New - Anyone on Klonopin or have any information??
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Hi my name is Shellii
I have a history of nocturnal seizures (currently taking Keppra 1000mg/per day, at night) and sometimes I'll have symptoms during the day of a panic attack, or possibly a mini-panic attack that arises out of nowhere. I'll get this feeling that overcomes me and I'll quickly react in a panic-state - well alert, but panicy, almost like I could be in a daze. Then I try to calm down and relax telling myself everything is okay. And then I'm fine. But I don't like getting all worked up over nothing... Maybe I'm borderline hyperglyciemic... previous blood work-sugar level was normal. Thyroid normal as well.
Is there anyone else with epilepsy having panic attacks? maybe you thought they were panic attacks and later learned that you were actually have another type of seizure, if so, what kind? Any other meds taken to help with this out of the blue anixety/panic attacks? These feelings and my reaction is very scary for me.
Sharing your experience would help me a lot and what you do about it to help prevent these feelings from coming on is very much appreciated.
 aquila316 New - Anyone on Klonopin or have any information??
Created by aquila316at10/13/08 - 2:03 pm|4 Comments Posted To: |
chaerae |
henry199 |
quix New - Anxiety, Seizures & Helping your child be "normal"
Created by quixat4/20/08 - 11:10 pm|3 Comments Posted To: |
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Recent Comments on this Discussion
Hi Shellii
My name's Lucy, I'm 25 and have JME.
I was diagnosed at 15 after my first grand mal seizure but have had petit mal all my life. To this day no one knows why. I have been on a variety of meds since 15 and now take 1000mg Keppra in morn and eve.
When I was about 18 I started having panic attacks. That was also the time I started taking Keppra. I am convinced that my panics are related to my epilepsy in some way whether physically or psychologically I'm not sure. But I have found this one of the hardest parts of being epileptic.
I am lucky to have a fantastic neuro who has helped me a great deal and admits he's not sure about what is causing my Panics. He did suggest this book to me however and it would not be an understatement to say that it has changed my life. I have found some of the techniques it talks about I use daily I still get panics but now I can controll them much better. Here is a link to the book by Dr Claire Weekes:
http://www.drclaireweekes.co.uk/books.htm
(it is the first one on the page I find most usefull)
I hope you get some answers. Good Luck. All these challenges make us who we are.
Lucy
I thought for 20 years that I had panic and anxiety, and my Pych. and therapist siad I should look in to a EEG scan, that this might not be what we are treating you for it could be seizures. I got the first EGG in March of this year, it came back abnormal. Then I seen two more Dr.'s and another EEG and MRI in June then told I have simple partial seizures.
It has been a very long road for me. I have seen tons of Dr., counseling and meds. you name it I have tried it. Now finallyI am being treated for the real problem. I am taking 750 trileptal daily and things are going very well for me (with a little fine tuning of the meds).
Hang in there.
Hi, I have had what I thought were panic attacks for about ten years. Mine are just the way you explained exept accompianied by deja vue. I had a nocturnal seizure a year ago, and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Turns out those panic/deja'vue attacks are actually seizures. They are called complex partial seizures, at least that's whats going on with me. I take a 1000mg of Depakote per night to control my nocturnal seizures, but probably still have my "attacks" as I have named them 3-5 times a month. I really hope this helps some.
Good luck with everything, Ursula
Thanks Ursula,
Regarding your day seizures (panic/dejavu attacks) are you on any medication to control those? How often do you have these? How do you feel once it subsides? Do feel fine and continue to go about your day, whether at work or home? Do you drive?
Interesting...all this info sure helps.
Shellii
Hi Shellii, from what I understand the medicine I am on is supposed to control the daytime complex partial seizures as well as the grandmals that I have. I do drive limited, I don't if I feel "funny" in the morning. I always feel tired and a little dazed once the seizure has subsided. I do continue to do whatever it is that I was doing before. The worst for me is when it happens at work, my co-workers look more scared than I feel. They say I get a very panicked expression and I become almost zombie like for a minute.
The scariest part for me is worring if my sudden jump in heartrate/panic will pan out into a small seizure or if it will take full form into a grand mal. I really don't have time to worry like this, I have a son, I work, and I am attending College. I hope this helps some. Thanks, Ursula
Hi,
yes sometimes when i'm doing nothing in particular during the day i will get heart pulpatations and have a panic attack. its horrible and i dont understand it. i feel like i dont know what to do with myself and like life is a dream. i'm often feeling detached from the world and struggle with this every day. i've just learn to put on a happy face and keep going with things.
peace R.C.
hi.
Yes and I have to lol or smile actually when I think about this ,not in a mean way towards anybody but for my self , because I have szs for 15 yrs and although diagnosed I was not on any regular med . and I was never aware of anything but gmals szs . and I never even knew there were anything but real types of these lol.
I have always had very bad long gmals although I have been lucky and until recently did not hurt myself ,like so many others I just had them was brain dead and very sore and went on ? working and going going, .
On topic, I also have partial szs, and auras I thought the partial szs were panic attacks ??and the auras were drug flash backs or the result of a lot of concussions or or or ?? and I actually liked or like it . but noooo
These "panic attacks" ARE partial szs. and I have had auras many times a day for yrs. the partials are sweating heaert racing ,UNABLE to speak, my left side is numb my fingers twitch foot is asleep ??? this has lasted as long an hr, and those types leave me exausted mentally ,physically , I also have had levels of these that are quick but worse than an aura where I am confused ,forgetting thing , sweating , eye twitching heat rapid etc. all the readings of "panic attack" but no doubt a minor sz.
My body has changed many times and my triggers now are many . I found out the lights in stores bring on the partials and I can get lost shopping ??? very hard . HEAT is a big trigger for auras and these .
There is a huge amount of imfo. here that says and anwers this topic very well pls read it.
I think I can make sense ?? "This condition" wer,e dicussing has caused me to be diabled in the sense that the if I start a partial "panic attack" and I,m working I my brain/body is scared of the tools I,m using causing HUGE anxiety (panic) and then even when the true (brain) seizure /electric cycle , has ended the panic/anxiety , is still there and it feeds on the other meaning the panic causes a true sz and the making it dangerous the I,m left sitting standing, AFRAID of my own tools ????
wow I said it lol hope that makes sense??? if not it helped me . I now no longer can put myself in a situation where I even think I may be hurt ??sz or no sz. because my mind thinks it is dangerous whew , I cried writing that . heck I,m scared of my mowere. because I had a sz mowing and got hurt.
This is good reading thanks Rick
Hi Rick, reading your post made me a little sad. I have always had the auras/panic attack/dejavu seizures. I just didn't know what the were. A year or so ago I started having grandmals in my sleep, and was put on Depakote for them, under the pretense that this medicine would also control the part. seizures. It has done a decent job of controlling the grand mals, but not the small ones. I have gotten so used to these, they don't really disrupt my day (alot). My first daytime GM seizure was June 27th of this year, I too was mowing the grass and fell and hurt myself. Since then I have been terrified of lots of things. We live in Fl. and going to the beach with my son is one of my great joys, but I get panicked and bring a friend, if I was to seiz in the water..... Anyway, hope all turns out well for you and the rest of us!! Thanks, Ursula
hello everyone
I'm one of you ;) I had severe anxiety (sorry my english from europe) for 15 years until i was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1999. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence that i had less anxiety. However, after using meds until 2005 when I dident take meds due to pregnancy, the panic attacs came back - an this was the first time i saw the connection because the difference was so huge. I have read several reports on the net that there is a connection between epilepsy and anxiety.
Lights in stores is a big trigger for me too light in general and heat.Very strange, isent it?
Last year the doctor found out I had damage to my right hippocampus (temporal lobe) - any body else with the same or similar damage?. Other symptons when not on meds is rapid heart, deja vu, automatisms and comnplex partials. (unfortunately they are still there).
Yes, the doctor said I have a difference in size between the left and right temporal lobes, near the hippocampus. He didn't say "damage" but my seizures are a lot like the ones that you and others here describe.
What my neurologist told me is that a panic attack is a response to some stimulus or fear reaction to something, it doesn't just come on out of nowhere and then end and you go back to normal. In a panic attack, you are afraid of something. Now I think there can be some over lap, I think because the times and situations that I have had a seizure in the past can make me afraid and that can trigger another episode. This may be neurological, the repitition of the attack in the same situation. I have no idea. I was diagnosed with panic attacks by a psychiatrist 13 years ago and now my neurologist said it is seizures and I have epilipsy. The meds do seem to be controlling them.
I have panic attacks.. or so I thought. I have been on anti anxiety medication for years with no sucess. the best way to describe my attacks are like a freezing up in fear, like a deer in headlights. I dont experience hyperventilation though. I started having these attacks around the same time I had my first seizure. So now I am thinking... what if all this time I am not experiencing panic attacks but an aura? I see my doctor on Tuesday because last week I had another seizure in my sleep. I havent had a seizure in 10 years but have these fear feelings up to 3 times daily. This could change everything I thought was wrong with me. I have had eye blinking for such a long time as well. I get the sensation I need to blink my eyes hard and they are not dry or itchy. All of these symptoms may be a symptom of seizure disorder. Am I being a hypochondriac or is this plausible?
Wow, this could be me writing this. I was diagnosed with panic attacks by a psychiatrist, but now I know that I have been having seizures for like 20 years. The medication has stopped the seizures for me, at least the ones that are like the ones that you describe. I am glad not to have the attacks anymore. It has been so scarry.
I still have a lot of fear, though. I will be driving (I never lost my lisence, I live in California.) and I will have this weird feeling like I just stare off in the distance and feel stuck like that. But I can stop that feeling and refocus and I am okay. And lately at work, I will get a mini deja vu feeling and look at my kids and they will just be looking at me smiling and I wonder, "Did a just check out for a few seconds?" That is what I am afraid of. But I have no proof, no witnesses, it is just a fear. Or is it?
My best friend in high school was epiliptic and on medication for seizures and she was in my typing class. We sat together and she would have these very small seizures. Petit mal she called them. But she didn't know she was having them. And after class she would say, "Wow, I did really bad on that typing test. I thought I did better than that." And I would say, "Kathy, you had a seizure during the test." And she would have know idea. I only knew because I knew her so well and I would see here stare off into space and her lip would twitch a little bit, so I knew.
I don't have anyone like that in my life who can watch me and tell me what my body is doing when I may be "checked out" for a little while.
How can I find out? I mean if I am having these little seizures, should I be allowed to drive a car? Could this be dangerous? It seems dangerous. But I don't really know what is really happening to me.
I can totally relate to feeling like, "Am I just imaging this? Am I just a hypocondriac? Or is this something I should be really concerned about?