Hi, Im new

[Zuri]

k

[RobinN]

Hi Zuri - Welcome to CWE.
There are a few folks on board here that have nocturnal seizures. My daughter isn't one of them. Hers are late morning for the most part, and full tonic clonic seizures. She also is very confused afterwards, but some are not so bad.

I hope you have a good visit on Tues. I will be interested to hear about your clinic. I know nothing about sleepwalking.

We all do understand and are here to share in your journey. I hope that you find a lot of good info here.

Robin

[Bernard]

Hi Zuri, welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you are having complex partial seizures and maybe absence seizures too.

Make yourself at home here.

[forward2007]

Hi Zuri. I have most of my seizures at night too and am a sleepwalker too. Good luck finder out more from the Dr.

[Zuri]

Thanks everyone. Im reading around here - so generalized can go into a partial seizure ?

[Zuri]

I think I might have meant that the other way around lol.

[Bernard]

No, an MRI is used to search for physical problems like scar tissue, lesions, tumors, cysts, etc. An MRI does not record epileptiform brain activity or conscious states.

The quote about impaired consciousness applies to the time period during the seizure. If you are aware of what's happening during the seizure, you have impaired consciousness. If you are unaware of what's happening, you are not conscious at all during the seizure.

[Bernard]

Definitely sound like you could be experiencing complex partial seizures (complex partial seizures). Hopefully your sleep test will yield some answers for you.

[brain]

Thanks everyone. Im reading around here - so generalized can go into a partial seizure ?

Zuri!

Welcome to CWE!

Yes it can go that way or the other way
around. I have them both ways! What
you are sounding like you are having Complex
Partials that are secondary generalizing; and/or
Simple Partials that are secondary generalizing
into Complex Partials.

And yes it is possible to have a Tonic Clonic
secondary generalizing into Complex Partials
or vice versa. I've had them.

This may assist you FURTHER in more details:

NEUROLOGY CHANNEL - Understanding Epilepsy & Seizures

[brain]

To Quote from Neurology Channel:

Simple Partials:

Symptoms may be motor, sensory, psychic (states of consciousness), and/or autonomic (involuntary activity controlled by the autonomic nervous system). There is no impairment of consciousness in simple partial seizures.

Motor signs include the following:

* alternating contraction and relaxation of muscle groups
* eye movements and turning of the head to the same side
* asymmetrical posturing of the limbs
* speech arrest, vocalization

Sensory symptoms include the following:

* seeing flashes of lights or colors, illusions and hallucinations
* hearing humming, buzzing, hissing noises
* experiencing unpleasant odors and tastes
* dizziness, lightheadedness

Autonomic signs and symptoms include the following:

* borborygmi (rumbling noises produced by gas in the intestines)
* flushing
* incontinence
* nausea, vomiting
* piloerection (goose bumps)
* pupillary dilation
* sweating
* tachycardia (rapid heart rate)

Psychic symptoms include the following:

* detachment, depersonalization
* dreamy state
* memory distortion: flashback, deja vu (feeling that one has seen something before), deja entendu (feeling that one has heard something before), jamais vu (feeling that one has never seen something that is familiar), jamais entendu (feeling that one has never heard something that is familiar), panoramic vision (rapid recall of past events)
* time distortion
* unprovoked emotion: fear, pleasure, displeasure, depression, anger, elation, eroticism

Complex Partials:

Loss of consciousness distinguishes complex partial seizures from simple partial seizures. While unconscious, the patient may have "vacant" or "frightened" look and may have signs and symptoms of a simple partial seizure. Automatisms may occur during unconsciousness.

There are five types of automatisms:

* Alimentary: chewing, increased salivation, borborygmi (rumbling noises caused by gas in the intestines)
* Mimetic: facial expressions of fear, bewilderment, discomfort, tranquility, laughter, crying
* Gestural: repetitive movements of the hands, fingers, sexual gestures
* Ambulatory: wandering, running
* Verbal: repeated short phrases or swearing

Patients who have had complex partial seizures over a period of years may develop drop attacks. When this occurs, they lose postural tone and fall with the sudden onset of unconsciousness.

Complications—Complex partial seizures are easily triggered by emotional stress. The limbic structures (i.e., hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala) of the brain may be damaged by seizure activity. The limbic system is concerned with emotion and motivation.

These patients may develop cognitive and behavioral difficulties, such as the following:

* Interictal personality: humorlessness, dependence, obsessions, anger, hypo- or hypersexuality, emotionality
* Memory loss: short-term memory loss attributable to dysfunction in the hippocampus, anomia (inability to recall words or names of objects)
* Poriomania: prolonged aimless wandering followed by amnesia
* Violent behavior: aggression and defensiveness when subjected to restraint during a seizure

[Zuri]

I just have to say that its all very bizarre. & I really have been thinking that Im just going completely crazy.

[Bernard]

Complex Partials:

Loss of consciousness distinguishes complex partial seizures from simple partial seizures. ...

There are five types of automatisms:

* Alimentary: chewing, increased salivation, borborygmi (rumbling noises caused by gas in the intestines)
My daughter says Ive done the chewing thing. Why is it that I havent noticed this ?

See the highlighted part. As a partner of someone with epilepsy, I can tell you it gets REALLY, REALLY OLD having to listen to my wife argue with me when I tell her she just had a complex partial seizure (after she has recovered). She isn't conscious through them and it's as if they didn't happen as far as she is concerned.

[Bernard]

If I have the partials - & after awhile of being on meds - am I going to feel better ? Ive felt this way for as long as I can remember & Im kind of pi$$ed no one noticed this before - of course I hid too as an adult. But my emotional stuff - if its related - could I feel better with meds after some time ? I wonder how much of my stuff I can attribute to epilepsy .....

2 - Most people don't know what a complex partial seizure is, so they wouldn't recognize one happening.

3 - I don't think anti-epileptic drugs really help anyone process emotional issues (trauma/psych/etc.)

1 - If the meds control the seizures, you will likely feel better from the lack of seizures (and be safer from possible kindling - worsening of seizures or generalization of the seizures into full blown tonic clonic seizures). You may however, experience adverse (side) effects from the drugs. It's a quality of life equation that all patients must consider.

[RobinN]

Zuri -

If I have the partials - & after awhile of being on meds - am I going to feel better ? Ive felt this way for as long as I can remember & Im kind of pi$$ed no one noticed this before - of course I hid too as an adult. But my emotional stuff - if its related - could I feel better with meds after some time ? I wonder how much of my stuff I can attribute to epilepsy .....

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend that you read a book that I just finished.
Epilepsy: a new approach by Adrienne Richard and Dr Joel Reiter.
http://www.amazon.com/Epilepsy-New-A...6139535&sr=8-1
It is a fascinating workbook and an insight into helping yourself.

This self-help program offers people with epilepsy and those who love them a chance to regain control of their lives.

I just wish they would consider doing an updated Part II

[Zuri]

I can tell you it gets REALLY, REALLY OLD having to listen to my wife argue with me when I tell her she just had a complex partial seizure (after she has recovered). She isn't conscious through them and it's as if they didn't happen as far as she is concerned.

lol Im sorry thats funny.

[Zuri]

Thanks a lot Robin - I will get that - sounds like a good idea.

& Thank you again & again Bernard.

[brain]

See the highlighted part. As a partner of someone with epilepsy, I can tell you it gets REALLY, REALLY OLD having to listen to my wife argue with me when I tell her she just had a complex partial seizure (after she has recovered). She isn't conscious through them and it's as if they didn't happen as far as she is concerned.

LOL @ Bernard - I'm guilty of that too!
(Blush) I've argued with everyone that I DID NOT
do that or this .. whether my son, ex, Medical
Personnel, even my own Doctors who all witnessed
it!

-------------------------------------


Zuri:

You don't always know - but as for the lights,
it's like an aura to me; I have several postings
on this forum that speaks of the kaleidoscopic
lights, and the blue light that comes out in a
nano-second, a round dot of light - before a
complex partial begins.

As for the wandering - I do that, and I have to
be watched and observed and I have absolutely
no idea what I'm doing.

I mumble, utter pure nonsense, slur my words,
repeat myself, my face would be blank or no
expression, and it would be totally bizarre! It
effects my behavior - everything around me, but
I have no memory of it at all. It does not last
long, but I do have the urge to go to sleep once
it's all over and I go into a deep sleep.

Then there's so much more on top of it. It's
really strange - and like Bernard posted, I find
myself arguing with them; and I think they're
exaggerating or telling fish stories ...

BUT BERNARD IS TELLING THE TRUTH!

As a poster posted in the Epilepsy eCommunities
Forum posted:

Epilepsy takes you for a very strange ride!

[RobinN]

It seems a necessity non the less.. and it is a good idea to go in when you believe the time is most likely to help you, not when it is convenient.

[brain]

ZURI:

Just so you don't get the wrong idea:
The list below you do not have to have
every single thing on that list to have it,
I don't. Those are merely examples of
the common episodes or signs of complex partial's.

[RobinN]

YUM! I love Thai food...just not sure if they are flowing free with the MSG products like Chinese food is.

Rebecca use to be seizeing more around her period too, and sometimes around ovulation. The bio-identical progesterone seems to be helping. She had none this month.
Of course when she went in for the 24 hr video EEG they did not suggest that we do it during that time. I think they already had their minds made up, and only did the test to satisfy me.

Is that you in your avatar? Are you a dancer?