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1-2 Second Seizures? Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 11:34
One year ago, I was diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Prior to starting Lamictal (200mg) I experienced deja-vu / sense of familiarity / dual consciousness episodes which lasted between 3-6 minutes. They were followed by foggy / memory and cognition deficiencies that would last a few hours. My question. Since starting Lamictal, these episodes have been kept under control, but recently (after engaging with psychedelics) I have started experiencing brief glimpses of these episodes. They only last 1-2 seconds. I get the initial sense of it coming on, the familiar scene getting ready to play itself out, but then it's gone. Has anyone else experienced such short episodes? I am wondering how concerned I should be. My guess is the longer the duration, the more impact it will have on my brain functioning. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts or experiences.

Comments

Hi, Thank you for posting.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2020-05-22 - 13:19
Hi, Thank you for posting. Please talk to your doctor about these questions and how this may impact your individual treatment plan. The effects and risks of so-called recreational drugs vary greatly, they may directly affect the brain and seizures or interact with seizure medications, which can lead to bothersome and potentially dangerous problems .https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizures/drug-abuse . For additional support, please contact our 24/7 Helpline, where trained information specialists are available to answer your questions,offer help, hope, guidance, and access to national and local resources. 1-800-332-1000, or contactus@efa.org. epilepsy.com/helpline . Or contact your local EpilepsyFoundation: https://www.epilepsy.com/affiliates

Thank you for the reply

Submitted by seamuspg on Fri, 2020-05-22 - 16:03
Thank you for the reply (albeit extremely general and possibly automated?)  Regardless, yes I am in constant contact with my neurologist. He did not have an answer for me, which is why I am interested in hearing anyone's personal experiences with a similar presentation. 

I haven’t had 1-2 second

Submitted by Patriotrehab on Fri, 2020-05-22 - 21:12
I haven’t had 1-2 second seizures, but I have had periods of time where my seizure medication seems to be helping or after titrating off very slowly of a medication where I will have very brief seizures and sometimes they are close together. I do have deja-vu seizures as well as other types of seizures. But, I would say that when my seizures are “very brief” for me, they still last at least 5-10 seconds and they are usually come in clusters, so it may actually only be 1 seizure that I experience as a few seizures over a minute or so, whereas a typical seizure for me can be anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes. I also don’t ever use recreational drugs or even alcohol, so I can’t relate to the use of psychedelics and what kind of effect that might have on seizures and cognition, etc. 

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