Deja Vu Attacks

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Hi, I'm posting here hopefully to receive some advice from those in the know. Earlier this week I caught a dose of gastroenteritis, this kept me house and bed bound for a few days and disturbed my sleep etc. In the last couple of days however I suffered a number of intense but brief anxiety attacks which were all preceded by a strange feeling of deja vu, of a distant yet familiar memory, something I couldn't quite grasp. The feeling that followed was like a hot flush with nausea, dread and anxiety, each time I almost involuntarily went to my bed to lie down and breathe very deeply until it passed. I'm used to anxiety and panic attacks, having suffered them through much of my life, but these attacks were marked by their intensity and that they exploded and burnt out much more rapidly - I don't think any lasted more than a minute (I think I had maybe 8 individual attacks yesterday), though afterwards I was left with a feeling of derealization / disorientation and a fatigue which persisted for most of the day. Trying to explain them to my girlfriend was frustrating as it was really not easy to describe, so last night I started putting things into google and pretty soon found all these results for TLE. Having thought more about this, I realise that this isn't the first time I've experienced these symptoms. I remember a few years ago taking enthromycin and suffering a series of very similar attacks. I put this down to a side-effect of the antibiotics and stopped taking them. I also remember a very intense feeling of 'Jamais Vu' after suffering jet lag from a long haul flight. In this case I woke up briefly after falling asleep, walked into my own hallway and for a period of time did not know where I was at all, even though I was aware it was a familiar place. It was quite terrifying but I put it down to tiredness and disorientation. There are probably other times I've had similar episodes but these stick out. This is the first time I've ever heard of deja vu auras and their relation to TLE, so I wondered if anyone could help with some questions. Firstly, whilst after doing sufficient reading, I'm quite confident that these attacks do bear strong relation to TLE seizures, is it possible to suffer such attacks without TLE as a cause? It's all quite confusing to me, I even read somewhere that Gastroenteritis alone has been linked directly to seizures. I should also say that in the past few days I was taking promethazine at night to help with nausea and sleep. There may be no connection, and though I have taken it on occasion in the past without such side effects, I did also read that it can be linked to both anxiety and seizures (and disorientation). Any help or advice would be very welcome. BTW I'm a 41 year old male, I've never fainted or blacked out in my lifetime. I've suffered from anxiety of varying degrees and probably low level depression but always put this down to simple emotional / psychological factors. I also wondered if these intense attacks could be related to simple anxiety as well as triggered by exhaustion / viral illness etc.

Comments

For anyone who has a reason

Submitted by Laszlo on Fri, 2019-03-01 - 11:13

For anyone who has a reason to read this article, I hope this little blurb may help. Have had deja vu attacks for 5 years, was regular wine drinker for decades and stopped, attacks started 3 days exactly after stopping the wine. Did trials of different wines and all the same yet distilled alcohol not a problem. BUT then found through trial and error that having a large amount of i.e. grape juice, chicken broth, coffee, ice cream, tumeric drinks and then stopping abruptly would cause attacks next day. Years later I had confirmation that some people do have negative reactions to taking in large amounts of certain substances that are not "addictive" and their body has attacks that do not show up on EEGs. Had EEG done and no spikes, neuro wanted to drug me anyway, didn't take meds. For the first time in 3 years, after taking tumeric tea, attacks only lasted 1 day instead of regular 3 days. Took a year to see that useless neuro, got a hold of super nice guy at local university who is a neuro scientist, as soon as I told him of the tumeric effect, he instantly said "inflammation!" best advice he gave me was DON'T OVERLOOK YOUR GUT", "we are just scraping the bottom of the barrel of knowledge in that area". Stress at home is over the top and is a major factor I'm sure but that is slowly getting done. Best improvement to date has been to stop glutton and sugar( pop, ice cream etc) and never eat until you are FULL, for my entire life I have gotten up from a rested position and got slightly light headed, sudden running up stairs would lose my breath and I'm not over weight or a smoker, had breathing, heart etc tests and all ok, AS SOON AS I STOPPED GLUTTON AND SUGAR I HAVE NEVER HAD THAT FEELING AGAIN! I had one episode 4 years ago of finding my face on the floor at night when I went to the bathroom, Dr. told me it was the vagus nerve and not to worry about it......it seems that the vagus nerve, the gut, stress all tie in, my attacks now.....still have to figure this out...happen once a month....NO, I am not female :-) ...hope this helps someone! take care

For anyone who has a reason to read this article, I hope this little blurb may help. Have had deja vu attacks for 5 years, was regular wine drinker for decades and stopped, attacks started 3 days exactly after stopping the wine. Did trials of different wines and all the same yet distilled alcohol not a problem. BUT then found through trial and error that having a large amount of i.e. grape juice, chicken broth, coffee, ice cream, tumeric drinks and then stopping abruptly would cause attacks next day. Years later I had confirmation that some people do have negative reactions to taking in large amounts of certain substances that are not "addictive" and their body has attacks that do not show up on EEGs. Had EEG done and no spikes, neuro wanted to drug me anyway, didn't take meds. For the first time in 3 years, after taking tumeric tea, attacks only lasted 1 day instead of regular 3 days. Took a year to see that useless neuro, got a hold of super nice guy at local university who is a neuro scientist, as soon as I told him of the tumeric effect, he instantly said "inflammation!" best advice he gave me was DON'T OVERLOOK YOUR GUT", "we are just scraping the bottom of the barrel of knowledge in that area". Stress at home is over the top and is a major factor I'm sure but that is slowly getting done. Best improvement to date has been to stop glutton and sugar( pop, ice cream etc) and never eat until you are FULL,  for my entire life I have gotten up from a rested position and got slightly light headed, sudden running up stairs would lose my breath and I'm not over weight or a smoker, had breathing, heart etc tests and all ok, AS SOON AS I STOPPED GLUTTON AND SUGAR I HAVE NEVER HAD THAT FEELING AGAIN!  I had one episode 4 years ago of finding my face on the floor at night when I went to the bathroom, Dr. told me it was the vagus nerve and not to worry about it......it seems that the vagus nerve, the gut, stress all tie in, my attacks now.....still have to figure this out...happen once a month....NO, I am not female :-) ...hope this helps someone! take care 

For anyone who has a reason to read this article, I hope this little blurb may help. Have had deja vu attacks for 5 years, was regular wine drinker for decades and stopped, attacks started 3 days exactly after stopping the wine. Did trials of different wines and all the same yet distilled alcohol not a problem. BUT then found through trial and error that having a large amount of i.e. grape juice, chicken broth, coffee, ice cream, tumeric drinks and then stopping abruptly would cause attacks next day. Years later I had confirmation that some people do have negative reactions to taking in large amounts of certain substances that are not "addictive" and their body has attacks that do not show up on EEGs. Had EEG done and no spikes, neuro wanted to drug me anyway, didn't take meds. For the first time in 3 years, after taking tumeric tea, attacks only lasted 1 day instead of regular 3 days. Took a year to see that useless neuro, got a hold of super nice guy at local university who is a neuro scientist, as soon as I told him of the tumeric effect, he instantly said "inflammation!" best advice he gave me was DON'T OVERLOOK YOUR GUT", "we are just scraping the bottom of the barrel of knowledge in that area". Stress at home is over the top and is a major factor I'm sure but that is slowly getting done. Best improvement to date has been to stop glutton and sugar( pop, ice cream etc) and never eat until you are FULL, for my entire life I have gotten up from a rested position and got slightly light headed, sudden running up stairs would lose my breath and I'm not over weight or a smoker, had breathing, heart etc tests and all ok, AS SOON AS I STOPPED GLUTTON AND SUGAR I HAVE NEVER HAD THAT FEELING AGAIN! I had one episode 4 years ago of finding my face on the floor at night when I went to the bathroom, Dr. told me it was the vagus nerve and not to worry about it......it seems that the vagus nerve, the gut, stress all tie in, my attacks now.....still have to figure this out...happen once a month....NO, I am not female :-) ...hope this helps someone! take care

I am slightly relieved to see

Submitted by Tiffycole4 on Thu, 2019-03-07 - 23:25

I am slightly relieved to see that someone else had experienced the same as I do . I thought I was going crazy , I have these “episodes” I call them . For no longer than brief seconds (which feels like a lifetime) and then I find myself trying to remember what the deja vu was even about . They make me nauseous, cause a lot of anxiety in my chest and make me feel afaid? The recollections/dream like episodes also leave me feeling like my home ect .. is unfamiliar, although I do know it’s my house , just a different perspective I guess? Very hard to explain . You’re not the only one , I have these on a daily basis . Sometimes they will go away for a couple weeks and I’ll smell something or hear someone say something that sparks whatever this is and I start having them again .