Are these simple partial seizures?

[Nick J]

Hi, I'm new, this is my first post in these Forums.
I have read some other posts which make my symptoms seem very insignificant so I guess I must be thankful that I don't have it worse than I do.

I have been suffering from suspected simple partial seizures for at least 10 years. The symptoms are always similar, although more recently there has been a slight change.

I'm sure everyone's familiar with the feeling you get when you wake up from a dream. For a few moments after waking, we feel we can remember the dream, but this memory rapidly fades away. Even whilst desperately trying to remember aspects of the dream, we feel the memory just melting away, and despite our best efforts, it's gone in just a minute or two.

In my 'attacks', I get a feeling a bit similar to this. It's as if a sudden strange thought enters my head for no reason. It seems that a memory has just surfaced, a recent memory which had been forgotten. It feels a little like deja-vu. My usual reaction (I can't help it) is to try and remember more, but it just melts away, like the dream does after waking. I can't describe the memory, because it's different each time and never makes any sense. It is disturbing to suddenly have a thought pop up in your head which does not make any sense.

At the same time, I feel distant, disconnected from the world. I am still awake and able to respond, though might seem distracted. I still know where I am, but my surroundings seem unfamiliar. At this point a feel a pressure in my head. This lasts for a few seconds.

Immediately following this, I start to feel very warm indeed. If I'm in bed, I shake off the covers to cool down. This lasts for a few minutes.

The warm feeling is a relatively new symptom. I used to get a aching in my left arm instead, but I don't really get that any more.

The strength of the attack varies from very strong, where I can feel what is almost like an electric shock in my head, right down to the very weak, where I'm not really sure if it even happened at all.

Also, they come in clusters (this is a recent change) - they used to come about once every week or 2, but now I can go for several weeks feeling fine, and then have a big attack followed by dozens of smaller ones over a 3 or 4 day period, before fading away again. During this time, everything just seems a bit off, as if familiar places are slightly sinister and creepy, and I have a vague unease which I can't really describe, and I can't concentrate. This subsides over a day or 2 after the attacks die down.

I've had things like EEG, MRI scan, but everything's come up clean so far. I appear to be a bit of a mystery.

[brain]

Nick!

Welcome to CWE! You might find some
information from the Medical resources,
but it could be Simple Partials - but to
the fact you have expanded such in
details --> it is possible you could be
experiencing Complex Partials.

Here's some links to read up on:


Complex Partial Seizures / Epilepsy


Simple Partial Seizures / Epilepsy

[epileric]

Glad you could join us. Have a coffee & look around.

What you described does sound like partial seizures. Read up on the links Brain sent you. Also remember that it's very common for seizures not to show up on an EEG, & an MRI is just good for seeing if there's a lesion of sorts in the brain. As a kid my EEGs showed epilepsy but when I got older they didn't show at all, I even had a doctor tell me I didn't have epilepsy (which wasn't the case sadly).

[LivingFruity]

Hi Nick Welcome to CWE! These episodes do sound like Simple Partials. This is a wonderful place to find information, support, and encouragement. I'm glad you've joined us

[flinnigan]

Hi Nick I'm new here too and am amazed at the information available. Your feelings seem very familiar. I too was having simple partials but they changed to complex about a year ago. I didn't even realize that they had changed they seemed the same too me, but off course I couldn't remember enough to recognize the change. When I was diagnosed the DR. and I thought they were simple when he explained to my husband what changes to look for, he said said oh yeah you do kinda do this or that. So have people keep an eye on what your doing and keep a journal. AS my Dr. explained it is a degenerative disease.

[Nick J]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Reading on this forum how some people have it far worse than me makes my condition seem trivial, but I still feel the need to talk. I am trying to decide of meds are the way forward for me, but not sure how effective they are in preventing simple partials.

The degeneratine nature of the disease worries me. Do seizures themselves cause cumulative damage to the brain? Or does the damage occur anyway, and the seizures are a symptom of the damage? Does controlling the seizures with drugs slow down or reverse the damage?

thanks for your replies & kind words so far.

[RobinN]

Hi Nick - I am going to speak up because I am a bit of the rebel of the group, as I don't follow the conventional medical advice that medication is the only way to control seizures.

My daughter has tonic clonic seizures which began at the age of 14. She was put on meds in the beginning because I did not know of any other approach at the time. The seizures increased and began to morph into very odd side effects. None which I would expect a teen to have to deal with. Once we both had had it with the meds, we moved to a more natural approach. There is quite a lot of evidence that nutritional changes can have a huge impact on seizures, and neurological disorders. We learned and experimented, along with supplementing with vitamins and minerals for brain health.

Then we learned about neurofeedback and that brought the seizures down from 6 a month to less than one a month. No other side effects but positive ones. Now we are working on a sugar imbalance that we have found through testing. This would never have been discovered if she was on meds. I have no doubt.

To me the meds only mask what is going on internally.
My daughter was fine for 14 yrs, something occurred when hormones kicked in that pushed her over the edge. Cleaning up her diet, calming the kindling in the brain, has brought her back to a point where we see the light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

I have to say luckily we got off the roller coaster of anti seizure meds early on, because they are a bit of a "Gotcha" approach in my opinion. Very hard to get off once they are a routine.

[Jaded]

I agree with Robin. I have had Partial Seizres for 6+ years and I am terrified to taking meds for it. At one point I was having them for two weeks straight out of every month. I couldn't hardly function. I stumbled upon an aid to my seizures while trying to get fit in college. A friend of mine had suggested that I take Super Omega Complex pills for good circulation. Fate would have it that the Omega complex contained the very fish oil omega-3 I needed to help me with my seizures. After many months of not making the connection, I found an artical on the internet that told the story of a little girl with seizures that oddly felt better after eating tuna sandwiches. Then it hit me!! FISH OIL!!
Now the seizure come around every two months or so, depending on how much fish I eat. And when they do hit, I start taking my "Fish Pills" and they usually subside. I still hate the weird sensations that they bring, but it's allot better than the way I used to feel. I believe that if you look hard enough, nature usually provides something natural to help you with your natural body.

[Bernard]

Hi Nick, belated welcome to the forum.

... I'm sure everyone's familiar with the feeling you get when you wake up from a dream. ... In my 'attacks', I get a feeling a bit similar to this. It's as if a sudden strange thought enters my head for no reason. It seems that a memory has just surfaced, a recent memory which had been forgotten. It feels a little like deja-vu. My usual reaction (I can't help it) is to try and remember more, but it just melts away, like the dream does after waking. I can't describe the memory, because it's different each time and never makes any sense. It is disturbing to suddenly have a thought pop up in your head which does not make any sense.

At the same time, I feel distant, disconnected from the world. I am still awake and able to respond, though might seem distracted. I still know where I am, but my surroundings seem unfamiliar. At this point a feel a pressure in my head. This lasts for a few seconds.

Immediately following this, I start to feel very warm indeed. If I'm in bed, I shake off the covers to cool down. This lasts for a few minutes.

Sounds like a temporal lobe seizure to me.

... Do seizures themselves cause cumulative damage to the brain? Or does the damage occur anyway, and the seizures are a symptom of the damage? Does controlling the seizures with drugs slow down or reverse the damage?

1. It's possible but not necessarily true
2. Depends upon the underlying (root) cause IMO.
3. anti-epileptic drugs dampen/inhibit brain function to raise the seizure threshold. They don't cure brain damage. You can try EEG neurofeedback to exercise the brain and encourage it to grown new neuronal pathways (to work around any damaged tissue).

Hi Nick - I am going to speak up because I am a bit of the rebel of the group ...

You go girl.

... I have had Partial Seizres for 6+ years and I am terrified to taking meds for it.

Hi Jaded, welcome to the forum. I'd encourage you to introduce yourself in a new discussion thread so everyone can welcome you.