New name for an old problem

[scholastic]

Hello everyone. I am very happy to be here. I am 45 and have had symptoms of seizures since childhood, and practiced medicine for 15 years but never put any of it together as seizures until I failed my EEG test a few days ago and finally had frank symptoms while awake.
Now the analytical side of me loves the name simple partial seizure, and simple complex seizure, but the dramatic side of me wants to call these things something like super mega brain flairs without loss of consciousness of the non grand mal type.
I'm going to poke around this site and try to figure out where to ask a question about auras - the auras are really getting to me, have had several seizures since the test as I can't get out of this sleep deprived state.
schola.

 

[arnie]

Hello, and welcome to CWE! I think a number of us here, including myself, had unrecognized seizures long before we were actually diagnosed with epilepsy. I'm glad you're at a point now where you and your docs are getting things figured out.
I'll start off my comments with my recent soapbox issue, and that is to see an epileptologist for diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, and not a regular neurologist. Here's a link to a thread I started which explains my reasoning behind that:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/get-thee-epileptologist-23319/
Next, I was wondering what your seizures are like. You talked about simple partial, complex partial (not simple complex), and auras. There is some crossover and confusion in terminology, but most accurately an "aura" is a partial seizure which precedes a generalized seizure. If you have a partial seizure which does not develop into a generalized one, it is a seizure and not an aura, just a seizure all by itself. Here is a link to a good definition and explanation of seizure types:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_types
When they talk about "impairment of consciousness" in complex partial seizures, it does not necessarily mean that you lose consciousness, only that you are doing some things of which you are not consciously aware.
Finally, it's a really good idea to keep a seizure diary. I've kept records of the times I've had seizures pretty much since I was diagnosed 32 years ago. They have been very simple paper records, but one of the good folks on here (I forget who now. Impaired memory is very common among people with epilepsy) recently posted a link to a seizure tracker site. I really encourage you to use it. It's a fantastic tool. I wish I would have been able to use it years, even decades ago. Here's the link:
https://www.seizuretracker.com/
Well, that's all for now. Best of luck with your journey. Learn all you can about epilepsy and be willing to be your own advocate. And see an epileptologist!

Onward!

 

[scholastic]

Thank you so much. I will take every word to heart. I have tons to learn, obviously, and Things are still revealing themselves in the light of day during this period of sleep deprivation that I just can't seem to get over.
I will get me to an epileptologist.

They start with the left side of my face or mouth pulling to the left, then my left hand and arm flex, then my left leg, starts twitching, then my trunk flexes, sometimes my right side gets involved too. Sometimes they are preceeded with a nice floating feeling, sometimes the floating turns into floating and spinning on one axis, then 2, prior to the whole face arm, leg thing. Sometimes it is just my face, for a few seconds. The longest one has been about 2.5 minutes.
Schola

 

[Cint]

Welcome Scholastic,

Lots of folks with seizures have auras. A simple partial seizure is actually an aura. I've had Simple partial seizures that go into a complex partial. Check out this website for the best info on simple partial seizures:
http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-seizures/simple-partial-seizures

 

[Cint]

They start with the left side of my face or mouth pulling to the left, then my left hand and arm flex, then my left leg, starts twitching, then my trunk flexes, sometimes my right side gets involved too. Sometimes they are preceeded with a nice floating feeling, sometimes the floating turns into floating and spinning on one axis, then 2, prior to the whole face arm, leg thing. Sometimes it is just my face, for a few seconds. The longest one has been about 2.5 minutes.
Schola

This sounds to me like a complex partial. That floating feeling is the simple partial, or 'aura'.

 

[arnie]

They start with the left side of my face or mouth pulling to the left, then my left hand and arm flex, then my left leg, starts twitching, then my trunk flexes, sometimes my right side gets involved too. Sometimes they are preceeded with a nice floating feeling, sometimes the floating turns into floating and spinning on one axis, then 2, prior to the whole face arm, leg thing. Sometimes it is just my face, for a few seconds. The longest one has been about 2.5 minutes.
Schola

Sounds like it has some elements of a Jacksonian seizure as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_seizure

 

[scholastic]

You called it. Had a perfect example of a Jacksonian March Seizure a couple days after my last post, told the Neurologist that I got a Second Opinion from and was started on Lamictal for it. It stopped the day time events once I got to 100 mg per day, but still having some noc events.
Thank you everyone for your help, it has and I am sure, will continue to be invaluable.

 

[scholastic]

Oh and you guys probably already know this but 75% of ictal EEG's are normal with clonic seizures except for the muscle movement, per medlink neuro.