Temporal Lobe Seizures or Partial?

[Momcat62]

Hi, all. Newbie here. :/ I have had a strange history of "weird" stuff. I am 48, female, married with kids. I posted my history and symptoms in my profile. I will do it again at the bottom here. I recent;y saw a Neurologist for a weird thing that happened to me a couple of yrs ago. I call it my "I woke Up in Walmart" story! Suddenly, I was in the middle of WM with a cart, standing there, in fear, had no idea WHERE I was, or how I got there. I couldn't speak. I was so embarrassed, hoping no one was watching. (neurologist said it could have been a seizure, so I am having a an EEG next month.) I have also fainted several times as kid. My parents never witnessed the episodes. I told my mom but she just kind of blew it off. The neurologist is going to do an EEG next month. I am so frustrated. Going to work is so hard. (Coincidentally, I work with a child with epilepsy.) I just feel awful: faint-like, dizzy, nauseated, strange smells occasionally, spaciness, etc. My question...What will an EEG tell? That I have had or have seizures, if that's what they are? And, do these symptoms below sound like seizure activity?

• Recently DX with “Silent Migraines” (family history of migraines, but full blown, not silent)
• Neurologist wants to do an EEG due to my “episode” in Walmart (SEE BELOW) around 2008…
•
• 7: fainted: kids laughing, seizure?
• 12: Fainted, ended up under cabinet away from where I was originally in the bathroom, seizure?
• 14: fainted, hit head on wall?... (saw "stars"), seizure?
• 15: fainted
• occasional ringing in ears, sound muffled a bit with dizziness (no sign of ear infection at the time)
• daydreamer, constantly in school
• had "visions" of things, frequent deja vu,
• feelings of faintness, dizziness, chill/heat in my neck, black edges
• anxiety, Awareness: noticing everything such as number of trees, aware of every single branch on each tree, and every cloud and its outline, most often with a feeling of panic.
• Walmart episode: "Suddenly", I was in the store (WM), holding onto my cart, (in the middle of the store.) Looking around, didn't remember how I got there, or where I was. Feeling: fear, like I couldn't speak, body rigid/stiff, almost like I stopped breathing. Is this Jamais Vu??
• sometimes weird smells like a smell directly IN my nose...stale, empty smell, like sinuses, faint bleachy smell (I don’t purchase/use bleach in my home) just before feeling faint.
• hard to concentrate, find the right word. Sometimes substitute a word (saying “pins” when I meant “shoes”, etc.) or saying a word incorrectly, like putting the accent on a different syllable, and not being able to “spit” it out quickly, as if in slow motion. EX: CANNISTER was can – ISTER, the other day.
• Headache in temple areas, and sometimes a sharp, burning, stabbing pain in the back of my head that lasts for about 10 seconds. Makes me feel dizzy, faint, and I have to grab a hold of something before I fall down.
• A few times feels like I am walking sideways, like the room is tilted.

[epileric]

What you described at the Wal-Mart sounds a lot like a seizure. I know I have the same trouble speaking after the larger ones. Sometimes I say the wrong words like you did & make no sense, other times I don't even form words & other times I feel like I know how to speak but I can't remember any word.

There does seem to be a connection between epilepsy & migraines. Check out the rest of the site. I think someone mentioned it in the library but using the "search" option at the top is usually pretty helpful.

Also, I moved your post to the foyer so you can get a good welcome here.

[ColmanMac]

Hi Momcat62- Have just picked up on ur msg - Sorry but welcome nonetheless - Am on iPod @ the mo & unable 2 venture further on Ur post but will respond l8r today - BW; Col.

[Nakamova]

Hey Momcat62, welcome to CWE!

Walmart seems to be a seizure trigger for a lot of folks -- in particular because of the fluorescent lighting. Don't know if that played a role in your case. A number of the symptoms you mention can be auras characteristic of temporal lobe epilepsy. The EEG may confirm that diagnosis, which would help your neurologist determine the next course for treatment (usually meds). EEGs aren't foolproof -- some folks who definitely have epilepsy never have a positive EEG -- but they can help confirm what you suspect about your past episodes, and give some guidance for the future.

Let us know how it goes with the EEG, and keep asking questions -- information is a great way to get a handle on a seizure disorder.

Best,
Nakamova

[RobinN]

I had a history of migraine 30+ years. I have not had one in 5 years since I began taking magnesium. Many of your symptoms can be due to magnesium deficiency.
Easy enough to supplement it as a trial.

[Endless]

Momcat,

It sounds like some of your symptoms could be epilepsy. The ones where you lose consciousness or can't remember it are complex partials. The rest simple partials. Some of what you are experiencing could also be migraine auras.

An EEG may or may not show abnormal waves, even if you are experiencing seizures. temporal lobe and frontal lobe seizures are particularly known for this.

“About half of patients with epilepsy will have normal EEG's because brain waveforms can change with time. A repeat EEG may be necessary until I find an abnormality, or until I'm satisfied the EEG is in fact normal,”

http://www.tgmc.com/patient_care/neurology.aspx

A person may never have an abnormal EEG if the seizures are happening too deep in the brain for the electrodes to pick up.

Looking around, didn't remember how I got there, or where I was. Feeling: fear, like I couldn't speak, body rigid/stiff, almost like I stopped breathing. Is this Jamais Vu??

When you don't recognize where you are (the place is familiar), but you don't recognize it, that is Jamais Vu. It can happen with recognizing people, situations, things, too.

The fear could be a seizure. I have seizures where I'm terrified - like a deer in headlights. There are no physical symptoms that go with it, like shaking or heart racing. Just fear. Sometimes I don't move during these not because I can't, but because it doesn't even occur to me. I'm too busy with the seizure.

It's interesting you had all those things happen at once. Tell your neurologist all of this. And hang in there. Getting a good diagnosis is half the battle. It's really hard sometimes to separate out the symptoms and tell which could be migranes, and which could be seizures. Migraines and seizures are comorbid (people have both).

In typical patients, the clinical history usually allows the separation of migraine and epilepsy. The diagnosis of atypical migraine symptoms can be quite difficult, however, and a number of epileptic and nonepileptic syndromes may mimic migraine. In more complex cases, EEG and video-EEG monitoring are useful. Because migraine and epilepsy are associated, clinicians should be sensitive to the issue of concomitant diagnoses.

In typical patients, the clinical history usually allows the separation of migraine and epilepsy. The diagnosis of atypical migraine symptoms can be quite difficult, however, and a number of epileptic and nonepileptic syndromes may mimic migraine. In more complex cases, EEG and video-EEG monitoring are useful. Because migraine and epilepsy are associated, clinicians should be sensitive to the issue of concomitant diagnoses.

In typical patients, the clinical history usually allows the separation of migraine and epilepsy. The diagnosis of atypical migraine symptoms can be quite difficult, however, and a number of epileptic and nonepileptic syndromes may mimic migraine. In more complex cases, EEG and video-EEG monitoring are useful. Because migraine and epilepsy are associated, clinicians should be sensitive to the issue of concomitant diagnoses.

In typical patients, the clinical history usually allows the separation of migraine and epilepsy. The diagnosis of atypical migraine symptoms can be quite difficult, however, and a number of epileptic and nonepileptic syndromes may mimic migraine. In more complex cases, EEG and video-EEG monitoring are useful. Because migraine and epilepsy are associated, clinicians should be sensitive to the issue of concomitant diagnoses.

http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/migraine.html

[Momcat62]

Wow, thank you, Endless, for the great information! Also, I have read about the comorbidity. It makes sense. You mentioned my having these symptoms all at once. I don't have them ALL at once, but typically may have the panicky feeling, or fear with or without heart racing with dizziness, faintness, etc. I have had panic attacks before: heart racing, feeling of doom, etc. The thing that happened in the store was just so scary, strange. And, here is what I DO NOT get...one of my DX from the neurologist guy was "Migraines withOUT aura". Without??? From what I have read, I have several signs of auras. Again, strange. One thing..sorry....I have had a lot of Deja Vu with the feeling that i knew what was going to happen next. How is that related?? Doesn't everyone have Deja Vu??

[ColmanMac]

Hi Momcat - I get Szs right across the board in terms of type & intensity. I always get an aura before the onset though which I call my early warning system! If it's a "lesser" seizure like a PS or Absence, etc. the aura presents as flashing white lights before my eyes (like a torch is being switched on & off before me). The more serious Szs (grand mal/SE/ etc.) are preceeded by "traffic lights" ie; flashing lights of all colours of the spectrum - red/green/blue/indigo/etc. There's nothing I can do about having the seizure but it tells me to get out of danger & away from traffic, for example, or sit/lie down & get ready to endure the episode.
(Though it doesn't stop folk stepping over me to check in @ the airport, which happened a while ago)!

My absences present just as you describe - like a daydream staring into space, although I'm always aware of people speaking to me or sounds in the background but I cannot respond at all.

The "mega" seizure I suffered 3 years ago or so resulted in the brain injury. I experienced the aura & managed to tell my wife I was having a seizure - & then recall nothing until I woke up in ICU with tubes coming from all manner of places. The Docs asked how I felt & I told them that my chest hurt - to which they responded that it was because they had lost me twice & had to shock me into resuscitation! I had been fitting in SE for 7 hrs straight & had bruises on my chest from the paddles, the size of fists. I had also cut my forehead & nose, looking like I'd gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson!

Then followed an extremely salutory month in HDU where I had to nothing but suffer complete bedrest. That is the time that the implications really kick in, making one appreciate how close one had come to losing everything that mattered in my life (Wife, Kids & Dogs - nothing else).

I'm fortunate in that I am still living my life despite trying like mad to be retired. But I have no short term memory or regular sleep pattern. However I do wake, each morning, thinking to myself; "Is today the day?". In a strange way 'though, all this has forced me to accept what has happened and live what may be left of my life accordingly. Things tend to come, therefore, in a very sensible order & approach.
I don't know if you have ever read 'Desiderata' by Max Ehrmann - but that just about sums up my outlook on life these days.

Take care & let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.
Col.

[momof3boys]

From what you've posted, it sounds like it could def be epilepsy. Ive had bad headaches to the point where I get throbbing pain in my left side of the head, which them goes to my temples and if really bad, spreads to my whole head area. I was first told by my dr that it could be that I have low blood sugar. But it wasnt, like my gut told me. He told me to get the advil migraine pills over the counter to help with the headaches. Well that dr left, and I am now seeing his partner. It seems like this dr actually wants to take the time to listen to me. Unlike the first one did. This new dr has set me up for a Video EEG in March of this coming year. I will be in the hospital for a week. Ive had EEG's done and they do come back with abnormalities. My MRI's come back normal though. I have complex partial seizures. Just in October I had two seizures where I collapsed and woke up with a headach, my jaw hurting, feeling like I wasnt quiite all there... and very tired.

Getting an EEG will tell them how your brain waves are, and see if there are any abnormalities. Ive had several done over my years of life. My parents were told I had epilepsy when I was 18 months old, after having small seizures that they didnt know what they were really were at the time.

If you need any help or have any questions, id be more than happy to talk to you! Hang in there!

[ColmanMac]

My aura generally presents itself, pre-seizure, in the form of "flashlights", "traffic lights" or an olfactory hallucination where I can smell either burning of the kind from a garden fire or the aroma from smelling salts.
The manner in which this becomes apparent tends to dictate the type/intensity/length/etc. of seizure I end up suffering.

[hedtrouble]

Hi Momcat62, I have temporal lobe E a lot of what Ive read sounds a lot like simple partial & grand mal seizures, I wondered why I never did well at school, reading my reports from long ago I didnt concentrate. Was not diagnosed then. I have the strange smell, or deja vu. Have come to lying down beside the toilet, in the bath, in the shower & of course bed. My last EEG was good, the neurologist said I must have been having a good day. Terrible memory,get flustered easily,confused you sound very similar, Take care, Hedtrouble