Question about aura's

Re: Question about aura's

Submitted by skydiverca on Sat, 2012-06-30 - 16:18

SkydiverCA

To each fellow E sufferer; Unless you look for your aura, you will not find it.   

Each individual with either Epilepsy or Migrane headaches will have auras that are not easily identifiable to themselves. There is no one else to tell you that that a particular feeling, smell, taste, fear, or whatever, is an aura.

Doctors who have excellent training but are not E sufferers with auras, are at a disadvantage to tell you about your aura.  YOU must do some deep introspection so you can help them and so by doing, help yourself by sifting through every pre-seizure experience to look for the advance warnings.  I know, myself, how difficult this is.  My gran mal seizures, as a child, left me exhausted and with short term amnesia (I could remember nothing of the last few hours before a gran mal).

This was exactly the wrong state of mind to recall possible auras.  At one of my first appointments, my new Neurologist doctor asked me if I had a warning, a sign that I was about to have a seizure.  And I said "no".   I'd had auras, I just didn't remember them or didn't recognize them as warnings.  For years the topic did not come up again.

But I did have petit mals, too (lip quivering and staring), and their increasing frequency was my first recognizable "aura", or rather, the first recognizable indicator that a gran mal seizure was about to occur.  Because of this direct correlation, I was able, as a child, to first suspect, then verify that other symptoms accompanied the increasing frequency of petit mals...and thus were "auras" also.  These indicators, auras, were little things compared to all the major changes puberty was making in me.  What could be considered "different" when everything was changing at the same time.  So auras were just considered "normal". 

My aura

1) petit mals...increased legnth or frequency as gran mal approaches "45 minute advance notice"  veery reliable

2) rumbling/ringing in ears when eyes closed tightly occurs 24 hours a day, but becomes hearable during brief blinks and louder when close to seizure.  30-40 minutes advance notice Veery reliable

3) desire to go to the bathroom multiple times.  This aura will not always occur, but if it does it is the last advance warning I get. ten mintes at the most.

4) Jittery, nervous, irritable.  Those adjectives are my wife's. Hey, I can be like that 24 hours a day!  But within 15 minutes before a seizure, according to her, I am all three at the same time.  It is NOT because I am nervous about having a seizure.   To me, during this period, I just have this hyped up sort of feeling going on.  I'm not upset or angry or anything.  I have less than 10 minutes at this point before a gran mal.     

Several other less reliable "auras" I have had during run ups to gran mal seizures; a) an uneven patch of perspiration on my lower back. b) "Bangers", actually petit mals, that clear the mind in an instant then disappear.  To me they are very rare, but must be taken seriously. (By clearing the mind, they make you forget everything for an instant or two; who you are talking to, what you were talking about, what room you are in, etc.  If you are walking you will do stutter step to rebalance).  c) muscle twiches; completely unreliable.  d) odd skin sensations completly unreliable f) a non smell but odor like (damn its not metalic but I can't think of any other word for it) unreliable. 

To stop the advance warnings, I use fast acting valium.  If I am in the jittery, nervous, irritable phase, I can actually feel myself relaxing. I'm now 61.

Re: Question about aura's

Submitted by fzMousie on Mon, 2006-05-15 - 12:31

Hi Wendy I'm not a medical expert, not by a long shot. But since learning that my own spaciness and severe depression might be mild seizure activity, I have read and read and read. Yes, you can have an aura without having a seizure. My oldest sister has them all the time. They are called "partial seizures". What you are describing sounds very similar to what they think might be seizure-like activity for me. I go spacey and my head tingles. My vision goes really sharp and my ears buzz or ring. Talk to your doctor, and write everything down. See if you can figure out if something is triggering you. Loud noises and sharply contrasting lights seem to trigger me.