Interesting shaking and mental stages........

[TexasTravel]

Last Saturday, I had a seizure while taking a nap on the couch. It was pretty "typical" type of nap seizure for me...or so I thought.

When I woke up, I was totally confused and thought it was about 10 years ago and that I was late for work. My wife had to calm me down for about 30 minutes constantly telling me what day, month and year it was. She had to tell me where I was at the time and why I was there. Pretty typical of when I have my nap seizures. That is where the familiarity stops.

It usually takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to come back to a reasonably normal attitude and familiarity, mood, etc., etc. but not this time. I am just now starting to get back to my feisty self.

It has been very hard to describe. I have gone through many of the posts and familiar symptoms that have been listed in some other threads but they just do not describe the weird feelings that I have been having.

I have been feeling so..........not in touch. I do not feel like I am somewhere else just not in total reality. I know where I am, what time it is, etc. but everything is just not really real.

Getting out and doing some physical work helps speed up its demise but this time is different. I did a few hours of pulling dallisgrass (anyone who has done this knows this is a task!) and it helped a little bit.

Sometimes seizures put me into a mental state of being totally depressed to the point of danger but that is not the effect this time.

This is weird and hard to explain. Since my medicines, and seizures, give me short memory, I probably will not be able to describe it as well as the sorry way I am presently doing.

Anyway, I have spent hours and hours reading on the forum today just to kind of "keep in touch" with seizure reality.

Thanks to all on this forum for the insight. There is still much to be learned about epilepsy and seizures.

[TexasTravel]

Oh, on Sunday, I also had some strange shaking that I very rarely have.

I was still in my unreal state. My left arm felt extremely weak while the rest of my body felt ok. When I started to lift my drink, at dinner, my hand/arm to start to shake, lightly at first but increasing with intensity as I lifted my glass higher to take a sip. It got so bad that I splashed half of my drink on the ground. The rest of my body felt fine but my arm was freaking out.

The closest thing I can say to describe it is when a person is sooooo hungry that one is weak....so weak that one can barely lift a feather.

This rarely happens but has occurred, at times, in the past.

Anyone ever have this happen where you are not in a seizure, I think, at the time but cannot seem to control one limb? I could think just fine and even showed my wife.

[Bernard]

I have been feeling so..........not in touch. I do not feel like I am somewhere else just not in total reality. I know where I am, what time it is, etc. but everything is just not really real.

This is common with seizures in the temporal lobe I think.

[TexasTravel]

But how long does it usually last? This feeling has lasted almost 3 days. That is a whopper of a seizure, as far I know.

[Bernard]

It occurs to me that it could also be symptomatic of a TIA/stroke. You might consider getting a medical opinion.

Have you checked your blood pressure?

[TexasTravel]

No I have not checked my blood pressure in a while but can attest that it felt like my heart was pumping a million miles a second last night. It feels ok now but I am sure that you are correct in leaning in that direction. My heart did not feel that way the whole time I felt weird but I am sure it had something to do with it. Thanks.

[TexasTravel]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tem...eizure/DS00266

I found this site and it has some pretty good explanations on TL seizures. OMG! I think it is right! I have always tried to be extremely careful and try to be a hypochondriac but I cannot even explain how many times that I have all of the symptoms of TL seizures at the same time!

This could explain some things that I have wondered about for a long, long, long time.

The sudden sense of fear, the deja vu experience, the rising sensation in the abdomen are fairly come for me. It happens, at least, every few weeks. I have always thought that I was just weird and imagining things!

I have never mentioned these things to my doctor but I will next time, in February. I need to write this down.

I also do have a large scar on my brain that doctors have not figured out why. They have suggested removing it but flat out said that it is of fair size that they would have to remove a decent sized mass. I asked what kind of chance that there might be that I would be mentally affected by the removal of it and they said pretty good so I denied the request.

Wow! It seems that I need to start keeping a seizure/feeling diary myself.

[RobinN]

It was a good site.
So if the the TL is where emotions are created, do that mean that emotions trigger the seizures?

One medication caused Rebecca to have vision problems for up to three days.
Then a memory issue that went on for three months.
One doctor considered a TIA
Nothing like this has occurred at all since being off medication.

[brain]

While it is TRUE that the seizures
may affect the cardiac system;
depending on what type of seizure
you are experiencing - it is not out
of the ordinary. I have posted several
places where they were able to detect
seizures that were about to come on
via EKG (or ECG - Electrocardiogram),
when it started to run haywire, for it
would be during the seizure mode when
it would all happen, then gradually be
back in pace afterward.

Nonetheless, indeed you should keep
and maintain a diary; and it is a good
idea to follow up on your cardiac health
as well, as we grow older - certain parts
of our bodies needs to be monitored any
way; in addition, there is no better time
than to start now to begin an established
history.

What you had described was most likely
a Complex Partial seizure, you might very
well had lost conscious or became unaware
for a brief time, not remembering everything
but only to a point - but nothing afterward
until you come out of it, you feel as if you
were in a "fog" or "confusion". And trying to
remember the event that went on after you
can remember what happened before that,
is nearly fruitless, for it's as if someone had
'erased it all' from your memory. No recollection
of anything.

A Simple Partial, you may have some memory
and some consciousness of the event and be
aware of the surroundings - but at times it
would almost be like "surreal". And often times
when you come back to "normalcy", it becomes
difficult to 'explain' it all; because sometimes
we feel that people would think "we are crazy"
or "beside ourselves".

Moreover, what you had experienced is very
common with those with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
There are Polls and more resources that can
be found here in CWE:

Experience
Aura / Auras

Complex Partial Seizures

Simple Partial Seizures

[TexasTravel]

As far as the AURA poll, I never have any of the Somatosensory and special sensory phenomena or Psychic Phenomena or Autonomic Phenomena, only the physical. I wish I did though, it would give me some sort of fair warning and maybe I could do some preperation.

As far as the physical characteristics, many are quite and very common to me. Sudden temporary loss of memory, major confusion, dramatic rising feeling in the abdomen and sometimes sudden fear for no obvious reason. Oh wait, deja vu is fairly common also.

I never have any of the smell, taste, etc. I have had a few T/Cs, over the years, while standing talking to someone, but that is extremely rare. Most of mine are while I am sleeping or in a very relaxed state. Losing conciousness is also fairly rare, although more common than a flat out T/C. It is interesting that most of the times, that I know I lost conciousness, were when I was driving. I was extremely fortunate last time as my wife was there to steer us into a light pole and stop our truck. She said we were headed for another car and could have killed someone else! She said I did not have a T/C, I just kind of slumped over.

I am a big worrier so that may have something to do with it also, like Brain was referring to.

The Partials may have something to do with it also. I met my wife about 10 years ago and, at the time, she had no idea what a seizure even was. But, NOW, at least as far as my case goes, she is an expert! She recognizes my seizures and knows my epileptic symptoms better than my own parents ever did.

It usually happens 2-3 times a year when she catches me doing something and feels that I am having a seizure. She is not an overreactor but she has become such an expert that even when she is not watching for it, she can recognize it in seconds. I am lucky to have her. She is also takes notes like out of this world so if anyone, 200 years down the road, ever wants know what we had for dinner, etc. all they have to do is dig up her diary.

Anyway, it interesting that all of these things have just started to click with me.

To sum up, I do not have tastes, smells, visions, etc., what I do have are actual physical feelings inside my body such as the things that I have listed. And, I do need to start a diary.....I guess. I have always considered that a girly thing.

[Belinda5000]

I had my seizure right in front of my neurologist Monday.
What better place could I have been other than in his office.
I was getting ready to check out when my arm started to shake and I went ito a complex partial.
His floor just to hard.

Belinda