Could you describe your partial (simple) seizure?

[Yves]

Hi,
I'm gonna start with my kind:
It always start on the edge of my right eye (my tumor was left parietal), some ticklings . Then it moves (the tickling "flow") on the cheek then jaw, down the shoulder and finally it slides through my arm (right). I know that when the shoulder is reached, it'll be soon finished.

This is purely sensory. People are not aware that it happens. this process take from 10sec up to 3 minutes (this is exhausting, nothing compared to grand mal but nonetheless I feel tired when it last so long).
Since I have auras(thank God!), i now managed to stop the seizure either completely, either at the very beginning (it does not even start) or on the cheek depending on the intensity. Sometimes my eyebrows flutter but that's all.

Before the tumor removal, I also felt a hot flow like an hair dryer blowing in my face. The radiotherapy reduced the intensity and the frequency of the seizures.

Thanks in advance for your contribution,
Yves

[brain]

You might want to take a look at this thread
here:

Complex Partial Seizures

It's a brand new - just started thread; very
interesting.

[alivenwell]

I just get that funky fear called the aura. If it's just the aura, I try to focus on nothing (kind of like meditation). As I've gotten older, the seizures have practically disappeared, but I'm really systematic with meds. Nasty side effects...I'll never be a morning person.
Occasionally the aura has led into a full blown blackout in the past. I have been unable to speak prior to and after a seizure. I guess the speech center is where damage occurred.

[Yves]

Hi alivenwell!
I guess my "auras" are very common: I just feel it's coming, period. there is a kind of buildup in my body and then it "really starts".
I never experienced memories, or weird stuff during aura neither during seizures. I once had trouble continuing to speak while the seizure was going on. Most of the time I manage to continue to speak. I do no like the idea of people seeing me having a seizure, that's completely silly (to much pride? shame, I do not know. I sometimes feel that epilepsy is still looked upon with a medieval kind of way, some witch stuff.
Everytime I ask, nobody saw or sensed something was going on. I just say :"Hey, I've just had a seizure you know?" and they always ask "When" I say "well 5 seconds ago..". I am really stupid but that's that.
I just wanted to ask if you've had an brain operation/intervention and if yes, was it an "awakened" operation?

[Yves]

Thanks, I had already started reading it. It's kind of freeking no? I do not know how I would react if was to experience such stuffs, especially the "after" part.
I know that during my stay in neurologist before my operation, I saw people with big troubles (don't take it wrong, they were "loosing it"). I was very patient because I knew they had nothing to do with it, they were sick, just like me but in another part of the brain.
I'm selfishly looking for people with simple partial seizures because I need to exchange on that, it's seems, there arent' not many like us (always better that way!).
Anyway, thanks again for pointing this thread.
Take care

[Bee91]

hmm..I posted in here...I wonder where it went... oh well...


My simple partial seizures usually are just my right hand or arm...but sometimes my face will also have a funny expression. I can always talk during simple partial seizures but I try to "cover up" the seizure especially when I'm at school. But that's hard to do becuase everyone is so intrigued. "You can have a seizure and you can talk during it at the same time?! That is so cool! Pfft what do they know..

Anyway my last couple simple partial seizures that I had

• I smacked my face in a crowded cafeteria(can you say embarrasing?)
• Another one I had, I threw my pencil, and my right arm just flew all over the place
• I had another at home where I made a high pitched noise, raised my right hand in the air and just fell over yesterday...

And of course I have the aura before a grand mal and sometimes a complex partial...

[Yves]

Hello Bee91,
Thanks for your post.
I thought simple partial seizure did not imply motricity/movements. => I got that wrong.
I understand that you have the all kit : simple, complex and grand mal . Did I get it right this time?
Do you use only medications or have tried something else. I discovered on this forum the biofeedback stuff and I talk about it to my neurologist today. She knew the theory of it but it was not used for people like me because "I have a "clear" file, epilepsy comes from the tumor and the scars of the operation. She said "maybe" it is used in this hospital for people "without obvious cause". I'll try to find out .

OK It's more than time for me for my evening Qigong training, bye!

[Bee91]

Hello Bee91,
Thanks for your post.
I thought simple partial seizure did not imply motricity/movements. => I got that wrong.
I understand that you have the all kit : simple, complex and grand mal . Did I get it right this time?
Do you use only medications or have tried something else. I discovered on this forum the biofeedback stuff and I talk about it to my neurologist today. She knew the theory of it but it was not used for people like me because "I have a "clear" file, epilepsy comes from the tumor and the scars of the operation. She said "maybe" it is used in this hospital for people "without obvious cause". I'll try to find out .

OK It's more than time for me for my evening Qigong training, bye!

Hi!
Oh yeah. I have all sorts...my doc told me I have mostly Complex Partial, but also have simple partial (mostly auras but can also be alone) Tonic clonic, and Tonic seizures...Im on a bunch of meds right now for Epilepsy.Topamax, Tegretol, and Klonopin. But I used to be on the Gluten Free diet and that worked pretty well..even thow i kind of ruined it by not reading label correctly. It would take a year and a half to give you my seizure history, but pretty much, no doctor until about 2 months ago believed I had Epilepsy. They all thought I was faking it. My new doctor doesn't quite know where the seizure are coming from in my brain, but he does know that it is truly Epilepsy that I have.
I dont have much abnormalities on my EEG, so doctors didnt really believe that there was really anything wrong.

Yeah..I have simple partial seizures sometimes...usually it is just my right arm flapping around, but they can get pretty violent...

[Yves]

nice to hear from you.
I read parts of your story. I can't believe that MD would not diagnose epilepsy until recently! My EEG show signs of abnormal electrical activity but I was told as early as the first EEG that the EEG could only pick up electrical disorders only if they were not to far form the edge of the skull.
Anyway you have lots of different drugs all together
Don't you experience side effects?
I'm doing my best to get rid of them that's why i would like to try the biofeedback stuff. It's amazing how the mecanism is so closely similar to Qigong and chinese medicine "theory". for your determination, I hope you'll eventually find the key to itCU

[Bee91]

nice to hear from you.
I read parts of your story. I can't believe that MD would not diagnose epilepsy until recently! My EEG show signs of abnormal electrical activity but I was told as early as the first EEG that the EEG could only pick up electrical disorders only if they were not to far form the edge of the skull.
Anyway you have lots of different drugs all together
Don't you experience side effects?
I'm doing my best to get rid of them that's why i would like to try the biofeedback stuff. It's amazing how the mecanism is so closely similar to Qigong and chinese medicine "theory". for your determination, I hope you'll eventually find the key to itCU

Hi. Yes,my story is so long. It would take forever to tell the entire thing! They thought I was making up the seizures, or that it was just stress or not real. Some doctors I went to even wanted to send me to a psych hospital. My doctors never told me that the EEGs couldn't pick up anything if it was not close to the skull.. hmm...I understand now why my doctor says that is is deep in my brain.

Oh yes. I have a lot of side effects..I am very, very sensitive to medicine, and right now I am kind of walking around drunk everyday.

We're getting close to the right thing. I am not completely seizure free. I am still having simple partial seizures, but things are a lot better than last year.

[Yves]

Nice to hear that. Good Luck Bee!Seems like we'll keep in touch I guess

[Bee91]

Thank you!

Ok. See you around

[montse]

I begin with aura, I feel strange, I see something like blue lights and I hear something, I cannot remember what it is about.I can notice that it comes, I can answer "no" to everything people say me.I understand what they say me but I can only answer "no".
And while I was on depakine, my husband said that some seconds before I "smelt" of amoniac, once we were holding each other, he smelt that and some seconds later it came. So when he smelt it he sad "go to bed, it is coming"Has it ever happened to any of you??
It does not happpen since I am on tegretol.
After it I used to feel very tired and needed to sleep, now I am not so tired after it.

[Bee91]

during some of my auras I smell 'warmth' I can't explain the smell other than it smells 'warm' I don't know what the smell is but usually I have a seizure after I smell it...

[montse]

My husband says it was my breth and the smell of my skin, for example my arm.After it, it disapeared.
I have never felt smells sensations but I know what you mean, it is like me with the words I listen, I cannot describe it, it comes first, then the lights and....I look for a place to sit.

[j.j.]

My simple partial seizures started this yr they start with a strange feeling(difficult to decribe) .I have the depersonalization and a fear/unpleasant memory which I recognise as the same each time but cannot remember them afterwards to describe to anyone.Only people who know me can tell I'm having a seizure. I also have pins and needles in my face and left hand at other times on their own,don't know if this is related but not had them before.I've had a sleep deprived EEG which has shown something I have to go back to see doc later this month to discuss results. I have a seizure about once a fortnight .
I currently don't take any meds but whilst I keep having them I cannot drive again for 12 months from my last seizure.
Janet

[jkj1995]

I am so glad to have found this place. Now I don't feel so "alone". There are a few others out there that are going thru the same things I have been going thru for years...weird burnings smells, ammonia smells, weird sensations that I now know are simple partial seizures. The doctors (even my current doctor who said he will give me the benefit of the doubt? with my epilepsy) thought I was making all this up. Why in the world would I want to feel this way and sit in the house and give up driving just to have these lovely seizures? I am the only one that knows I feel.

[Yves]

Finally, we realize we aren't alone with our weird seizures. Strange though we don't define aura the same way, for me it's basically a signal of what's gonna happen next (the real seizure). For some of you it is real experience.
I also have vagal malaise (well for the translation good luck). I have a form of aura, but it is completly different as for seizure I feel my blood pressure falling down. I then have approximately 1 to 5 minutes to eat some sugars and sit down (best is laying down because I loose my consciousness and I can fall easily). But it is quite simple to avoid those : eat a good breakfast, avoid overheated rooms, sleep, period.
Nothing compared to epilepsy but sleeping is important in both cases.
keep posting, i learn everyday

[Bee91]

The doctors (even my current doctor who said he will give me the benefit of the doubt? with my epilepsy) thought I was making all this up. Why in the world would I want to feel this way and sit in the house and give up driving just to have these lovely seizures? I am the only one that knows I feel.

I know what you mean. It took me a year and a half to find a doctor who believed that my seizures were truly real and truly epileptic. I've missed out on so much because of seizures and it irritates me that no doctor would help me sooner. Because just think, if I could have found my doctor sooner, I probably would have not missed a year and a half of school because of the severity of my seizure, nor would I have had to wait so long to be seizure free (so I'm still not seizure free but I'm getting closer), and I probably would have been driving sooner also