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hearing voices

Thu, 04/03/2008 - 13:47

Hi everyone. 

Hope you're having a good day.  Hope I don't sound like too much of a "newbie" but that's exactly what I am.

OK, here's my story.

About 4 weeks ago my 16 year old son began complaining about being unable to sleep.  We gave him advice such as lay off the caffine .  Then, on 3/25 he had a seizure at school.  (he has since had one almost every day and two on one day.) During his seizures he has some "twitching" of his arms and legs but has always been able to get to a safe place.  He is able to answer questions with a yes or no or a nod of the head so he never completely looses control. He remains conscious through the seizures and has at least some memory of them though he is very weak afterwards. 

We've taken him to the ER (put him on keppra) and have had an MRI and EEG done.  Neither showed anything.  We're taking him to a neurologist tomorrow and having another EEG done on his orders today.

Maybe the scariest part for us has been the voices.  After he had the first seizure he told us that the reason he hadn't been able to sleep was that he'd heard voices.  Sometimes the voices are gibberish but other time they tell him things (in his own voice) like "your friends dont' really like you" or that the voices are going to hurt his friends of family.  They never tell him to do things and he knows the voices aren't real.

I've read about aura's and know some folks hear voices with seizures, but haven't been able to find much to tell me what the voices actually usually say.  Is what my son is hearing common? 

His behavior hasn't changed except he has become even more attached to his friends/family.  He's a great kid and everybody loves being around him, but this is scary stuff for all of us. 

Any "words of wisdom" from the voices of experience would be much appreciated. 

Comments

Re: hearing voices

Submitted by matthewdad on Tue, 2008-04-15 - 12:27

Sorry it took me so long to reply.  Have been busy running from one dr to the next.

In answer to your question, I'm not sure what kind of MRI they did.  As far as blood tests go they did a full battery of them three times.  Also did two EEG's.  None showed anything abnormal.  The good news for us is that the neurologist doesn't think he has epilepsy, a tumor, anything like that.  (due to the test results and some symptoms he has that are not typical of epilepsy.)  He thinks it's something psychological.  So, we've now been to two counselors.  They both think he's having PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) coming from some severe bullying he went through at his old school.  (absolutely loves his current school.)  There are some other stress's in his life, normal teenage stuff like girls, etc.  All of this piled together kind of overwhelmed him mental/emotionally. 

We started regular weekly counseling yesterday with a counselor who is great.  He's going to see a psychiatrist tomorrow to see if he thinks anti-depressents are called for. 

His episodes have decreased in regularity and severity.  He went to having two or three a day to having none some days and only one or two mild ones on other days. 

 I do want to add that everyone on this site has been top notch.  All of the comments and words of encouragement have been great and have given us at least a little boost when we were at the bottom of that valley.    I have gained a lot of respect and appreciation for those of you who live with this every day.

Thanks to everyone.

Sorry it took me so long to reply.  Have been busy running from one dr to the next.

In answer to your question, I'm not sure what kind of MRI they did.  As far as blood tests go they did a full battery of them three times.  Also did two EEG's.  None showed anything abnormal.  The good news for us is that the neurologist doesn't think he has epilepsy, a tumor, anything like that.  (due to the test results and some symptoms he has that are not typical of epilepsy.)  He thinks it's something psychological.  So, we've now been to two counselors.  They both think he's having PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) coming from some severe bullying he went through at his old school.  (absolutely loves his current school.)  There are some other stress's in his life, normal teenage stuff like girls, etc.  All of this piled together kind of overwhelmed him mental/emotionally. 

We started regular weekly counseling yesterday with a counselor who is great.  He's going to see a psychiatrist tomorrow to see if he thinks anti-depressents are called for. 

His episodes have decreased in regularity and severity.  He went to having two or three a day to having none some days and only one or two mild ones on other days. 

 I do want to add that everyone on this site has been top notch.  All of the comments and words of encouragement have been great and have given us at least a little boost when we were at the bottom of that valley.    I have gained a lot of respect and appreciation for those of you who live with this every day.

Thanks to everyone.

Re: hearing voices

Submitted by Ice on Tue, 2008-04-15 - 12:02
My daughter has been hearing voices along with some other issues. We originally thought her medication was getting toxic. But then after it became severe and a hospital stay we learned it was something called Post Ictal Psychosis. She is being treated with a medication called Abilify and it has taken away all her symtoms.

Re: hearing voices

Submitted by stevkery on Wed, 2008-04-16 - 22:11

Hi everybody,

I have just joined also as I was looking for sites that spoke about epilepsy and voices and 'voila' here you all are.

I must say that I am relieved that this is a relatively common occurance.  My 16 year old daughter has had epilepsy since she was 18 months old.  The partial complex kind and her seizures are exactly like you are all explaining.  Twitching, but remains conscious and can get herself to a safe place fairly well.  She can also speak although in a disjointed way. 

The last two nights she has come into us saying that there is a shadow in her room that whispers to her, whispers her name and then said that she had her feet on his dead father's head.  Initially I thought it was a dream but then last night she was awake, talking to me and said somebody was laughing at her, snickering and laughing in a deep voice.  I just acted casual as if that was normal as I didn't want to scare her but inside I ws freaking out.  All I could think was schizophrenia.

It sounds like what some of you are going through is just about identical.

How awful, but thank goodness for this site.

Keryn 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everybody,

I have just joined also as I was looking for sites that spoke about epilepsy and voices and 'voila' here you all are.

I must say that I am relieved that this is a relatively common occurance.  My 16 year old daughter has had epilepsy since she was 18 months old.  The partial complex kind and her seizures are exactly like you are all explaining.  Twitching, but remains conscious and can get herself to a safe place fairly well.  She can also speak although in a disjointed way. 

The last two nights she has come into us saying that there is a shadow in her room that whispers to her, whispers her name and then said that she had her feet on his dead father's head.  Initially I thought it was a dream but then last night she was awake, talking to me and said somebody was laughing at her, snickering and laughing in a deep voice.  I just acted casual as if that was normal as I didn't want to scare her but inside I ws freaking out.  All I could think was schizophrenia.

It sounds like what some of you are going through is just about identical.

How awful, but thank goodness for this site.

Keryn 

 

 

 

 

 

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