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Is It a Seizure?

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stabile

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 5
Location: Pennsylvania
Is It a Seizure?
Posted: 06-19-04 22:03pm

The doctors have all tested me for seizures and no seizure activity has been found. I'm not sure what happens but if anyone has experienced anything like this, please share...

It first starts with my heart beating weird and hard, there's pain in my chest. Then it moves up my throat and to my face. I experience pain in my face and very suddenly I black out. When I black out it is painful in my face. It feels like my face is "asleep" and my tounge also. I have very vivid dreams while out. It only lasts several seconds, but it seems like longer and when I wake up sometimes I don't know where I am. People have told me that once my arm was moving uncontrollably and my eyes rolling. I was in a car once and my elbow kept hitting the window. I was in a pool once and I kept rolling around in the water. It happened once in the middle of the night and I came to with a gash on my head, not sure how it happened. The only good part is that I can feel when it's coming on, twice I was in a car but each time I had enough time to pull over. These started when I was 10 and happen maybe twice a year sometimes more (i'm 30). When the first one happened at 10 they took me to the er and ran an ekg and said no seizure activity was found. I had another one in my 20's and they said it wasn't seizures again. They have no idea what's happening and have also tested my heart. Any ideas?
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sandyallen

Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 4580

Posted: 06-19-04 23:17pm

Are you stressed, anxious, depressed, sometimes this can cause problems too!
Sincerely,
sandy
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stabile

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 5
Location: Pennsylvania

Posted: 06-20-04 15:14pm

Thanks for the response, but stress doesn't seem to be a factor. I don't think it's a panic attack. I don't have depression and everything else is going great! Thanks again for responding...
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sami_1982

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 200
Location: Australia

Posted: 06-21-04 01:00am

Hello stabile

i believe that what you are having are seizures. No one can say you are or you arent.
Mine began in late october 2003
and now they have not stopped, no one in my family has them. They just came upon me. Confused I am female and I am 21.
I have had all the tests and I still keep having them I am on a med combo at the moment and this new neuro wants to take me off one med. Confused I was all like he is crazy. I still have 2 a week. Better then what I was having b4 wich was 7 per day.
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Kathyalison

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Apr 2004
Posts: 64
a Comment And a Question
Posted: 06-21-04 11:43am

Hi stabile,
i too think that what you are experiencing are seizures. One of the difficult things about any seizure condition is that it rarely can be determined how it started...It just does. I was diagnosed with petit mal when I was 7 (i'm now 2Cool when I was 19 tonic seizures began pretty much out of the blue. All along they have not been able to identify why I have seizures. I've had eegs done and they show seizure activity. But when I had an mri done they saw nothing abnormal. This is one thing I find frustrating...Not knowing why the condition exists.
The are such things as non-epileptic seizures however, I don't know enough about them to give you any accurate information. It might be something to look into though.

Sami...I was wondering, what kind of seizures do you have?
Kathy
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stabile

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 5
Location: Pennsylvania
Thanks...
Posted: 06-21-04 22:24pm

Yes, I think the most difficult thing is just not knowing. Thanks for the response, this is the first time i've tried this. 20 years of not knowing what's wrong with me. And I don't know anyone who has seizures to be able to compare. My last doctor told me "let me know when it happens again". I told him it could be a year. Seemed kinda like he didn't know, didn't care, or didn't believe me.

I did some reading about them and found that seizures will never be painful. I'm not sure if that's true. This is why I think mine are different. Has anyone ever had pain? Can you also tell when your about to have one? What does a seizure feel like to you? Do you dream?
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sami_1982

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 200
Location: Australia
Stabile And Kathyalison
Posted: 06-21-04 22:46pm

Hi
my seizures are grand mal, full body convulsions. The doctors think that I have temporal lobe epilepsy, I have never had any abnormal reading on a eeg test. I have had sleep deprived eeg,mri,ct. And nothing abnormal, blood tests, heart tests and all normal. I am the only one in my family that has this. Sad
i know that I can be aware of what is going on sometimes, it scares me to death, when I feel my body uncontrolably convulsing, and I have no control over myself. Sometimes after a lim has been paralysed. I also feel so tired that I can sleep for ages and ages. I can have up to 10 hrs sleep. One dr says I am epileptic the next says I have emotional issues. I am not stressed out or nothing.
Although my very first eeg reading when I was not on medications showed that there was severe stress waves in the 15-17 electrodes. I dont know what that meant.
The neurologist was to busy on the telephone instead of talking to me about why I am like I am all of a sudden.
Prehaps it is all anxiety and I panic and cause myself to seize.
I remember one time when I was about 12 I was on a school camp and I was in a small canoe and I tipped over. I couldnt get out I was stuck upside down underwater. I got panicked and then the staff of the camp helped me out.
I guess I get the same feeling of being stuck somewhere I cant get back from so I guess thats my dream like state, I just hate it.
I have hillucinations, visual, and I hear my name being called alot like a whisper, my eyes blur in and out of vision. I just am scared. I dont want to feel like this again.
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SleepyJen

New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 41
Location: NYC

Posted: 06-22-04 00:40am

Hi stabile,

i also think these could be seizures. There's really no sure way to know unless you had one of those episodes during an eeg. Even people with epilepsy can have perfectly normal eeg results (if they're not seizing at the time of the test). What kind of doctors have you been discussing your problem with? Even neurologists often misdiagnose epilepsy. (a handful of them misdiagnosed me.) I recommend that you have a consultation with an epileptologist. He/she can probably help to clear up this question for you.

Best of luck,
jen
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Kathyalison

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Apr 2004
Posts: 64
Responding to Can Seizures Be Painful?
Posted: 06-22-04 06:26am

Hi stabile,
for me when seizures happen I am unconcious so I don't feel any pain. I remember when one started one time, I fell against the wall as it began. I remeber thinking.."oh, that probably hurt" but of course hadn't felt anything because I was only a second away from being unconcious. Other times I have bitten my cheek, which when I wake up is sore, but I never feel it happening. Often times i'm so tired afterwards that all I can do is sleep. There have been times that my whole body ached from being so stiff. I never convulse, but rather completely stiffen and jolt a little bit. I saw my neuro the other day (who fortunately is really great and supportive) and he always tells me he's intrigued by my case because I don't fit any classic case at all. Wierd.
Anyhow, that's how I "don't feel" if you will.
Hope I answered a question.
Kathy
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