Is déjà vu a type of seizure?

[Lovespurple]

Hello to all CWE members.


I've been recently wondering: Is déjà vu a type of seizure?

ALSO, could a feeling of not being in control of your body be related to seizures or epilepsy? For example, if I am writing revision notes (I'm a student), I will be looking at the tip of the pen to make sure that I write what's intended, but then I sometimes feel that I am not the one controlling my arm + wrist movements when writing and that something else is controlling all those movements.
Does that make some sense?

 

[Cint]

The deja vu experience is an aura or a simple partial seizure. And that not being in control feeling is sort of like an "out of body" experience. It's also a simple partial seizure.

 

[saleen]

Yes, unfortunately, like Cint said, those are simple partial seizures (auras) I get those too.

 

[Lovespurple]

Thank you VERY much for your responses. As for my response, I'm pretty much swearing at myself internally! I rarely swear out loud.


I have a few more questions regarding this topic:

(Sorry if I seem to be ignorant of a few things)

— How could it be a seizure if I haven't lost consciousness, even for a few seconds?
(This really fascinates me)

— Is there any way that I can differentiate between a Déjà Vu Simple Partial Seizure and feeling as if something has happened before (but it hasn't)?

— Do you know of any examples of situations where if you've told someone that you've had this Déjà Vu Simple Partial Seizure, they don't believe you? Or they might have dismissed it as something weird such as claiming it to be a psychic sort of thing?


Again, thank you very much for your responses.

 

[Cint]

— How could it be a seizure if I haven't lost consciousness, even for a few seconds?
(This really fascinates me)

When a person has a Simple Partial or a Complex Partial seizure, they don't lose full consciousness. It is an altered state of consciousness. The brain waves have been altered for a few moments, setting the electrical stimuli into chaos, therefore causing the seizure. Sort of like when there's a storm.

— Is there any way that I can differentiate between a Déjà Vu Simple Partial Seizure and feeling as if something has happened before (but it hasn't)?

The deja vu is the simple partial seizure or the aura.

— Do you know of any examples of situations where if you've told someone that you've had this Déjà Vu Simple Partial Seizure, they don't believe you? Or they might have dismissed it as something weird such as claiming it to be a psychic sort of thing?

I've never told anyone of my deju ve experiences for fear of them thinking I belong in the nut house. And I already have enough problems.

Check out this website for more info on simple partial seizures and deju vu:
http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-seizures/simple-partial-seizures

 

[lindsayschu2]

I have more mild deja vu seizures that are simple partials, but I also have very intense deja vu seizures that have been diagnosed as complex partials. There is a very significant difference for me between them in intensity and in my ability to react to the outside world during them, but they both have a deja vu quality about them. The complex partial though feels like a deja vu but also like a dream that I am remembering and reliving in full, vivid detail, but as I come out of it I am trying desperately to remember it and never can.

 

[saleen]

When I first started getting deja vu feelings I couldn't really tell what they were because it felt more intense than a "normal" deja vu feeling that everyone gets once and a while. Sometimes I thought I had a dream that I forgot about and that it was coming back to me. The feelings were just so intense. I told my friends and family when I started getting them because I didn't think anything was wrong. They never really took me serious, they didn't say anything when I tried explaining what I was feeling. Bastards! lol just kidding...
It wasn't until my aura's, which are simple partial seizures, turned into complex partial seizures where I lost awareness or consciousness that I knew something was wrong and needed to see a doctor. And when I did and I was told I was having seizures. I thought the doctor was nuts! Seizures to me only came in one shape and size, and that was the grand mal seizure. I had no idea there were so many different types.

 

[arnie]

I find this link helpful for differentiating among the different types of seizures:

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

Also, many people have the deja vu experience who do not have epilepsy at all, although it seems that some of the same mechanisms are involved in deja vu and epileptic seizures. Indeed, the article states that many people have what I think would be "epileptiform events", but do not actually have epilepsy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Déjà_vu

Remember: If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we would be too stupid to understand them.

 

[N Sperlo]

— Is there any way that I can differentiate between a Déjà Vu Simple Partial Seizure and feeling as if something has happened before (but it hasn't)?/QUOTE]

Hi, Lovespurple. Nice to meet you.

I think what you are asking is if there is a way to differentiate between a simple partial (that may include feelings of Déjà Vu) and regular good ole fashioned Déjà Vu that people commonly experience.

Déjà Vu was a common part of my simple partials, but I have also experienced Déjà Vu outside of a simple partial. The only way to really know (or assume) is if you are experiencing more than just Déjà Vu. During a simple partial for me, there would be multiple things going on that I would notice and the feeling of Déjà Vu woul last much longer.

If I was not having a partial and experienced Déjà Vu, it is usually super quick and obviously doesn't have the normal effects of a seizure.

I like the fact that Déjà Vu is a common effect that those who have never had a seizure can understand even though they may not have felt it to the extent we have.

 

[jeffrey wilson]

Contrary to what many have said (I wonder where they get there info) Deja Vu is not a type of seizure of any type nor is it an aura. Deja Vu is experienced by all people at one time or another. I often think people with E dream up their own explanations of things and this is one of them. Many people have deja vu but they do not have seizures afterward.

 

[saleen]

Contrary to what many have said (I wonder where they get there info) Deja Vu is not a type of seizure of any type nor is it an aura. Deja Vu is experienced by all people at one time or another. I often think people with E dream up their own explanations of things and this is one of them. Many people have deja vu but they do not have seizures afterward.

Sorry, D- head, but I didn't or don't dream up my own explanations. I explained to my doctor that I get deja vu feelings accompanied by a strange sensation in my stomach which rises to my chest when I first started getting them. The doctors diagnosed me with having E, not the other way around. And like Sperlo said, deja vu (SIMPLE PARTIAL SIEZURES) last much longer than a "normal" deja vu type feeling that everyone gets. Before I was diagnosed with E, I got deja vu feelings once in a blue moon... which is not often. After diagnosed with E I started getting them much more often accompanied by other strange feelings so I knew something was wrong and went to see a doctor.

"Many people have deja vu but they do not have seizures afterward"
You don't even make any sense when you say that! THAT IS A DAMN SEIZURE! It doesn't mean that the person will start convulsing, or lose awareness/consciousness. Usually, I am aware of my surroundings and can communicate with people or carry on what I'm doing while I'm having a simple partial seizure (DEJA VU FEELING) But, sometime they are also turn into Complex partial where I lose awareness.

You probably don't even have E, so just get lost! Go find some other forum to play on because you obviously have nothing better to do!fft::roflmao:

 

[Cint]

Contrary to what many have said (I wonder where they get there info) Deja Vu is not a type of seizure of any type nor is it an aura.
Deja Vu is experienced by all people at one time or another. I often think people with E dream up their own explanations of things and this is one of them. Many people have deja vu but they do not have seizures afterward.

Contrary to what you just said, Deja Vu IS a type of seizure for those who do have E and have experienced seizures. Sometimes, "normal" people have experienced that deja vu feeling, too, but they are fortunate in that they don't have to deal with the misery of E. Get your info correct before you make such a misleading statement. We get our info from professionals and personal experience. Where did you get yours?

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-epilepsy-syndromes/temporal-lobe-epilepsy

What type of seizures are seen?

The most common auras are déjà-vu experiences or some gastrointestinal upset. Feelings of fear, panic, anxiety or a feeling of a rising epigastric sensation or butterflies with nausea are also other ways in which auras present in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. Some people also report a sense of unusual smell; this may raise a possibility of a hippocampal abnormality or a tumor in that area.

 

[knothing]

I have Deja-Vu seizures and I explain them like this to people. First I ask if they have had a deja-vu and most people say yes then I give them one of mine. I say "Look out a window at work on a windy day and see all the leaves moving, see a plane in the sky, hear people typing, hear the phone calls, and feel the ac running. Now imagine feeling that everything including every single leaf is moving together as it had done prior in your life. Everything perfectly the same. That is my deja-vu"
Most people freak out and ask how I can handle that. I always tell them you just learn how to keep your wits about you. When I go to my Neuro and he has a med student he always asks me to say that to them. For some reason he thinks it is a great way to describe a deja-vu seizure compared to a normal deja-vu.




(CINT I love this "It is an altered state of consciousness.")

 

[Shelley]

I experienced deja vu and have absence seizures.
I'm not sure about the correlation between the two.
However, the more I read, the more I think I have been having auras, and not knowing that they were.
Needs more research.

 

[N Sperlo]

Shelly, I was diagnosed with absence seizures and it took me a while to realise the deja vú correlated with many other aspects of an aura.

 

[Shelley]

I never told anybody about my deja vu when I was a kid, simply because I was ignored at the doctors office. My mom and the specialist talked about me, never to me. Even when I had seizures in front of them.

I have always tried to explain it to myself, calling it insight, or hunches, but sometimes, it can be freaky, or upsetting.

I am going to fo;;ow this thread to see what my help, as it can be distressing.

 

[N Sperlo]

Just remember, Shelly that everyone has the feeling of Deja Vu every once in a while, but when you feel it may be connected to epilepsy, (usually the strong ones or longer lasting ones for me) it is likely a simple partial seizure. What I like to tell people, is that I ever get that feeling, it is time to talk to the doctor. I am controlled, but that is a sign I need to get things straightened out. The situation will be different for you.

 

[MAB]

I've never told anyone of my deju ve experiences for fear of them thinking I belong in the nut house. And I already have enough problems.

Check out this website for more info on simple partial seizures and deju vu:
http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-seizures/simple-partial-seizures

same reason I didn't admit to phantom odors for 3 years. If I had told the doctor at the beginning they could have figured out I was having partial seizures sooner. I had other strange symptoms that they treated as TIA's since the strange sensations started after a stroke.