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Seizures vs. Fainting

Thu, 10/01/2009 - 09:58

I'm new to this whole "seizure" thing and after undergoing an EEG yesterday, I have some questions. A good friend of mine named Samantha has Epilepsy but her opinion differs from that of the ER doctors. Here is what happened:

 

Sunday morning, shortly after waking up (maybe an hour later), I decided to take a hot shower. While I know that heat can cause fainting, I've never had issues with even dizziness in a warm shower. All of a sudden, my head started to feel extremely heavy. I thought to myself "maybe some air would make me feel better". Holding my head, I got out of the shower where it was cooler. This was no relief, and I grabbed onto the counter to stabilize myself, thinking I'd snap out of it. All of a sudden I knew I needed to lie down and I started to open the door. The next thing I recall, I was laying down and it was dark. I heard my boyfriend saying "Jen... Jen.. Are you okay?" This made no sense, I thought I was still in bed so why would he be asking if i was okay? My vision came back and I saw that he was above me and I was on the floor. I still didn't know what happened. He explained that I called his name and fell. I don't remember any of it. I evidently fell forward, bouncing my chest/arms off a counter, which rolled me over, and I fell straight onto my back. While I was laying there, my eyes were still open but I wasn't "there". He said that I was shaking but he couldn't explain it or the severity. I felt really tired and weak after and he picked me up and laid me on the couch. I spent the next 15 minutes crying alot and feeling very scared and confused. After that settled, he decided to drive me home. I didn't feel good all day and eventually took a nap because I was so tired.

The next morning I was feeling better and decided to go to my college classes for the day. On my way to school, I remember a four way outside of my house and that's about it. I felt like I "woke up", sort of how it feels to come out of anesthia. I didn't know where I was or how I got there. I thought maybe I just blanked out and wasn't paying attention, but I honestly had no idea where I was. I also tried to think back and remember the drive because once I figured out where I was, I knew that I had to have made a sharp left turn, and I don't remember it at all.

I haven't fell well for a week weeks so my mom had a doctor appointment scheduled for tuesday after I fainted sunday, but after this second episode, my family doctor recommended that I go straight to the ER. Here they did an EKG and took blood work, all of which was normal. They determined that sunday I merely fainted and that the issue monday may have been an absence seizure. They recommended me to a neurologist for tomorrow and had an EEG done yesterday.

During the EEG, I had some issues. I felt fine during the beginning while I was just relaxing but then they started testing with the strobe lights. When they were slow, my eye started to twitch. I have problems with this sort of "tic" often. When they'd pause between the lights, I felt like I was laying on the floor and someone was grabbing my feet and spinning me in circles. The lights sped up and my right leg started to shake. The faster the lights went, the worse my leg got. Then my arm began to shake and jerk. Eventually when the lights got to be almost too much, it felt like my back was arching and the muscles across my abs hurt. They were really tense. I didn't lose conciousness at all. With the hyperventialing, the symtpoms got worse. My mother thinks I was just anxious, as I've had problems with panic attacks in the past. I don't think this was it. I felt horrible all day after the test and slept at least 10 hours last night. I also felt shaky and have weird muscle spasms afterwards. Trying to sleep, my leg kept jerking. This reaction concerns me a little.

I was just wondering if either of these episdoes sound like seizures, and if my reaction to the EEG was abnormal. I see the neurologist tomorrow afternoon but I'm naturally a little worried at how I am feeling. I never thought I had problems with seizures but like I said, my eye has always twitched and someones my whole body jerks for a second. I didn't realize any of that was abnormal. The driving spell has also happened before but I thought maybe I was just tired or not focusing. It didn't scare me until after my episode Sunday.

Any insight would be great.

Comments

I've had epilepsy for almost

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2014-04-21 - 10:25
I've had epilepsy for almost 7 years now and what you described is what I experienced. Some people don't start showing more noticeable symptoms until after they turn 18. I had 'blank spells' forever until after turning 18 then I got tics and twitches and finally a gran mal seizure.

Same symptoms as my first

Submitted by katelleirish@yahoo.com on Fri, 2015-03-20 - 16:51
Same symptoms as my first seizures. They started at age 52 out of the blue. On medication now, which helps. I still have fainting spells but don't black out completely, just feelings like I am going to faint. All my labs, ct, mri, sugar....were normal but EEG showed seizure activity.

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