anybody else get the same thing?

[nightfighter]

ive had a long day
of small seizures.
wondering if anyone gets the same?

lately it's yelling a curse at the beginning of
a smell or nausea
is it normal?

[Zoofemme]

I get queasiness with the smell/aura nightfighter. Most of what I smell is nasty so I figured it maked sense to get nausea, lol. There are a couple of things I smell that aren't bad, can't remember if they made me queasy or not though. I really need to remember to write these ones down now.

[Rae1889]

I don't know about the swearing as I am a BIG potty mouth when I talk.

But I do get 'clusters' of seizures. Of all kinds. 3 tonic clonics in a row, 10 to 12 simple partials *smells, sounds, glitter in my vision, coloured snow, tingles' and about 3 to 4 myoclonics in a row.

I have been way better controlled since taking medications where I will only have a cluster rarely, but simple partial clusters still stick around. If I have one, I can be sure more will follow

[Endless]

I get them in clusters, too. Usually the same kind of seizure, one after another. The worst day ever was over a dozen fear seizures in one day. I wanted to hide in a cave.

I get nausea because I usually have a migraine after seizures. The headache makes my stomach sick.

[occb]

What's a fear seizure? What happens during them? I'm asking because nightfigher used to have "panic attacks" (although the doctors were not sure if that's what they were at the time, because of the extended time they happened) and we were wondering if they are the same *he's sitting beside me right now. I'm not doing the royal 'we', I promise*

[Rae1889]

lol
Um when I get them its like a sudden deep gloom that enters the room. Im panicky about something, but logically I dont know what. there is nothing around me to scare me, so I try to make it stop but I cant.

Sometimes its like the feeling Im going to fall off a cliff and die, but there is nowhere to fall near me. Other times its like an axe murderer is behind me and going to kill me. My "spidey senses" tingle like crazy and sometimes I have burst out crying from it.

[occb]

nightfighter is sitting beside me and just nodding his head (he knows that feeling)

He was wondering if you ever hyperventilate, vomit, or just pass out from it?

[Rae1889]

um. hyperventilate yes, pass out yes. vomit no. I have a really bad vomit reflex. it honestly takes me about 4 hours to empty my stomach if I do start to upchuck.

I have also starting shaking like crazy. you know the whole "sit on a bed and rock back and forth all catatonic cuz what happened was so traumatizing" scene in movies and everyone goes "its never like that, nobody does that." well it happens. I've done after one of those.

I also get the *tell me if you (nightfighter) get this too* that sometimes after its over I have one a few times gotten a "I'm so happy to be alive!!!!" feeling. Like I just wanna call my mum and dad and jump for joy that I survived absolutely nothing.

[Endless]

For me, the fear seizures are pure terror. The terror that someone would feel falling off a building is a good description. It is the fear felt when you are about to lose your life through a violent event.

I have my usual aura first, which is pretty much the same for all seizures for me - that weird physical feeling in my head and body and a sense that something is really wrong. Then the fear seizure hits. It feels like I'm a deer frozen in headlights. Like the unthinkable terror source straight in front of me, staring me down. It is so engulfing that the emotion is all that there is. I'm so frightened I feel like I can't move, can't speak. But if I try I actually can move and speak. I feel like I am going to die.

During the seizre my heart rate doesn't go up, no shaking, no heavy breathing. Just pure terror.

Before I understood these were seizures I used to generalize the fear, thinking I was afraid of whatever I was thinking of at the time. That fear of a person or situation lasted long after the seizure was gone. I thought it was my instincts kicking in big time, giving me a heads up about someone or something. That means I used to be afraid of some people and things that it's silly I'd feel that way. Now I'm getting so I can easily identify the seizures, and separate the feeling of fear from whatever is going on or whoever I'm with at the time. It makes life a lot better to be able to do this.

Afterwards I'm really shaken up. I need to be alone in a quiet, secure feeling room. Even though the fear seizure has stopped I don't feel completely safe. I seem to do best at home in my bedroom, curled up on the bed. I really can't function post-ictally. I usually sleep for 2-3 hours, then I'm my old self, except for the headache/migraine that has usually set in by then.

[matchu]

um. hyperventilate yes, pass out yes. vomit no. I have a really bad vomit reflex. it honestly takes me about 4 hours to empty my stomach if I do start to upchuck.

I have also starting shaking like crazy. you know the whole "sit on a bed and rock back and forth all catatonic cuz what happened was so traumatizing" scene in movies and everyone goes "its never like that, nobody does that." well it happens. I've done after one of those.

I also get the *tell me if you (nightfighter) get this too* that sometimes after its over I have one a few times gotten a "I'm so happy to be alive!!!!" feeling. Like I just wanna call my mum and dad and jump for joy that I survived absolutely nothing.

I have rocked back and forth, have some smells, gets the fear complex. also the jump for joy usually ends in deep sadness shortly to follow. Have really instant seizures, just a entire body jerk with a odd noise coming from my mouth.

[Rae1889]

Yup ditto. that deer in headlights is perfect. I dont actually know if my body physically changes during them *heart rate increase, breathing increase or holding breath, sweating, shaking*. I have never paid attention. too busy being terrified. I think fear is a lesser word for what happens. I know all the physical things come afterwards. I guess kinda like how shock shows up. at the time your too scared or not scared but when its over your body just cant function.

I cant make my body do what I want it to during them though. I am logically trying to figure out what I am scared of, or if Im In an unfamilar place, I am trying to will myself to run, but I cant.

[Endless]

Yes, Rae, I'm very similar. If I'm alone it wouldn't even occur to me to walk or talk. The fear is all there is. But if someone comes up to me and asks a simple question, I can give them a simple one or two word answer. I'm not unconcious. But "too busy being terrified" is a perfect description - the fear is all there is. Engulfing. All encompassing. All-consuming. Drowning, encased in fear.

[seizingbeauty]

Okay once again, these are seizures?

I get rounds where its like re-living a point in my history, I'm afraid and I know something horrible is about to happen and there is nothing I can do but be small as possible, hide in the corner and not to cry to loudly. Thing is nothing horrible is going to happen. These "episodes" are the hardest for my guy to handle, he wants to make everything all better but there is nothing he can do until the terror subsides.

I just thought it was some thing I never worked out in my psyche. Just one of those random boxes that won't stay closed

[occb]

Thankfully, I haven't experienced nightfighter's "panic attacks" or "fear seizures" or whatever they are yet, but with the increased amount of activity he's having, and the changing nature of his seizures, I think it may only be a matter of time *fingers crossed, because I don't want him to go through this again*

I suspect they're seizures, because they worsened when he was placed on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds didn't help much either (except clonazepam... things that make you go hmmm...). I think those meds may have sent him, essentially, into partial status.

I have no evidence, though. I'm just basing this on gut instinct, and the way his simple partial, and some complex partial seizures recur repeatedly in rapid succession over a period of hours. I've been wondering if his extended panic attacks were really a rapid succession of fear seizures over the course of hours.

[Rae1889]

I'd be inclined to go with the latter. not panic attacks. Fear seizures. and usually *as far a I know* panic attacks have a reason behind them. even if its simple. Worrying about bills and the worry builds and piles up. or actually seeing something that makes you nervous. I think that panic/anxiety attacks have to start with a thought or action. My fear seizures never do.

I have had a few panic attacks, but they always start with a thought that I dwell on. a big one that I dwell on is dying. my biggest fear.
EDIT: but I should add that even me realisticly think of dying gives me panic attacks, its nothing compared to a fear seizure

[occb]

I know panic attacks don't always begin with a specific thought, and most people who experience one do so without having a specific scary thought before (just general stress in their lives).

Panic attacks don't usually last hours though, especially not at the intensity nightfighter describes with his. However, the biggest clue, in my mind, that it's not panic attacks is the passing out.

People who suffer panic attacks do not pass out. Period, end of story. They may feel like they'll pass out, but they don't actually pass out. Passing out would require your blood-pressure to suddenly drop. When you're panicking, your heart rate and blood pressure skyrocket, so passing out just doesn't happen.

[Zoofemme]

occb...a panic attack can cause a person to pass out if they start to hyperventillate. It is the reason they will hand a person having a panic attack a paper bag to breath into "just in case". At least, that is how they do it here in the states. They thought I was having a panic attack when I first started going haywire and did just that to me...handed me a paperbag. I asked them what it was for...got the "if/when you start hyperventillating". Idiots. I was hooked up to a monitor, you would think they would be able to tell that I wasn't stressed out since my bp and stuff wasn't elevated, doh!

[Rae1889]

I guess true enough about the hyperventilating. but there are times where I havent hyperventilated and passed out from the fear. although syncope can happen from being scared. It happens to me with heights and blood. I just faint. but I guess Im not even scared. just grossed out with blood and dizzy with the heights.

But in simpler terms, Yes Nightfighter, I experiance that.

[occb]

Hyperventilation does lead to passing out, but hyperventilation and panic attacks are two separate experiences.

It's unusual for a person experiencing a panic attack to hyperventilate. People experiencing a panic attack may feel the sensation of shortness of breath, even dizziness, like they may pass out, but the breathless sensation very rarely leads to hyperventilation.

The two are separate phenomena, although it seems logical that panic would lead to hyperventilation, it's not actually the case.

[Zoofemme]

I think you should come down here and lecture a few ER staff, lol.

I would rather be told "I don't know what is wrong with you" and be referred elsewhere then be misdiagnosed. At least "I don't know" is an honest answer.

My brother has the kind of panic attacks you describe. I've never had one, no shortness of breath, no weight on the chest, etc. The only dizziness has been recent or is usually meds or headaches.