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Need help/advise with seizures
Sat, 06/19/2004 - 14:30Topic: Family & Friends
About 5 years ago i was a heavy drug abuser. Ecstacy (MDMA), LSD, Marijuana and LOTS of Crystal Meth. On 2 seperate meth binges i remember taking so much that i developed a form of psycosis for a few hrs, extreme paranoia and panic. I have been clean for like 3 years now. About 2 years ago i noticed that every time i smoked weed i felt something was terribly wrong. My body would tingle, my limbs would jerk or tremble slightly and i would do repeated physical movements (such as put my hand on my forehead or pace the floor), i felt like every neuron in my body was "misfiring" and that i was short circuiting.. that was the only way to explain it. I went to a physician who said these were panic attacks. I quit smoking weed and they went away. About 2-3 weeks ago i took some unisom because i was having trouble sleeping and got one of these episodes that was one of the worst yet, and it continued through then night and at work.... i went to the doctor from work and he assumed it was a panic attack again and prescribed me xanax. I am positive these are seizures (probably clonic) and not panic attacks based on my symptoms... but heres the part i dont get. I get them every day now since that incident. For about 2 weeks straight. I have to take the xanax to make them stop (because xanax slows the nervous system down thats why im assuming they are working), but they happen every single day now. I have tried to hold out for hours (up to 3 or 4) to see if they go away on their own but they dont.. they get worse and worse till i finally have to give in. I would already have gone to a doctor but my insurance at work was dropped a month ago.... can anyone tell me why i get these daily, and how i should go about getting treated with no medical insurance? any help would be more than appreciated... thank you.
RE: Need help/advise with seizures
Submitted by mexican_fire on Sat, 2004-06-19 - 14:30
I can't say for sure what was going on with you. People that are heavy drug abusers with the junk you were using can have seizures as a result in quittng the drugs. Those are referred to as 'withdrawl seizures", also the trembling you get and shaking, could be the tremors associated with drug withdrawl, and you can have a panic attack with that as well. VERY common to have happen. I am an EMT, and saw over loaded people of all ages, so I have seen this.Clonic seizues you would not be conscious for, they are exactly like grand mal, except there is no alternation between stiffening and jerking, it is all jerking. Tonic seizures are the opposite, where your whole body will stiffen or certain parts will, and you are sort of out of it, but you are not completely unconsious.Myoclonic seizures are lighteing fast, and your limbs and abdomen, will suddenly jerk real fast and it is over in about 10-15 seconds, or less, and you remain conscious.Absence are those staring spells seen most frequently in children and are usually out grown in the early 20s, only to turn into something else further on in life. There is gelastic seizures which are characterized by either uncontrolled fits of laghter or crying for no reason at all.Then there are the partial seizures--simple and complex.Those are the weird and bizarre ones, and I am the owner of both types.Simple partial seizures are small seizures that can occur alone, or as a warning for the complex type. In the seizure itself people call it an aura, and in an aura it affect pretty much all of the 5 senses. People can smell strange things, taste strange things, hear and see things that are not there. They can have a sense of deja vu, meaning the setting they are in has become suddenly strage and they feel as though they have been there at another time, and then they can also have Je mais vu, meaning that the familiar stuff is suddenly strange as though they have never seen it before, and visual problems such as seeing things as bigger than they are, or smaller than they.I smell urine and dust.I wander in my complex partial seizures, and do strange non purposeful things or acts to either myelf or something.Also taking some of those illegal drugs is a huge trigger in seizure prone people, even if they never had one in their life, that could be what triggers it.It is in the literature everywhere about seizure triggeres.Nancy