Experience AURA or AURAS?

[brain]

This is a poll for those who
experience AURAS - before
a seizure or no seizure.
(Yes - it's true, some people
can experience auras and have
no seizure(s).)

In this poll - You get to vote
as many that applies.

You may make any comments
you wish to make.

[brain]

Here is a partial clarification of
more specifics from eMed:

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy from eMed

Auras

o Auras occur in approximately 80% of temporal lobe seizures. They are a common feature of simple partial seizures and usually precede complex partial seizures of temporal lobe origin.
o Auras may be classified by symptom type; the types comprise somatosensory, special sensory, autonomic, or psychic symptoms.

* Somatosensory and special sensory phenomena

o Olfactory and gustatory illusions and hallucinations may occur. Acharya et al found that olfactory auras are associated more commonly with temporal lobe tumors than with other causes of temporal lobe epilepsy.
o Auditory hallucinations consist of a buzzing sound, a voice or voices, or muffling of ambient sounds. This type of aura is more common with neocortical temporal lobe epilepsy than with other types of temporal lobe epilepsy.
o Patients may report distortions of shape, size, and distance of objects.
o These visual illusions are unlike the visual hallucinations associated with occipital lobe seizure in that no formed elementary visual image is noted, such as the visual image of a face that may be seen with seizures arising from the fusiform or the inferior temporal gyrus.
o Things may appear shrunken (micropsia) or larger (macropsia) than usual.
o Tilting of structures has been reported. Vertigo has been described with seizures in the posterior superior temporal gyrus.

* Psychic phenomena

o Patients may have a feeling of déjà vu or jamais vu, a sense of familiarity or unfamiliarity, respectively.
o Patients may experience depersonalization (ie, feeling of detachment from oneself) or derealization (ie, surroundings appear unreal).
o Fear or anxiety usually is associated with seizures arising from the amygdala. Sometimes, the fear is strong, described as an "impending sense of doom."
o Patients may describe a sense of dissociation or autoscopy, in which they report seeing their own body from outside.

* Autonomic phenomena are characterized by changes in heart rate, piloerection, and sweating. Patients may experience an epigastric "rising" sensation or nausea.

Physical

* Following the aura, a temporal lobe complex partial seizure begins with a wide-eyed, motionless stare, dilated pupils, and behavioral arrest. Oral alimentary automatisms such as lip smacking, chewing, and swallowing may be noted. Manual automatisms or unilateral dystonic posturing of a limb also may be observed.

* Patients may continue their ongoing motor activity or react to their surroundings in a semipurposeful manner (ie, reactive automatisms). They can have repetitive stereotyped manual automatisms.

* A complex partial seizure may evolve to a secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Often, the documentation of a seizure only notes the generalized tonic-clonic component of the seizure. A careful history from the patient or an observer is needed to elicit the partial features of either a simple seizure or a complex partial seizure before the secondarily generalized seizure is important.

* Patients usually experience a postictal period of confusion, which distinguishes temporal lobe epilepsy from absence seizures, which are not associated with postictal confusion. In addition, absence seizures are not associated with auras nor with complex automatisms. Postictal aphasia suggests onset in the language-dominant temporal lobe.

* Most auras and automatisms last a very short period—seconds or 1-2 minutes. The postictal phase may last for a longer period (several minutes). By definition, amnesia occurs during a complex partial seizure because of bilateral hemispheric involvement.

[brain]

I experience various types of auras
which range from:

• Vision Distortions - large/small, no depth of field or perception, 3-D goes flat, temporary color loss (see things in shades of gray or in black and white), temporary blindness, a tiny light dot in high upper right in a split nanosecond, visual hallucinations,
  During nocturnal - kaleidoscopic lights.
• Smell - Electrical Burning, gasoline, kerosene, PICKLES (*gag*), smokiness (as if something is on fire), offensive odor, foul odor, bleach or ammonia
• Taste - PICKLES (*gag*), sourness, bitterness, and strangeness of "having the taste of eaten something that I did not eat nor eaten"
• Audio - noises, sounds, that can or will not make sense: can be music or a booming thundering noise or a high pitched frequency which *can affect also my balance and trigger vertigo for a moment (*if I am not on anti-epileptic drug), banging or crashing sounds that will startle me (often happens during nocturnal)
  SPECIAL NOTE: Before deafness - Temporary deafness.
• Physical:
  Touch - looses the ability or sense of touch, numbness, paralysis, feeling of electrical currents running through my body - mostly my shoulders, arms, hands & fingers - very rarely ever on my legs to feet
• Automatism:
  Repeats self, chewing, automatic behavior, pulling on clothing or blanket, rubbing on self, picks on self, blank expression, looses train of thought
• Other - Neurologists / Epileptologist have not classified this as Special Sense or Psychic yet:
  "There but not there" - they had tried to match me with depersonalization and disassociation and it was not it: "I feel like I have to go and catch myself, like Peter Pan has to catch his shadow and tries to sew it back on him?" was the best way to illustrate it - it remains unclassified
• Nocturnal - unexplained due to loss of consciousness and having no memory however it's recorded on EEG

[Nancy]

Oh, I USED to ..... How I miss it. An aura was a wonderful warning that a seizure was coming.
I smelled sickening, disgusting body odor. When it first hit I was always HORRIFIED and then finally realized it was simply the hateful aura. That aura always, always hit a day, sometimes two days before my batch of seizures hit ..... what a safe warning.

Twenty or 30 seconds before the actual seizure that strange feeling in lowerbody started its rush upward. By the time it hit my neck I was having a seizure. But the several seconds gave me time to become "safe".

[Axa]

Just déjà vu.

[RanMan]

Hi board!!!!

I get 'em all. (the ones in the poll) although very rare.

I have an aura just about daily but my last gran-mal seizure was in 2004, 2003, 2002, and before that was the first one in 1979.

My neurologist says that if I wasn't on any anti-epileptic drugs then all my auras would be full blown gran-mal seizures.

That's an indication that the anti-epileptic drugs are working.

Randy

[speber]

I used to get an urge to turn my head to the right...and my own voice in my right ear telling me "you're gonna have a seizure...you're gonna have a seizure"...then a couple seconds later I'd be in the middle of a full-on gran mal.
Good times.

[Birdbomb]

Dang! I wanted to see the poll voting results!

I have several auras according to these lists!


o I see a gray smear in the lower right quadrant of my visual field.
o Muffling of ambient sounds.
o Distortions of shape, size, and distance of objects.
o Some things, like people's heads, may appear shrunken (micropsia) than usual.
o Changes in heart rate,sweating, epigastric "rising" sensation, and/or heavy breathing
o Intense emotions "flight or fight"

[Bernard]

With 7 voters at the moment, almost all report having vision/visual and physical automatisms.

[RobinN]

I can't vote, as Rebecca can never remember what happened prior to the event. The last two seizures, her friends have said she was agitated for no apparent reason. This might be a signal, just not certain.

[keyna]

I didn't vote because now I'm even more confused than I have been.

I do have periods of fear/anxiety and senses of "impending doom" and then having seizures, but I also have anxiety/panic disorder, which was for the most part under control, but has gotten worse agian since this all happened.

People who have seen me have a seizure say that they notice sometimes I "rapidly blink my eyes" almost like I have something in my eyes and I can't get It out, but I have no memory of this.

So, who knows?

[brain]

I didn't vote because now I'm even more confused than I have been.

I do have periods of fear/anxiety and senses of "impending doom" and then having seizures, but I also have anxiety/panic disorder, which was for the most part under control, but has gotten worse agian since this all happened.

People who have seen me have a seizure say that they notice sometimes I "rapidly blink my eyes" almost like I have something in my eyes and I can't get It out, but I have no memory of this.

So, who knows?

You would fall under the auras of:

Physical Automatisms
and
Special Senses / Psychic Phenomena

[brain]

I can't vote, as Rebecca can never remember what happened prior to the event. The last two seizures, her friends have said she was agitated for no apparent reason. This might be a signal, just not certain.

That could fall under dissociation, fear;
which can include being agitated,
running or wanting to flee, etc.

And that aura would be:

Special Senses / Psychic
Phenomena

[Mr. Pibb]

Does the sound of a big fan that off beat whoop whoop along with the feeling of the disturbed air how ever little it might be give you the feeling that you are their but time is moving ever so slightly out of sync, you leave the area or sound and life gets back on track their is a feeling of relief.
Jerry

[patacake]

I have the aura starting of scared to death. I feel that someone has a gun at my gut. Then it changes and I can never remember what the Dejavu is. As it starts I tell myself remember this remember this remember this, but I can't when it is all over. Why do I remember that it started?

[brain]

So far the RESULTS as of this
posting:

Vision / Visual

Physical Automatisms

Special Senses / Psychic Phenomena

Audio / Hearing / Balance

Smell

Are the TOP 5 out of 15 voters
who have participated.

[cool1984]

i namal have Audio / Hearing / Balance for a few misn then shake and i now what happind very scayed in did.

cazzie

[maureen]

I had to vote 'other' in the aura poll, I don't get clues, at least that I can identify.

[maureen]

Hi,

I kind of wish I had an aura - a hint of what's coming. I've only had a three seizures in the last 3 years and I was really tired before them. I sometimes don't like to lie down, it kind of feels dizzy, maybe like before I've had them. I'm not sure what my triggers are, I faithfully take my anti-epileptic drugs and hope that I don't become too familiar with seizures. It's really rather scary.

[RobinN]

My daughter has about 3-4 on avg a month. I wish she also had an aura. I think she does the more people I talk to that are around her before they occur. In fact the last one, she got up and walked to her teacher and was about to tell her that she just doesn't feel..... and she went down. So I think there is a recognition of something about to occur.

Do you keep a journal?