They're creepy and they're spooky - Déjà Vu

[brain]

Déjà Vu - just how many of you have experienced really
wild things where it just freaks, spooks, and totally scares
the socks off of people?

I am having way too many of these in what used to be
isolated once in awhile episodes, but now have progressively
since late 1990s have grown insomuch the 1st epileptologist I had said
I was "Scary".

LOL!

In fact, 5000+ miles away (in U.K.) while talking to a friend
of mine (we're all like one big family) - just spooked her out
when they didn't like the movie they were watching and all of
a sudden I just lapsed into a Déjà Vu and said "Independence
Day!" - and that was exactly what the Uncle had picked out
and inserted into the Blu-Ray player.

Not the first time this has happened, we've had our experiences
with Déjà Vu experiences.

As uncanny as it is - it really is creepy, spooky, and
altogether kooky (sorry Addams' Family, no offense here.)



Nonetheless, we've had our wild moments and the best way
to define it is, lapsing into a seizure into a Déjà Vu mode;
and you just know that you know that you know that you know
would be the best way to describe it.

Probably (in a way is both frightening but sad at the same
time) the freakiest experience was when they were on vacation
half way through; we were communicating off and on - and having
had a bad seizure and lapsed into Déjà Vu ... I told that party that
more had been made redundant. Whilst the argument was no more
but the shocker came when the emails arrived implying that moment
when I told the party that information ... several more people were
made redundant. (I won't quote what was said but I will reword it)
"How the heck did you know?"

But vice versa, the party would also know when something was
wrong on my end as well - and would be all worried to death even
in the middle of sleep ... all because of Déjà Vu.

And above all things - that party was right on the dot.

After all .... Déjà Vu - as the little boy freaked out one day
and called me a Sy-Chick. (No, I am not a Psychic...) And I've
been teased since then, being called a "Sy-Chick".

These are a few things of the wild trips that Epilepsy can take
you on a ride for ... anyone else wants to speak up on it?

[rong]

I've had thousands of deja vu episodes durning my life. I once found myself standing on a roof's parapet (I was fixing a rooftop air conditioning unit) looking for a red airplane. The plane was there. How I knew it would be there is beyond me. Being on the parapet in itself was dangerous and when the episode was over I couldn't believe where I was standing. It wasn't long after this episode that the grand mal seizures started following the deja vu episodes.

I'm under a dr's care and the seizures and deja vu's are gone. (knock on wood)

rong

[Abynorml]

I use to get Deja Vu all the time as a kid, and I use to be able to pick up a phone right before it would ring, and often would know who was calling, way before caller ID, I also use to know when my cats would be at the door waiting for me, the worst was one day I knew my half feral tom cat was dead, it took about 15 minutes to find his body spread across the neighbors backlot, coyotes or a dog had got him. Dont get them as much now that Im older, but when I do its like hitting a brickwall, and tends to spook me a bit.

Growing up I had no idea that they could in anyway be related to a brain disorder, my mom just said I was "special". Course after learning alot online, I might be swayed to think it could be neurological, or seizure related.

[Rae1889]

I have answered the phone and said "Hello Joe" when I didnt even had any way of knowing "Joe" was gonna call. I have ordered printer cartridges the other day, and while at work I was sitting in the my controllers office and I remember saying. I need to go wait at my desk, the toner will be here. Sure enough, the second I sat down, the printer guy came in.

I like the "special" feelings though. I don't like attributing them to seizures now, cuz growing up I used to think I was a superhero or a mutant or something. Knowing things when people couldnt know them. or being able to do something nobody else could, cuz I just knew how.

Man...I had my superhero name picked out too... "The Know Show"

but I like "Sy-Chick" thats pretty snazzy

[brain]

I have moved this thread to the Back Fence
and will add a Poll to this as well.

[jimijimenez]

I get "premonitions" all the time,i.e how did I know/predict that?... though.. theres a few different explanations to this.
1) Them being unlikely inherently we later recall and reinforce the memories in which we had an accurate "premonition", and discard those which were false (which were more common and hence more unmemorable)
2) See "benjamin libet".. conscious awareness and volition lags behind reality by up to 300-500 milliseconds, we occasionally get a small, but impressive jump start on this (perhaps sometimes on our friends) though have no conscious recollection as to how.
3) feynman wheelers absorber theory, we think only the past affects the future because we "face forward" in time, however the future may very well be equally affecting the past. This idea was introduced because physics is generally "time symetric" aka also reversable in time.
1) is probably the simplest! occrams razor...!

[brain]

Here is a partial clarification of
more specifics from eMed:

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy from eMed

* 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.

[jimijimenez]

One more thing, do people find when recalling what was the source of their deja vu (in my case a sort of dream with a smell/taste) they feel they are inducing another seizure, I get pretty scared and feel a tension in my head sometimes when I do this, but im never sure whether i am having a new thought and starting to seize (thinking i had thought it before in the previous seizure) or actually inducing another one by using my memory when its a bit post seizure broken?

[brain]

I believe you will find this Poll & Thread very interesting
as it has more information and much more to it; and
read along .... just click on the link below:


Experience Aura / Auras


Don't let the title of it fool you though ...

[BuckeyeFan]

This rarely occurs for me, though when my Dad passed, I knew something was wrong. My co-workers even noticed how agitated I was and were shocked the next morning when I called my boss and told him my Dad had passed away at the time I was so agitated.

Not really deja vu I guess, because I didn't know what was happening.

[knothing]

I had this for 33 yrs before I knew it was a seizure. I have been on a combination of meds that now prevent it. Sad to say that I actually miss them after all those years of having them and thinking they were normal.

[Abynorml]

I rarely can keep a regular sleep schedule, so I have an alarm to wake me up at all kinds of different times in the morning, what's weird is I often, well most of the time lately, wake up just a minute or two before the alarm goes off, and when I wake up I get the dreaded feeling of crap the alarm is about to go off, usually I hate it cause it's just to damn early.

[FaerieJayne]

Well at my cousin's 21st I knew her 21st key was going to fall off the shelf... I remembered the conversation that went on in my head. I said to myself..."this person will say this, that person will say that... then I will know if I'm right." Sure enough they said what I thought they were going to say so I dive bombed at it, got it in time... That freaked me, and everyone else out.

[JRuner]

I have had this happen all my life usually knowing about surprises ahead of time without ever hearing anyone spill the beans. Or telling someone about the conversation they will have the day before it happens. Premonitions are quite frequent. I have avoided many car accidents by all of a sudden changing a route then reading about it in the paper the next. Funny thing is I am always losing my wallet or keys! Oh well. It actually scares me a little once I went to a new vacation spot as a teenager and the whole day seemed boring because I had already been there in my mind at least!

[Literophile]

I've experienced deja vu all my life, but I only just started having seizures a few months ago that were diagnosed as non-epileptic.

I remember the first time I had one, I asked my mom-- "Haven't we already done this?" and she said no, and I got so frustrated because I was POSITIVE we had already done whatever we were doing. She just laughed and said, "No, it's called Deja Vu!" I was still put out because I had no idea what that meant and I was about 7.

[Elsie]

I have 2 things that happen all the time...I'm not sure if they're in the same category or not. One is that every time I drive down the main road through our town, when I get to a certain location, my memories go back to my old home town of 30+ years ago and I picture a certain location there. There are no similarities in the roads or buildings around them that I can determine. But for a brief time I am a bit confused as to where I am going and how to procede. I just keep on driving and in a block all is clear in my mind again.

Other thing that happens is every time I go into a certain kitchen cupboard for a small white bowl I expect to see small white custard cups like I had 30+ years ago in a house long ago. When I open the door and see the present bowls (same color / size, different shape) I immediately say, oh yes these ones not the old ones. But it happens 999 times out of 1000 times I go into that cupboard.

Just coincidences or brain memory gone awry? Didn't vote in the poll because nothing really fit.

[neilB]

Well I had it yesterday while driving with a friend of mine. We were coming down the street which I wasn't familiar with and I knew there would be a "round white house" around the corner, and there it was. Freaked me out for a minute and I didn't say anything but it was interesting.

[Endless]

I've had kinda the same. We were going over to a friend of a friend's house, and I had the feeling I'd been there before, and I knew the layout inside. It was an old house, not one of those cookie-cutter new ones. When we got inside I recognized the living room and kitchen. But I'd never been there. <insert music from the twilight zone here>

I get Jamais Vu more often. I'm in a very familiar place and I don't recognize it. Or I don't recognize people. Or my dog.

[mel239]

Ive had everything from 2 men constantly arguing in my house to trees coming alive and eating cars.But about half hour ago I walked into my sons room he is away at college and the room has been closed for 3 weeks and i smelled like there was meat in an invisible oven that was cooking.the whole room was full of that smell,which was actually good.That same smell happened 10 years ago and that was 7 years before I ever had symptoms of seizures.I explained it away by saying my house was haunted which I truly believe.Two men committed suicide here,a quarry worker that was fired hung himself in the tree out back and the doctor who owned our house prior shot himself in our bedroom,so thats where I come up with 2 men arguing and alot of other visions.maybe they were cooking a roast?

[leonora]

had de ja vu's for most of my life with my right temporal epilepsy
mostly right side temporal epilepsy causes this to happen. Just remain calm and tell yourself this is not really 'you' but just a trick of the brain.
The neuros told me that this kind of thing is very common with Temporal lobe epilepsy (right side)