Experience AURA or AURAS?

[maryltyme]

OMG, Im not crazy. After reading the many different types of aura's. I experience most of them. I get rigid and jerky, is that an aura also? I see lights with tails and they zip past real fast. I have glaucoma and i see flashes from my sides, but these are little pin point lights i see right in front of me high and low. I get the horrible folding squeezing sensation. Feels like im in a straight jacket. I also feel doom. It starts at the top of my head and when it gets to my stomach, I can hardly move. It takes all of my energy, it even makes it hard to breathe. This was truly helpful to me. Oh yea, I forgot one. I cant stay focused, I find myself trying to do multiple task at one time, cause I cant focus long enoough on one.

[maryltyme]

I also laugh and cry at the same time, see images that arent there and have crashed my hands into doors, walls because my depth perception is off. I hate that one. I have not experience convulsions, can anyone tell me if having experienced most of the auras will lead up to having convulsions? Im horrified not knowing what to expect next.

[hazel]

Hi, im a newbee and your post was really helpful. my seizres are tonic clonic and I imagined that every aura was a prelude to one of these little charmers x

[hazel]

Very pleased to meet fello aura sufferers as was convinced that my mind had left me, bags and all for a more stable environment x

[Dazzer21]

I've just joined. I'm on Lamotrigine and have been grand-mal seizure-free for over 20 years. I've not really looked into auras as I didn't know what they were, but (don't ask me why - it's a quiet day at work!) I've just taken some time to have a look and I'm convinced I get them and I want to find out more!

These generally tend to happen when I'm not really doing anything special, although a couple of times lately, it's happened as I've been working (don't worry - I don't operate a chainsaw for a living!!)

The whole thing sounds ridiculous to me and I'm ready for being called a loonytune! <here goes...>

For whatever reason, I'll deduce that something somewhere is wrong - maybe there's a song on the radio and I would be convinced that the words being sung were wrong. That then starts an argument 'in my head' - with my 'reading' voice (please tell me that everyone HAS one of those, right?!) I might imply 'those words are wrong', and with that will come an involuntary reply along the lines of 'are you sure?'. This then ensues. Along with that will then come a sensation like mild electric shocks (it starts 'down below' and then sort of spreads outwards). My eyes then lock focus and everything appears to be 2D, which in itself is pretty mindblowing - more-so when accompanied by my hearing going into complete meltdown - some sounds get louder, others are muffled.

This passes after about a minute or so but I have to be alert enough to 'pull' myself out of it. The 'voice' in my head adopts are more 'right, you've had enough now - get a grip' approach, and more often than not I physically talk myself out of it. I've always managed to stop it, and am completely in control of it, but as it's actually a 'nice' feeling, I pretty much take it to its limits before I figure (whether it's correct or not, I don't know) that it might take effect as something more serious.

I'm really keen to know if anyone can get close to this with regard to their experiences. Since reading up on this today, it's fascinated me greatly...

[Dazzer21]

Forgot to mention - some of the times (not all) I experience that 'freshly punched on the nose/aluminium' smell - quite pungent!

[paul carson]

please could i ask...has anyone who has experienced deja vu / premonition eplilepsy, lost contact with a biological parent or sibling. The reason i ask is because my long lost son and i were both diagnosed with the same condition after we were seperated. Both our symptoms have now ended since we have resumed contact with each other....spooky.

[little fruitcake]

Paul, sooo happy you have found your son. Blessings to you both.

[sturg]

The aura that I get before having a nocturnal seizure is extreme vertigo accompanied by fear that I will not stop spinning. I try to call out so my wife will roll me over on my stomach which usually stops the aura.

[k2s4ever]

I voted on this poll some time ago when I thought I had simple partial seizures. I have major ongoing olfactory auras. I also did not realize that I have visual ones too, and have had the visual ones since childhood-dismissing the flashing bright white sparkly things as "floaters" when in fact they are not at all. I now get visual and olfactory sometimes simultaneously. And the aura/s used to not signal a headache, but now sometimes they do. I have since had simple partial seizures ruled out and for sure been diagnosed with migraines. Migraine disorder escalated this year to the worst it's ever been, but now with the addition of Neurontin, it seems to be the most improved it ever has been. I was on Keppra until recently, along with many anti-epileptic drugs tried which target both simple partial seizures and migraine. I'm on Lamictal as well now-so those are my two medications. I am on a baby dose of Neurontin, and I am hoping an increase next month will really help even more.

[RachelinAZ]

I think what amazes me... is there are so many types of auras.
My neurologist doc really only talked about visual auras. In fact any doctor I've ever seen, neurologist or FP, only mentioned visual. So now (if I have any more-- it has been almost 4 years), if I have one, I am going to try and see if I remember any OTHER types of auras....

I am so happy to have found this forum. Not even a week and I am learning soooo much!!

[janinestarr]

Oh boy let's see:
Vision/Visual: My auras are rarely visual, but I'll sometimes see coloured spots and waves, usually more before a migraine than before a seizure.
Smell: I've always had trouble explaining exactly what it is I smell, the best way I can think to describe it is it smells like someone set eggs on fire...I stopped eating eggs four years ago because of this aura haha
Audio/Hearing/Balance: Sometimes I'll hear a ringing in my ears, or the whoop whoop fan sound that Mr. Pibb mentioned. (Thought I was the only one haha). Most usually I'll hear a high frequency buzzing.
Special Senses/Psychic: I always feel I wouldn't call it dissociation, because I never feel outside of my body, it's more like time distortion, and derealization. I'll always experience a sense of anxiety, but one completely different than when I have an anxiety attacks. Definitely jamais vu and deja vu, usually jamaias vu; I'll be talking to my best friend-who I've seen almost every day for six years now, and suddenly have no idea what her name is. I started calling her Margaret (Her name is Shannon; I don't know a Margaret). Or I'll suddenly have no idea what an object is that I use daily, like my phone or alarm clock.
Physical Automatisms: My heart speeds up, sometimes I'll feel tingling and lose sensation in my hands, feet, or arms.

[paradise survivor]

DITTO!!! Now I remember why this site was critical to me coming to terms with my adult onset epilepsy! It was sooo very hard to explain all this to my doctor(s) without feeling like a nut! Especially since soo many looked at me as though they had never heard of such things...ever! Now I finally have a doc that listens then says to me ' that's the seizures talkin'. I love that man! I told him he is not allowed to retire until I die or move which is unlikely, so he is stuck!! He chuckled and turned to his med students and explained that you don't have to be the smartest doc in the world, but you do need to listen to your patients...God bless him