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Ecstatic Seizures

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 07:32

 Hi

Has anyone experienced "ecstatic" seizures?  I've had a series of them recently, and they are amazing: totally outside the range of normal experience and by far the best experiences of my life!  I'm not religious or "spiritual" but recognise that they could be construed by others as deep and meaningful life changing events...evidence of the "divine" as opposed to neurological events. 

I've been told by my neurologist they are very rare and I've not been able to find out much about them/share experiences. 

Victoria

Hello all,  I'm adding this comment just over a month after the original post having realised that the thread is now incredibly confusing and there are some misunderstandings following what seem to be random postings.   You may want to follow the date order of the posts before making comments or coming to conclusions.   

Regards,

Victoria

Comments

Re: Ecstatic Seizures

Submitted by zealot on Sat, 2009-09-12 - 19:39
Victoria, Glad I was able to help. Normal is easy, not better. The meds are difficult to tolerate. I have advanced osteoporosis from the Trileptal, and a constant battle with hyponatremia. If you are not already getting it, you should ask your doctor for vitamin D supplentation. You should also ask for folic acid supplentation because most of these meds cause a deficit, which can result in mid-line birth defects as well as depression. The permanent brain damage part is pretty ugly and surgery, even uglier, but I wouldn't change who I am, not even for a minute. As much as I hate seizures and the way people shrink away from me as I were a leper if I have to tell them, I would miss the ecstatic seizures terribly. I also had a very interesting experience. I was with two friends. One of them was feeling very bad about life and said she was damned because she had allowed herself to be possessed by Satan. My other friend quoted from Romans and told her all she had to was say "I repent." She did. Either my Bible quoting friend and I both had seizures at the same time with the same vision (he has no seizures) or what we both experienced was real. As she was saying the words, we shot each other a look. We had both felt two presences in the room and the evil one was sent back from whence he came. We were not expecting this. I am a Jew and we don't witness. This time I did. Please don't get down on yourself. You are what you are. Just be the best you can be. Accept each moment for what it is. The past is gone and the future will never get here. As you already said, what matters is the here and now. Please try to get the most out of each moment. I know that this easier said than done, especially for those of us with temporal lobe issues. If you fall down, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going. My life is shambles right now, but I still keep on going. I just try to keep from making the same mistakes over and over again. Zealot

Re: Ecstatic Seizures

Submitted by victoria.w on Tue, 2009-09-22 - 18:37

Hi Zealot,

It's taken me a while to respond to your latest post.  Thanks for the kind words.  I am feeling better.  I must admit reading about your friend who thought she was damned/possessed saddened me and resurrected my negativity about religion; it was this type of reductionism -  good and evil - God and Satan - that made it impossible for me to take religion seriously.  Also I worry about the cut off point: in some parts of the world, epilepsy and mental illness are still associated with "demonic" possession and "exorcisms" carried out on bewildered children and adults.  Surely we shouldn't be buying into these beliefs/terminology? 

The problem for me, may be in the way the experience is expressed and possibly my Catholic childhood.   Early exposure to Catholicism has left me with negative views...

But as to the experience you described - I do believe  that there is potential to share extraordinary experiences...  

Johnny - just wondering how your "family" meeting went.  Has it helped?

and the person who kindly responded to my first query - just curious but are the posts a bit too far out for you?  Did your ecstatic seizures have religious or spiritual resonance?  

Regards to all

Victoria 

 

  

Hi Zealot,

It's taken me a while to respond to your latest post.  Thanks for the kind words.  I am feeling better.  I must admit reading about your friend who thought she was damned/possessed saddened me and resurrected my negativity about religion; it was this type of reductionism -  good and evil - God and Satan - that made it impossible for me to take religion seriously.  Also I worry about the cut off point: in some parts of the world, epilepsy and mental illness are still associated with "demonic" possession and "exorcisms" carried out on bewildered children and adults.  Surely we shouldn't be buying into these beliefs/terminology? 

The problem for me, may be in the way the experience is expressed and possibly my Catholic childhood.   Early exposure to Catholicism has left me with negative views...

But as to the experience you described - I do believe  that there is potential to share extraordinary experiences...  

Johnny - just wondering how your "family" meeting went.  Has it helped?

and the person who kindly responded to my first query - just curious but are the posts a bit too far out for you?  Did your ecstatic seizures have religious or spiritual resonance?  

Regards to all

Victoria 

 

  

Re: Ecstatic Seizures

Submitted by johnny on Wed, 2009-09-23 - 16:48

   Hi Victoria how have you been doing ...good I hope ! Well I've been hanging in there as good as I know how to anyway. It's good to hear from you ,you are one of the few people that I communicate with here. I just had a follow up visit with my neurologist yesterday, things went mostly well. Except I got to show my doctor's head nurse during a discussion that me ,my parents and her were having about issues of concern, I had emotional breakdown. We were sitting there talking about my issue with me being maxed out on meds and she was asking me ...what would you like to do if you could. I said maybe get a surgery and have that Neuropace Stimulator installed over my left temporalobe, so I could try to reduce these meds atleast in half. I told her that I'm tired of feeling miserable and being this angry all of the time. So we sat there ...well they sat there as I paced back and forth crying. I told them that I am willing to just reduce these meds since I've lost over 40lbs. in the past year,so I got them to lower my Trileptal 300mgs less on my bedtime dose. That was an adjustment that I just been wanting to do myself ,but it just not right to do that without telling someone, especially at the Cleveland Clinic.

  I still got another appt. Friday with my psychiatrist and some family members and I believe that's the meeting you were asking about. I just hope I can keep myself together and not have any breakdowns during this appt. Which is going to be tough with family that I've not been getting along with being there. If there is too much silence or tension in the air, it will be very tough! If it was'nt for you and being able talk about this issue with my family ,I would be alot more tense. I have neighbors that I can talk to and I told them how you have helped me by showing your concern with me. It helps a good amount ,just so you know that. After my appt. Friday , I'll let you know as soon as possible.

  Take care and talk to you soon

  Johnny

   Hi Victoria how have you been doing ...good I hope ! Well I've been hanging in there as good as I know how to anyway. It's good to hear from you ,you are one of the few people that I communicate with here. I just had a follow up visit with my neurologist yesterday, things went mostly well. Except I got to show my doctor's head nurse during a discussion that me ,my parents and her were having about issues of concern, I had emotional breakdown. We were sitting there talking about my issue with me being maxed out on meds and she was asking me ...what would you like to do if you could. I said maybe get a surgery and have that Neuropace Stimulator installed over my left temporalobe, so I could try to reduce these meds atleast in half. I told her that I'm tired of feeling miserable and being this angry all of the time. So we sat there ...well they sat there as I paced back and forth crying. I told them that I am willing to just reduce these meds since I've lost over 40lbs. in the past year,so I got them to lower my Trileptal 300mgs less on my bedtime dose. That was an adjustment that I just been wanting to do myself ,but it just not right to do that without telling someone, especially at the Cleveland Clinic.

  I still got another appt. Friday with my psychiatrist and some family members and I believe that's the meeting you were asking about. I just hope I can keep myself together and not have any breakdowns during this appt. Which is going to be tough with family that I've not been getting along with being there. If there is too much silence or tension in the air, it will be very tough! If it was'nt for you and being able talk about this issue with my family ,I would be alot more tense. I have neighbors that I can talk to and I told them how you have helped me by showing your concern with me. It helps a good amount ,just so you know that. After my appt. Friday , I'll let you know as soon as possible.

  Take care and talk to you soon

  Johnny

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