Help, could I be having seizures?

[deutsche elektronische]

Hi, I'm a 26 year old female from Chicago. I have not been diagnosed with epilepsy, but my doctor suspects that I might have a neurological disorder and has issued me an appointment for an EEG. My mother has epilepsy, but seems to have outgrown most of her symptoms. She's never really spoken to me much about her seizures, and I have never witnessed when she had one. She claims she hasn't had one since her 30's. The only disorders I have been diagnosed with are major depression, anxiety and panic disorder.

I began to wonder if I was having some sort of neurological phenomenon after I experimented with psilocybe mushrooms when I was 22. During my trip I experienced severe back pain and started experiencing visual hallucinations. The bad part was the visual symptoms never went away. I did research about what I was experiencing and discovered I was having visual snow (where I see tiny twinkling spots that look like sparkling snow or tv static) and migraine auras (where I see spectral colored zigzags, spots and blobs in my visual field for a brief second).

I started getting migraines and thought that somehow my trip made me have some sort of mild migraine disorder, I had never been prone to them or even headaches before, but was never painful or bothersome enough for me to see a doctor. Later that year I started taking Paxil for panic disorder, something I have always had. I also started smoking a lot of marijuana during this time. I would notice that sometimes after taking my medicine or smoking pot I would get tremors that would originate from my spine and make me twitch. I also noticed every once in a while I would make involuntary grunts when I was tired, but they were very quiet and only I noticed I was having them. I didn't have health insurance at the time and I was still skeptical that I could have a neurological disorder, so I just ignored it.

The end of 2009 I suffered from severe episode of major depression with psychotic features and attempted suicide. I overdosed on Paxil and was immediately hospitalized. I went through months of rehabilitation and was taken off of Paxil. Through the beginning of 2010 I was put on and off many antidepressants, all of which gave me horrible side effects. By the time summer arrived my psychiatrist agreed to put me back on Paxil, as it seemed to help me the most with panic and depression, or at least I thought.

This time my body started rejecting it. I tried for months by taking small doses, but I would start having severe nausea, diarrhea, muscle spasms and tenseness all over my body. My next bad moved involved my introduction to a new recreational drug, JWH-018, a synthetic cannabinoid, which has gotten some bad reports of causing seizures and other health issues. I felt fine the first month I started doing it, it was similar to cannabis, but the high was shorter in duration. I noticed the combination of this drug and my problems with Paxil started giving me strange experiences where I would feel like I was going to start convulsing or faint, my body would tense up, my breathing would become irregular and I would get visual disturbances.

I stopped doing both drugs cold turkey. I started having chest tightness, breathing problems, palpitations, chronic nausea, tremors, urinary problems and felt like I was going to have a seizure or black out.

One day I was walking to work and I almost stopped breathing and I almost fainted on the side walk. Every day I get horrible symptoms where I see visual snow, tunnel vision, I feel faint and dizzy, my breathing feels like it's going to stop and I have to force breathe, my heart beats irregularly or too fast, my blood pressure keeps going from high to low, I start twitching from my arms or legs or my spine, I make small involuntary grunts, I start shaking when I get even slightly nervous, I feel numb in various parts of my body, my face starts flushing, I feel sensations of hot and cold over my arms and chest, I get tenseness in my neck and shoulders, I get zapping sensations in my spine, I get short of breath when walking up stairs, I start staring off and unable to notice when people are talking to me very frequently(sort of like absence seizures), I feel like I'm going blind for brief seconds, I cannot focus and my cognition has been impaired, I feel nauseated everyday, I have delayed gastric emptying, I'm constipated and I get weird headaches on the right side of my head. I cannot believe these symptoms are only attributable to anxiety anymore. My bodily systems feel like they're malfunctioning or my brain cannot communicate properly with all of them for brief periods.

I'm shaking badly right now, just typing this.

These symptoms get worse when I consume alcohol, caffeine, cannabis or when I don't get good sleep. The only thing that makes me feel better is when I take my Xanax for anxiety.

My mom has been strangely worried about me having seizures all of a sudden over the past year, but without me telling her I think I might be having them. She doesn't like it when she sees me drinking. And I wonder if she's keeping secrets from me.

Does this sound like a neurological disorder, or am I just suffering from severe anxiety?

[Birdbomb]

Herzlich willkommen darin, mit Fallsucht Fertig zu werden!
(Welcome to Coping with Epilepsy!)


Boy do you have a laundry list of symptoms! First let me explain, we do not give diagnosis. We may relate similar symptom and experiences but only a doctor can give a diagnosis.
First, I do think a complete medical work-up is in order and
Second, stop the recreational drugs and booze, they aren't helping, only making things worse.

[deutsche elektronische]

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you that I cannot get a real diagnosis over the internet and that a doctor must evaluate me before I can get a reliable answer, that's why I'm waiting for my EEG results. I also agree that using drugs, whether recreational or pharmaceutical can have negative or even permanent effects, even on the nervous system. I'm just wondering if my symptoms even sound quasi similar to a seizure, or possible other abnormal neurological events. I'd wish that what I'm experiencing is simply anxiety, but it doesn't resemble the experiences I've had with panic disorder throughout my life. But most importantly I'm interested in understanding what it's like to have epilepsy, since I do have a family member who has it. It's just not easy for her to talk to me about it.

[Meetz1064]

are some things that you mention that sound like seizure activity, as there are some things that sound like aura and migraine-like activity. You really will have to wait for the doctor's answer, though.

I do think that you need to sit down, and have a long heart to heart with your mom, no matter how hard it is for both of you. It will do the both of you good. Perhaps her nervousness is based on her previous behaviors that may be similar to what you're doing now???????

Also, you should just start keeping track of EVERYTHING. Write it ALL down, so that you have a clue what's going on when, what could possibly have caused what, etc. Triggers abound for seizures--light, food, lack of sleep--in addition to drug use, etc.

And yes, cutting out the drugs and booze is definitely a GREAT idea.

Let us know how things are going. We'll be here for ya.

Meetz

[Nakamova]

Hi de, welcome!
I agree with the things Meetz has said -- there are some symptoms that might be seizure-related (zapping sensation, twitches, spacing out, migraines), but others that are less so. Anxiety/panic attacks could also cause some of the symptoms you describe, and might also be the result of them. When you start to feel faint, or have breathing/heart issues, you might try deep-breathing techniques. (These can be very helpful for some kinds of seizures as well as anxiety). Breathe in deep through the nose, hold it for 3-5 seconds, then exhale long & all the way through my mouth. Do this for a few minutes.

Keep us posted on how the EEG goes.

Best,
Nakamova

[deutsche elektronische]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm very nervous about my EEG. I'm worried the test might not be long enough to catch an episode if I am really having them, but then I'm also worried they will find something.

The thing that's weird about my migraines is that I get the auras, but usually no pain. I only get one full on migraine about once a month, they don't usually hurt that terribly bad or last very long, although the visual hallucinations can linger for hours to days. My vision turns grayish when they happen and I feel floaty like I'm dreaming, or that what's going on around me isn't real.

[Nakamova]

Before I had my first grand mal seizure, I used to get migraines that consisted of scintillating scotoma (flashing zigzags in my field of vision) but little or no headache. "Headache-less" migraines are not that uncommon. In addition, certain kinds of seizures consist of auras, not necessarily followed by other kinds of seizures. These auras are called Simple Partial Seizures and they can take many forms. You can read about them in this thread: Experience AURA or AURAS?

[Rae1889]

You can always request a 24-48 hour EEG or even an in-patient week long EEG.

I agree with the above posters, stop the drugs and alcohol. and that yes, some symptoms sounds like seizures, but others not.

In fact, this sounds (mostly) what my aunt experience while she was being diagnosed with MS. She only got her diagnosis when one morning she was completely blind. Seemingly out of nowhere. I would push for an MRI or CT scan as well. also requst a full blood work and cancer check (just to be sure if they have no answers from the EEG right away)

It is in my opinion, one of the first things a doctor should order when someone comes in with neurological symptoms. A virus and cancer check as well as an MRI.

[epileric]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm very nervous about my EEG. I'm worried the test might not be long enough to catch an episode if I am really having them

You may not need to have a seizure while hooked up. All they need is to find evidence of your neurons firing abnormally & they will probably do a few things to provoke that like hold a strobe light in front of you that flashes at various speeds.

[deutsche elektronische]

MS is another thing I am worried about. My mom said something about it running in our family, but never disclosed who or how many have it.

My primary doctor thought I might have fibromyalgia, but never ran any tests for it. I don't think that's what I have, as I don't have disabling pain in my body, but I guess it's a possibility. I'm currently on medicines that are prescribed for fibro and they don't seem to be helping much.