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new and testing the waters

Sun, 10/22/2006 - 23:19
Hi, my online name is Sophist. I am 25, female, have Asperger's Syndrome and undiagnosed Neocortical Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, and am a psychology/neurology FANATIC. I am currently in undergrad getting my bachelors in Psychology and then plan to move onto grad school for my doctorate in Experimental Psychology (no worries to any animal activists out there; I have NO intention of ever using animals in my research). As for my epilepsy, my TLE is very very mild and I am able to keep it under control without medications. Since all my triggers are auditory (my main trigger is actually a lack of noise and dead quiet) I almost always have on some fan or something for white noise to keep my seizures from coming on (this works pretty well). Also, if one comes on even with the white noise, I am able to put on headphones and listen to some music and it magically stops. My seizure symptoms include: *head buzzing (almost like an electric current running through my brain) *tinnitus *vertigo and dizziness *blurry white flashes of light *color spots of red, purple, or yellow (very rare) *motor tics in my left arm, hand, and shoulder *knocking/slapping sounds My "aura" is almost always the head buzzing and the tinnitus. I don't know whether I have CPSs or not. If I do, they are only momentary (which as I understand it would be unusual for CPSs) which is why I'm not certain. At most I can definitely conclude I have Simple Partials. On occasion I will also have the motor tics occur alone without any sort of aura and they do not generally turn into anything more than that. My seizures are brought on by a change in my energy level (brain waves), and more specifically, when I'm tired. So unless I'm really stressed and worn out, I rarely have any seizures out of the confines of my bed. This is another reason I don't seek diagnosis or treatment because they are not impairing my life much. And since I've realized my triggers and ways of heading off or stopping my seizures, my seizures since they first started about a year and a half ago, have decreased in severity. This is good because a frequent worry for epileptics who are also autistic (as I am) is that with time, the seizures more often get worse; which is just the opposite of nonautistic epilepsy as I understand it. Welp, I guess that's about it for now. Nice to meet you all. :)

Comments

Re: Re: Hi caradee, First off, I

Submitted by Sophist on Tue, 2006-10-24 - 00:09
Whoops, sorry. Just realized THIS is www.epilepsy.com. I was thinking it was www.my.epilepsy.com 'cause of the site title.

Hi Sophist, If you read

Submitted by solis on Tue, 2006-10-24 - 01:46
Hi Sophist, If you read International Classification of Epileptic Seizures (below) you will also discover there are far more types of partial E. Many people can & do have TLE, but that does not mean they experience the same seizures. However I'm not the least surprised re: your TLE discovery, as via reading of possible impairments in cummunication skills re: autism http://www.clayforautism.com/autism-symptoms.html I've learned that a main focus on the communication effects is possible language development; and, linguistic ability is located via the left temporal lobe. PARTIAL SEIZURES A. Simple partial seizures 1. With motor signs a. Focal motor without march b. Focal motor with march (Jacksonian) c. Versive d. Postural e. Phonatory 2.With somatosensory or special-sensory symptoms a. Somatosensory b. Visual c. Auditory d. Olfactory e. Gustatory f. Vertiginous 3.With autonomic symptoms or signs 4.With psychic symptoms a. Dysphasia b. Dysmnesic c. Cognitive d. Affective e. Illusions f. Structured hallucinations B. Complex partial seizures 1. Simple partial seizures at onset, followed by impairment of consciousness a. With simple partial features b. With automatisms 2. With impairment of consciousness at onset a. With impairment of consciousness only b. With automatisms C. Partial seizures evolving to secondarily generalized seizures 1. Simple partial seizures evolving to generalized seizures 2. Complex partial seizures evolving to generalized seizures 3. Simple partial seizures evolving to complex partial seizures evolving to generalized seizures vs. II.GENERALIZED SEIZURES A. Absence seizures 1. Typical absence seizures a. Impairment of consciousness only b. With mild clonic components c. With atonic components d. With tonic components e. With automatisms f. With autonomic components 2. Atypical absence seizures B. Myoclonic seizures C. Clonic seizures D. Tonic seizures E. Tonic-clonic seizures F. Atonic seizures http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/seizures_classified.html ~sol :)

Re: Hi Sophist, If you read

Submitted by Sophist on Tue, 2006-10-24 - 12:53
Wow, that's quite a list. As for my own, I believe my focal point is around my right temporo-parietal region. And it also takes a random walk up my motor cortex, hehe. My motor tics are nonJacksonian though. For the most part they are in my hand and wrist, and sometimes my arm. But they don't "march". I tend to experience my sensory symptoms on both sides of my head/body, except for the motor tics. The right-hemi motor tics make me suspect the focal point is on the right. Also because I don't ever have language-related hallucinations. They are all just "noises", which are more associated with the right temporal lobe. Thanks again for the info, solis. :)

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