my energy level (brain waves), and more specifically, when I'm tired. So unless I'm really stressed and worn out, I rarely have any seizures out of the confines of my bed. This is another reason I don't seek diagnosis or treatment because they are not impairing my life much. And since I've realized my triggers and ways of heading off or stopping my seizures, my seizures since they first started about a year and a half ago, have decreased in severity. This is good because a frequent worry for epileptics who are also autistic (as I am) is that with time, the seizures more often get worse; which is just the opposite of nonautistic epilepsy as I understand it. Welp, I guess that's about it for now. Nice to meet you all. :)

Comments

Re: new and testing the waters

Submitted by spiz on Mon, 2006-10-23 - 00:55
Sophist, Hello and welcome! I hope you enjoy being here. It is a site full of friendly and caring people and has been so rewarding to be a part of for me. I hope you find it to be the same. :) -Spiz

Re: new and testing the waters

Submitted by Channing83 on Mon, 2006-10-23 - 04:14
Hi Sophist, That's great that you know so much about it. I am a bit of the opposite of you - I have been having seizures for 10 years and only just found out that is what they are. I had no idea seizures vary as much as they do (like what you experience) - I thought that a seizure was always a grand mal (I only found out that they were seizures after I had a grand mal). ~Channing

Re: Re: new and testing the waters

Submitted by slhmurphy on Fri, 2006-11-03 - 11:07
Sophist, Too funny. I just happen to be exactly like you in many respects. I have my bachelors in Psychology, specializing in Neuropsychology, and I am a neuropsych nut. I completed one semester of my masters and then left to have my third child, and I have been home ever since, but I dream of one day being able to work within the field of neuropsychology. I believe that I am suffering from simple partial seizures. The main underlying feature is the buzzing. It is so funny to hear a few others describe it just as I have... Not quite a sound, not quite a feeling, but a mixture of the two. I actually found your blog when I did a search on seizures and tinnitus, as this is becoming an issue for me lately. I remain undiagnosed for now, but I believe this is TLE based on the different types of symptoms I have (nausea, fear, genital/sexual). I admire that you are going through school. My memory has been impacted (possible MS as well) and I'm not sure if I can do school again and take care of three kids and a husband. Oh well. Feel free to read my blog and send a chat message w/ your email if you'd like. Sam

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