 |
|
|
UPDATED: Mon, 05/15/2006 - 7:30am
WendyB...
How exactly do aura's feel
- Login or register to post comments
- View/Print content
How exactly do aura's feel? Can you have aura's and not have an actual seizure? I think I had some this weekend. I went off into like a "spacy" feeling. Like I was tingling and I couldn't make myself snap out of it for a few seconds. I have had a headache since I has these feelings. I have had E a long time, but I am new to all the terminology and so forth. Thanks.
By WendyB... at Mon, 05/15/2006 - 7:30am | 11992 views | 82 comments
Recent Comments on this Discussion
Toni Munson
That sounds like a seizure. I get Aura's all the time. I start Feeling really wierd from the tip of my head to the tip of my toes. I stare off, then I groan, and then I will grab my mouth. It will always start with an Aura. It is wierd to explain one. Only way is that I feel wierd and that something bad is going to happen. My last one was at work and my co-worker caught it and said that I had one of my moments. Luckily he understood. Then I went home and slept for hours.
graham
Hi there.
I had encephalitis early last year and as a result I now have epilepsy.
I've had a couple of seizures. My last full blown seizure was in March of last year
but I've had alotof auras since. In fact my last aura was yesterday morning.
My auras scare the life out of me. They just burst onto me like a really strong deja vu. I start to feel really dizzy and I get the weirdest thoughts of some ridiculous memory, that I can't understand why I should be remembering it. It could be a song, a talk with someone from years ago, or other things that I have no reason to remember. I can't talk properly while this happens and I have to try and talk myself out of it. I try to breath in through my nose and fight it as hard as I can.
I use this analogy... It's like a big black hole appears beside me and if I look into the black hole and try to see what's in there I'll fall in. If I fall in a seizure will kick in.
The after effect for me is tiredness and I just feel depressed and down because it's so hard not knowing when the next one will happen.
Graham,
My son had Viral Encephalitis two years ago, and now has epilepsy. The auras you describe sound so much like what my son TRIES to describe to me (He's 11). I would really appreciate it if I could hear from you and hear more about your story. It's been a very hard time for us, as I'm sure it has for you.
Val Clark
Hey all you crash and burn folks (lol) hows it going? Well about the Auras, well with me I always get a scared feeling but I think its cause I know what is coming next. Other things that happen are that I stop and start walking, and I drop things, (I only use paper plates and plastic cups). All my neighbors think that I'm on drugs or that I drink a lot. I don't get that smell of oranges thing but, I guess its just as well seeing as I live in FL. (lol). I don't know....., the one thing I do know its a MAJOR DRAG. I hope that this helps. Later, Eric
I have a question... Last year someone in my family died at the age of 14 of a grand mal seizure in the bathtub, which is why I'm here on this site. But I just remembered something and wanted an opinion. First of all, I pass out a lot. :-) No seizures that I know of. But one night, I woke up with my hands on my throat, like I was strangling myself or something. In the morning, there was a little blood on my pillow, which turned out to be from my fingernails on my throat. Maybe it was a bad dream, i don't know, but that's never happened before. Could it possibly be a type of seizure? Just curious... thanks!
I totally understand you Eric! It scares me to death yet, and I've had Epilepsy for a very long time. I have to quickly find a chair and sit down before the seizure hits. I mean an over stuffed chair so I won't fall on the floor. I use paper cups and plates and plastic utensils also. Don't trust myself with the glass and sharp tines on forks. Pretty bad! Have a good day everyone. Talk later! Birdie
I have grand-mals and my Auras are dejuvu, Headaches and Nausea. Sometimes I get this overwhelming feeling of being in one for about 5 mins or less and it is a horrible feeling. I have been getting them often.
i have grand mals also
I am also effected by dejuvu alot.
this seems really strange but i also have dreams that come true. Sometimes i feel as if i have lived in another lifetime. let me know if you have this also
ps i am not strange but i know it sounds weird......but growing up with e I'v been called weird my whole life......
Hello all, My auras start with lights flashing, intense panic, sometimes objects seem to "melt", for 10 years that was all I had we always thought is was an ocular or A-typical complex migraine. Then I started losing speech and being real out of it afterward, numbness and "stroke like" symptoms. After 4 neuros and a million tests, I've found out that for me it depends on the length of the "aura" if I have the lights etc. and it last for more than a few minutes than that is the seizure. If there is a short duration of the former than I know that there is more to come, the slurred speech, the worsening of vision, the feeling of being totally out of it. They still haven't given me an E catagory though, because my E.E.G. was normal. I guess I would like to know the "type", but since I'm responding to meds I guess that's all that matters. One thing I've learned from this forum is just how different everyones seizures really are. I never knew how diverse it was until I received a dx and started educating myself.
I've had a couple of different kinds of auras in my life. As a child I'd see Buckwheat of the Little Rascals in a gambling casino getting ready to put money in to a slot machine. As he let the money go and the machine started spinning...so did I. (aura) Now it's just a strange feeling that seems to originate in the abdominal region. I'm usually sitting and I'll sit and try to fight it off but it's hard to win over what your electrical impulses are sending out. I see the people around me at work, know something is wrong and try to go off so they won't know/see. When I come to I don't know how I got to where I am or remember anything for about 5-10 min. even what my name is. SCARY.
Wow, after reading these responses it brings back memories (not deja vu :) of childhood experiences. I've always remembered these weird 'dreams' from childhood. They were so vivid and stick out in my memory because I felt awake during them. They happened when I was napping on the couch and was around 6 years old. One of them was where I could hear this strange sound, like a voice calling me in a sing song way. I remember trying to see where it was coming from but not getting up. I would look at the closet door and either see or know that there were just coats in there. It left me with the same feeling I have now after a simple seizure which entails extreme deja vu. It is that pleasant but disturbed feeling. I also remember waking up and smelling a burnt tire smell and thinking my pillow must have gone bad! It makes me laugh now. Each time the smell would be gone after awhile so I never bothered telling my mom that something was wrong with my pillow. Now that I think about it, the majority of my auras/simples start with a sound. For instance, recently one was triggered when I heard a name.... Interesting........
It seems as though my auras were a bit different than most people that have posted. I don't have them anymore as my medication (lamictal) seems to be working. I would actually hear a sentence over & over - like a song that gets stuck in your head. To this day, I could still not tell you what the sentence was. It wasn't anything scary, just a simple long sentence. I felt like I was going crazy because I was hearing things! My abnormal seizure activity comes from my left temporal lobe (if I remember correctly) - the same area where auditory/sounds are processed, hence my auditory hallucintations.
wow, after reading aboutthe auras everyone eles has i feel kinda left out and very ripped off. everyone seems to get some type of sign something happens right befor the seizure....
not me i get nothing. i just wake up in the hospital
they say(hubby and kids)that i fisrt yell then my eyes roll in the back of my head,i froth. loose my blatter then i fall to the floor or off the bed or couch... and seiz. then after the seiz is over i am confused dont know anyone, scared and i fight anyone around me.. i try to run out of the house away from ppl....they have to hold me down........
I started having mine when i was about 12.. i never knew what they where up untell a month or two ago. Id have the deja vue feeling, it was always something with sight, the way something looked at a certain angle would trigger a vision of a old neigbours house. after that i would just get really tired and feel out of it. After i took a knock to the back the head while horse back riding they changed. Now they last longer and come more often. I never got the feeling of fear from them before cause i had no idea what they where. But when i got back from ireland a week and half ago, i had 5 in three days. The last two made me feel very strange sort of like an out of body exp. I hear people talking but what they said didnt make sense. I couldnt tell you what i saw only remeber i heard someone screaming at me, only no one in he house was screaming. It took me nearly a week to feel back to normal, last night when i was laying in bed my whole body started to tense up and twitch, i felt trapped and panicing i was able to roll onto my back and opened my eyes focusing on the ceiling and after about 15 mins i was calm enough to go to sleep without a problem.
I have been on tegretol for several years, I was having grand mal seizures in my sleep. I have been seizure free for several years, but for the past year I was having what I thought to be panic attacks. I now know they are these auras. I will suddenly feel this horrible feeling of terror, followed by a feeling of deja-vu. My fingers will tingle & I get a metal like taste/sensation in my mouth. It passes quickly, but nothing tastes right the remainder of the day. I also have been getting these in the middle of the night, they wake me up. The seizures never woke me, my husband would. I'll be seeing my neurologist next week, but it's nice to come on here and see I'm not crazy!!
I have similar seizures. I awaken, then have a tingling sensation or a feeling like water is running down my legs, then have a strange feeling in my stomach and finally a horrible metal taste in my mouth that passes quickly, but is very powerful. You are not going crazy! I would definitely discuss with your neuro-know that you are not alone.
Thank you! Does anyone know if there are medications to aleviate the symptoms from these auras? After I have one I feel awful all day, and like I mentioned, nothing tastes right, not even water. Whenever this happens I wish I had something I could take for anxiety, to help me feel 'normal' again. I'll be seeing my doc next week but was just wondering if anyone knows, or if anyone takes something when this happens.
Well for me the auras (simp. part.) which ever you want to call it I am glad I have them. They are my warning, they prepare me. I have focused on so many different reasons for them & different types of feelings/sensations the last 25 yrs & in the last 10 have noticed that my 2 primary notices of the "possible" seizure to come are the feelings of panic. I think that one is mostly due to allowing someone to see me have one. So as others have said, I try to find a quiet, dark place & take slow deep breaths to keep the panic at a minimum. The other warning is due to my hearing, since my left ear is only about 30%, when the aura hits all the sounds are changed. It's like i'm in a bubble & all the voices I hear are echoing outside that bubble. I have learned that with the different hearing levels in each ear, if I plug my good ear it helps to balance out any incoming sounds. Then I focus on the single sound of my breathing (like meditation). When I was young (20+) yrs ago if the meditation didn't help by the time my right leg went numb I was going to have a GM, no matter what. As years have gone by I can even go thru numbness to normal 2 or 3 times & still come out of it without going GM. In the past I wouold have the seizure while I was still concious. But now a days I can hold it back until I am out cold.
Thou I wish I didn't have Epilepsy at all, I'm glad I have the warning signs so that i can get to a safe place. Or if I am driving, it allows me to take the time to decide if its going to pass ok or if i should pull over & put the keys in the glove box & get in the backseat. Why do so much? For safety reasons of hitting head on stearing wheel, or shifting car into gear. The seizures (when they do go beyond the simp. part.) usually only last a couple minutes. Then after 5 or 10 minutes I'm back to normal.
Auras can leave me worn out. But when they are quick ones that pass within a matter of 10 or 20 seconds, I"m back to my old self & continue my day as usual.
Tim
When I get aura's my stomach gets this automatic sinking feeling like I am going down a roller coaster. I usually freeze whatever I am doing and wait to see if it goes away. My heart starts beating really fast. I tend to grab on to the person next to me, giving them the hint a seizure may be coming. If someone asks if I am OK I wont really talk back. From there I either get a seizure or finally get out of it. It is the strangest feeling that is indescribeable, but I hope that helps with a little what it feels like in my body.
It sounds like everybodys perception of an aura is a little different. Mine feel like a seizure is starting then stops. I find them annoying. I have had seizures for 30 years now and am pleased to just have auras now.
tweetty1
Hi tweety,
I'm truly not partial to hurting feelings; but, although you think you "just have auras", truth is you still are having seizures. (Simple Partial Seizures)
http://www.epilepsy.com/stories/ps_1064005012.html
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/seizure_simplepartial.html
~sol
Does that mean that the stupid neighbor with bad bass makes my brain go into electronic shots? How rude.
My auras, (beside the jerks that precede my big ol' dance party), are an incredibly horrid sense of fear beyond anything I've ever felt. I've done a lot of crazy dangerous things that were quite frightening, but nothing compares.
I think it's like the deepest blackness melting up my limbs, up my neck and I'm out. Sometimes it starts like the feeling of a hand in a glove, but I can fight it off by staying relaxed ad concentrating. I think that some people think that's silly, but I know that if I ignored the warning and just started hopping about my merry way, I would be on the floor in no time.
I wish I heard a happy little jig right before I lost consciousness. That would be peachy keen for sure.
Auras are good to have - I skipped the warning once and ended up breaking my sternum in the shower.
Caboose.
Wow! Isn't the fear so gut-wrenching?! I have that horrible mega deja vu, then feel like a vacuum is sucking out my insides through my navel! Talk about over-stimulation: try the televisions sales area of an electronics or department store. So many different programs/sound/pictures going on at the same time. If I can't avoid it, I end up clutching my shopping cart, 'til my knuckles go white. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm drunk! Gotta get myself a bracelet, one of these days... Anyway, I know the fear. It is almost worth having a seizure, just to get rid of it!
The auras that I experience seem to encompass a lot of the same characteristics that those already described do. There's the tingling, the olefactory hallucination I can't identify and can only describe as smelling the color orange, a tightness in my chest with a difficulty breathing and moving, the sense that the air has somehow become thicker than it should be, and the disconnect from reality--- as if I am observing the world rather than living in it. I also feel an intense and overpowering emotion of grief, like someone dear to me has died. This might be something like the feeling of doom already described, except I feel it physically taking hold of me. Add to this a general feeling of nausea and a slight headache, and what's there next leads up to the point at which I feel the intense dread described. It is here that I make my peace with my Maker, understanding that something has got hold of me that I can't shake and won't turn loose. The next thing I feel is the incapacity to breathe at all coming over me and the world going black. The experience I can only describe as what I envision it would be like to drown is what I feel as I lose consciousness, if I DO lose consciousness; and, that does not always happen.
I know once I feel these things starting that either they will pass, or I will wake up with a mouth full of blood and a huge knot somewhere on my head. Fortunately, that has not happened in many years.
And, I have been advised by neurologists both ways as to the classification of an aura. The best I can gather is that an aura is, indeed, a sign that something is wrong; and, since they are linked to seizures, and often involve the same areas of the brain that the seizures do which follow them, they can be thought of as a part of the seizure itself. My understanding is that where the aura constitutes something not experienced by people having "normal" brain function, it can be classified as a seizure in and of itself. The new literature does, indeed, make this determination. The aura is not, however, seen to be the equivalent of a grand-mal seizure--- and is not treated as aggressively as that is. Hope it helps. jb
I'm 20 years old and I just had my third grand mal seizure a few weeks ago. I get these auras all the time and reading about other people having them makes me feel really good about myself now. My aura always have a procedure to them. Like, first I'll get racing thoughts, they repeat over and over and over, then the tunnel vision will set in. It hits me like a brick. Things that are normally a little far away look extremely close up when I know they're not, I know something is definitely not right with my vision. Then my head feels like it's floating and eventually my whole body. Most of the time I don't have a seizure when that happens but I get those auras all the time and they suck, it's the scariest feeling in the world because of the paranoya of having a seizure.
Then lately I'm getting different auras while I'm driving even scarier. I feel extremely strung out, aggravated and then I'll turn my head to check my blind spots or something and when I jerk my head and vision back to the road, I go about cross-eyed and it takes about all the energy in the world to concentrate on driving "normal". It's as if someone grabbed me by the head and started shaking it back and forth while I was trying not to get dizzy from it. I don't think I'm gonna be driving much longer. I also see these black spots all the time. It's like they're are flies in my brain or something and a black spot will just appear and fly off out of my vision.
None of that stuff seemed to happen before this last seizure.
Do you think it's possible to have a seizure that can cause you're medicine not to work the same way anymore? I feel side effects from it I've never felt before.
I too have auras. At least I think they are auras. It's a tingling sensation in my chin and lips. and I then have alot of saliva in my mouth. My hands are usually shaking too. But I do the same thing as others here, think positive thoughts and breathe, breathe, breathe... I make sure I'm somewhere safe in case I happen to have a seizure but I usually don't. The first auras I remember were when I was about 20 years old, and a seizure followed right after that. But otherwise I'm lucky. I have grand mal and petit mal seizures but luckily they're under control. But are the auras actually seizures?? I'm not sure.
I've had a hard time calling my auras 'seizures' just because when you say seizure to someone, they instantly picture a grand mal seizure. However, I have a lot of auras (have had grand mal seizures before, but I think my meds tend to stop them mostly), and my EEG showed that there is definitely seizure activity going on.
An aura is basically what they call a simple partial seizure before it generalizes into a bigger one. A generalized seizure (such as a grand mal) begins in one part of the brain and spreads all over. For some folks, I guess this happens slow enough for us to really notice and feel when its happening - and thats the aura.
So for my understanding, an aura is basically the same thing as a simple partial seizure, at least in my case (TLE).
my epilepsy is pretty well controlled right now, but I do still have simple partials. For me its hard to really accurately describe other than to just say a feeling of doom and weirdness creeps up me. When it feels like it hits my head, I often get strange sensory perceptions, mostly visual. Like... space and dimension won't seem to be real, or the room will bounce and shake a little bit as if I were in a boat.
I usually can't or won't speak, except to blurt out "I need to go lie down now". I sometimes get the strong deja vu or jamais vu feelings, which is very strongly accompanied by heavy anxienty.
Mostly.. in a nutshell.. everything in my world will all the sudden feel so terribly wrong and distorted. And then... its over.
Or in the worst case, a grand mal follows, and I lose all my memory of the entire event.
Toni Munson
Aura's are very scary. I have them before I have a seizure. I start to feel Numb from the tip of my head to my toes. Then it's like I am in a dream world and I can't come out. Everything is going on around me and I hear everything but I can't respond. This is my seizure. The Aura is the warning before the rest of the seizure. The rest of the day I feel terrible like something really bad has happened. Thanks.
I have several distinct types of aura's which besides my EEG was one of the ways we finally realized that my "episodes" were seizures.It seemed like my aura's changed as I got older and the disease itself changed its manifstations. I either see red , like a filter covers my eyes & everything is tinted red (this is my most common aura, & when I see red I sit down immediately). I also have olfactory hallucinations (smell things), most commonly burning electrical wireing(?) occasionally devils food cake (LOL-I have no idea why it's not particularly to my liking). A long time ago I would have had auditory hallucinations (hear things) mainly country music songs that I did not know but I could repeat the words word for word & get them right. I used to think I was picking up a country music radio station in 1 of my fillings. Sometimes it also sounded like a little boy saying a quick word "mommy" or "help" or "hi" which was very freaky (this was around the time that the John Edwards Show first came out so I thought that I was either crazy or psycic. I also used to feel like I was burning, and I could not swallow, & I thought that I was going to forget how to breath & I would have a strange feeling(I always called Whelling) in my throat. Jamis Vu & deja vu' were frequently present depending on where I was.
Even thought I am currently seizure free I still experience deja vu' when watching TV. I don't know if this is because everything has been done before and I can just predict what is going to happen or just because all the actors are all so familiar. I don't think(but it could be) it's a side effect of topamax. But it does seem like I am saying "I've seen this before" way too much to brand new shows. Oh wee life goes on. :-)
My aura's are usually visual-usually in the appearance of a lightning bolt and then it dissappears then my vision gets really bright to the point I almost can't stand it.
I also get aura's that smell bad like bad BO. My poor dog-I kept kicking the dog outside for having gas until my husband told me that it wasn't the dog and there was no smell. I also thought the dog crapped on the floor. I punished my kid for peeing in her bed when she really didn't just turns out that I smelled urine. I also smell sulfur.
Sometimes before I go to bed I will hear a piano play music softly in the background.
I thought I was going nuts until I was reading the rest of everyones Aura's. I feel so much better. I know that I am new to this forum but I just want to thank everyone for making me feel like I don't belong in a NUT house.
How interesting that you mentioned the piano. I get the bad smells too but what I have been noticing lately as I wake up is that I hear someone randomly hitting piano keys. I still feel like a beong in a nut house though :)
I find this post very comforting for I myself have been expreiencing similar "auars: or at least I think. I am 17 years old and ever since I have been in 5th grade i have been having these "auars". the first one was when I was with my dad at a gas station. all of a sudden I had a feeling of deja-vu, extreme. Then I had slight amnesia, I forgot who I was and where I was. I looked around confused, I was conscience. It seemed as if I was looking through a window at the world, like a new dimension or something. Ever since that night I have gotten them at least 3 times a month, usually happend during the span of a week. Now I am starting to get this tingling senstaion like whn you get goosebumbs on the side of my head. I's extrmemly frieghtning, do you think I may have epilsey or something? Also I have nver had a sezuire like a grand-mal or shaking. Help!
You need to see a neurologist as soon as you can. I too started out having these weird sensations when I was in the 6th grade. I could feel it coming up on my left side as if someone was sneaking up on me. It was extreme deja-vu and most of the time I could not speak during it. Once I turned 20 it got worse. It started happening 2-3 times a day and became much stronger and longer lasting. I eventually had a grand-mal seizure which is not fun. Once I got on some meds I was fine. Aura's are local electrical discharges from the brain that could lead to a generalized (more brain involvement) seizure. Be safe and get to the doctor. The meds available today are better than they've ever been and I know they will help you. Good luck!
My seizures started about the same time, 6th grade, I think. But no one including me had any idea what they were. But the situation you described is how mine were back in the day (about 15 years ago). I would have auras just like that. When things went back to "normal" I'd tell whoever I was with to stop looking at me funny, and that I was fine. I wasn't. It turned out that I've got TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy), and those were auras.
If you're worried about possibly having Epilepsy (and I think it's safe to say that we all were at one point), then talk to your doctor. You don't want something to happen when you're driving. But always remember that it is your life, and you need to find things out for yourself. I had to do most research on my own because when I was diagnosed I was a teenager and my doctor thought I wouldn't understand. But talk to your doctor -- they are there to help.
I called mine "forced thoughts" before I knew what they were. All these thoughts run through my head at such a fast pace I couldn't tell you what they were. I can talk usually-- but there are some words I can't say and I have to concentrate really hard.
Jersey! We're seizure buddies! I've had that same feeling so many times... I've described it in almost those exact same words. I feel like they're spinning through my head. I can't exactly say what the thoughts are, but it seems like they are on some kind of preset path. I didn't take them seriously for a while because I thought that auras had to interfere with your ability to communicate.
Not every Aura is the same for everyone. Anything from smelling certain odors or tingling, etc. I usually have a tingling sensation on the right side where my siezures occur. It feels as though I have bugs crawling underneath my skin. I usually don't have a siezure after the aura is gone. I usually go to bed and have siezures in the middle of the night. Lately, however, I have been experiencing siezures soon after an aura. When I began having auras, I felt panicky, but after having siezures for so long, I see it as a blessing. Atleast I know when I'm gonna have a siezure. Some people don't have auras.
I had brain surgery three years ago and during it had extreme trauma, I lost a significant part of my cerebellum and as a result of that I started having seizures. Also due to the trauma I lost a significant part of my vision on my left side. I have auras before a seizure and they are flashing on my left side where I don't have my sight. They start out small but turn into large flashes. I can still see but they made me very disoriented and I have a huge problem with depth perception.I don't always have a seizure but I am very disoriented for a while after the aura goes away. Auras are different for everyone though so you may have had one.
-A
For me it's an extreme panicked feeling. I feel it everywhere all over my body and it tingles, I've also heard bells and seen flashing and slashing colors. Like strobe lights and weird strokes of paint in my vision.
Hi WendyBendy,
I have been having the partial and complex partial seizures since I was 9 years old and I definitely have an aura too. My heart starts racing and I get a terrible feeling of fear over me that I just can't get rid of. Even though I am now 44 and try to tell myself it is just a seizure (as solis said, and I myself didn't learn until this year) there is nothing I can do to stop it. Sometimes I feel like the aura's (the partial seizures) are worse than my complex seizures themself because all that happens then is I black out for about 5 minutes, I can't speak or comprehend anything until I come out of it and I can't remember anything. That feeling of fear that I have before I go blank is horrible. I have definitely learned a lot from all of the people here on the my.epilepsy.com and I want you to know I wish you the best. Write back any time,
Dawn ;-)
Just another example of aura's - mine are the deja vu, along with the spacing staring. I also have a feeling of my brain swelling like my skull isn't big enough, but no pain. They don't always precurse a seizure. I have the complex partial seizures that are related to the hormonal fluctuation of the female body (especially during pregnancy)
Hi susie q!!!!!!! My name is malissa, I have auras that start at my feet and tingle all the way up my body plus there is times that I have a funny taste in my mouth, then I have a real bad headache, then there is the times that I don't even feel the dang things coming on that is when I hate them because of the fact that I can't stop them. I have a VNS, so usually i can stop them but when I can't stop them I have them and my husband or kids stop them. Anyway write me back at my e-mail address ok, annemax4@msn.com. Thank you...................
Interesting reading, certainly, this!
Whether some Aura's are partial/complex seizures I cannot say, but its good to see the consistency in others' experiences.
I have had an aura twice (that I can recognize/recall). Both times it was a feeling of depression, of having made bad choices. While having an aura, whatever I thought of would seem to be totally useless, wrong, unethical, etc etc! The first time I had NO idea what was going on. Probably just stood around like a zombie for a couple of seconds (minutes?) till it passed. 10 minutes later, I had a tonic-clonic.
The second time (2 weeks ago), I began to get a similar feeling while in the shower, so went and lay down on the couch. 6 hours of sleep later, I woke up only to have a seizure and go back to sleep!!
Having read up on this topic by now, the brain cells get over-excited and fire uncontrollably. The tingling sensation in my head was exactly that. I can recognize it clearly.
I think positive thoughts and soothing music can prevent a seizure after an aura. Cant prove this, but I know it works for me.
Wendy, recently I told my epi that I was only having auras so it was'nt so bad. His response was that while this aura does not make me feel as bad as the full blown seizure, do not be mistaken these are seizures in themselves. He further said that with each aura/seizure the brain learns how to have seizures and therefore other areas may start to seize. Because of this he is adiment about finding a way to control them. My auras/seizures are almost always in form of de ja vu, the new "learned ones" always start as an incredible,intense memory from long ago. As a child I was having severe headaches and went through many tests, not knowing until just recently that I was having seizures, regular eeg showed nothing. Hope this helps a bit. Take care and smiles your way.
We can see here that auras are our best tool to helping us predict when our seizures are coming.
I am so grateful that I often had auras. I know many people out there do not have this tool.
My worse seizures were without warning. With an aura, which for me was a feeling of "doom" or "deja vu" that slowly rose from the pit of my stomach and overwhelmend me, I always had enough time to lie down.
Sometimes I had to wait 5 minutes for the seizure, other times, two days, but my auras were 80% accurate - they predicted a partial complex or generalized.
I get auras with the complex-partial seizures, but not the drop seizures. When I was really young and had the petit mal seizures I my auras seem to follow a certain smell. Today, it's usually color or things I see that seem to trigger it. With the auras I get, they aren't always the same. Sometimes I get a dejuvu feeling like something is familiar. Other ones are triggered by color usually. I could be on the computer, reading print, or doing beadwork and have a feeling like a seizure is going to start. It's kind of the beginning of the seizure. During the aura, I usually have enough time to quick sit down if I feel like one is about to start. It isn't a whole lot of time though. A few times I moved things away while cooking and came out of it and my arm was laying on the burner or I was holding a hot fry pan on myself.
Sometimes I get a panicky feeling where I get scared and need to get away from everything and run into the bathroom and quick shut the door. I don't know if those ones are panic attacks or a combination of both. Does anyone else get the feeling like they need to run or get away during an aura?
Anyways,... that's what my auras are like.
Hi
I suffer from very bad panic attacks when I feel an aura. I am dead scared of going into status and maybe dying as a result. I also run, why I do I don't know. I usually feel a sense of unreal dread, as if I'm not in my body anymore my heart goes racing mad and then my vision goes. Firstly by these flying cloored, shining "fireballs" which at first spin slowly but then faster and faster, increasing in numbers. I used to fall at about this point. But nowadays I only get the visual stuff, palpitations etc. but no seizure.
Hey everybody...new here. I just had my first seizure last Friday, day after Thanksgiving. It
lasted about 20-30 seconds but after it I didn't remember what happened before it or during it.
I have never had a seizure before and it's freaking me out to say the least. I have been
experiencing what I have learned to be "auras" for about 2 years now, very intense deja vu with
feelings of total panic and loss of control over everything. When I told my doctor about this
they really didn't take me seriously because I've been struggling with intense panic attacks
since I was about 10 (am 23 now). And when the EEG last year came back fine they really didn't
pursue anything further. Now, I finally had a seizure and they're doing another EEG this Monday.
CT scan, MRI were both fine, nothing wrong. I completely understand the panicky feeling though.
I don't remember going a week without having a panic attack and then I have asthma so I've been in the
ER more than a few times thininking I was dying when they just had me blow in a paper bag. I just
wish the docs would've listened to me 2 years ago, really listened, instead of assuming that I
was just having another panic attack. Just make sure your doctors are listening and taking you
seriously when talking to them. Either that or find another doctor.
Cindy,
Just yesterday I was at a parade, and I had to sit down and close my eyes for a few. I don't know if it was an aura, but suddenly there was just TOO MUCH GOING ON. Got this feeling like I had to get out of there...not panic, just total excess stimulation. Is this what you mean?
Sam