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Panic attacks or seizures?

Sun, 03/26/2017 - 01:30
Hi there, I understand that this isn't the place for medical advice but I do not really have anyone else to discuss this with and am hoping you can help me out! I will try to keep this short and sweet and if it isn't allowed, please let me know. I was diagnosed with GAD when I was very young. I was about 8 or 9 and am now in my late 20's. In November I started to have very weird "episodes". When I first bought this up I was told it was simply panic attacks and given an Ativan prescription. While it worked for the panic I felt, it did nothing for my physical symptoms and my doctor decided to look into it more. Recently I had a CT scan that says there is some type of lesion of the corpus callosum region of my brain. I have an MRI scheduled in August to get a better look and an EEG in a few weeks time. I have been keeping a journal of these episodes for quite some time and to me, my episodes are reading like simple partial seizures with a few complex ones. The first signs are tingling in my fingertips that slowly spreads into my chest cavity. While this is happening I get extremely blurry vision and usually need to take off my glasses. Before I was taking Ativan, I would get extremely panicked at this point. I also disassociate and get confused. Once the tingling hits my chest, my entire core gets warm and it feels like someone has throw a knockout punch at my face (minus the pain) I get so dizzy. I have no idea what I'm doing, where or who I am. As come back, I get shivers. After that my body is VERY weak, so much so that I often cannot stand on my own or even hold items in my hands then a brain fog that can last up to three hours. This is typically happening once a day. My worst "complex" was me taking a subway, feeling the tingling and then coming to leaving the subway from a station I had never even been to in my life, completely blacking out of getting off the train, going up the stairs and leaving the station. This happened to me twice on one trip. I have been too nervous to take the subway since. My doctor keeps insisting that these are simply panic attacks, but the more I read about seizures, the more I am beginning to think this is what is happening to me. I am a single person in a no-contact situation with my family (am far away to begin with) and have no one else to turn to to ask for help or talk through what is happening. Does anyone here have seizures/epilepsy with GAD or any other panic disorder? How can you tell the difference between your attacks and seizures? Should I get a second opinion? I am grasping at straws here, especially with this beginning to affect my daily life. Thank you.

Comments

I have temporal lobe epilepsy

Submitted by Moongirl70 on Sat, 2017-04-01 - 17:55
I have temporal lobe epilepsy and also experience anxiety at times. I am on medication to control the seizures so haven't had one in a while. Some of my seizures would start with a gastric rising sensation which felt like a fluttering or butterflies but not panic, others would trigger certain emotions like fear but not the same as panic. I would feel an aura before like deja vu or strange sensation so I'd go sit down, or sometimes not have time and lay on the floor, and sometimes consciousness would be impaired and I'd not remember parts, sound would get muffled, awareness would go out. If I was watching tv, everything would slowly cloud out like I was going to sleep and I'd feel my body stiffen then when I'd wake up I'd feel really drained and exhausted. I'd be in class in university and miss out on the lecture because it would take 30 minutes or so to come back to reality. The seizures for me were triggered after a head injury. With my anxiety, I am able to will myself to get up and move around to break up the attack, to use my willpower, not with a seizure though. I was about to take a panic attack on an airplane after waking up and feeling claustrophobic and I willed myself out of it, telling myself it would not help the situation. I am very strong willed. With a seizure, you cannot will yourself out of it. If your muscles start twitching or stiffening, you have no control, and you might get carpet burn if you are lying on the carpet. 

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