Can anyone else feel when they have an absence seizure?

[dhorsley]

My seizures are weird as well. I get a feeling of De'javue. You know, almost like a out of body experience. Like I have been here before. Then if the seizure happens, I can not talk, or at least make any sense. I can only explain it like when you talk you can see the words you want to say in you mind, but when I have a seizure and it is ending, I can see the words run across my moind but I can't say them so I don't make any sense. I will often forget what I am doing and walk away until my mind clears up, usually 1-2 minutes later......

 

[CBernieBlack]

dhorsley-- mine feel the same way. Has your doc said anything about Temporal Lobe Epilepsy or where your focus is coming from? Just curious.

 

[Youseemeb4]

I can... I get like a 15 second pause window when I know it's coming. Which is just enough time to get in a safe position and let it happen.. It has only happen 2 times but now I'm on meds for 3 years n haven't had one since

 

[toro]

When I have absence complex partials. My neurology says they aren't technically absence because they appear to be partial. At any rate I'm completely unaware of them when they are happening, even though I'm aware during the auras that occur before or after them. I guess I just go completely unconscious for about 20 to 45 seconds then come to in a confusion aura. But I can't tell the difference between the aura just occurring.

Hope that helps

 

[cazzy]

mine about same as others....i had strange one the other night i was aware i could not move but all my body was convulsing it was most frighting thing

 

[Booboo982]

When I have an absence seizure everything goes fuzzy for around 30 seconds which can be helpful when I'm on a packed bus.

 

[babylamb]

I feel VERY slowed. Like everything is slow motion and I know it's happening then I guess I just go blank because I don't remember people that call my name when I start staring, most of the time I have no idea it's happened but SOMETIMES I will feel the slow motion feeling.

 

[arnie]

I have several hundred simple and/or complex partials per year, and I don't lose consciousness and can even continue whatever I'm doing, for the most part, but I feel really strange sensations, sort of like a big adrenaline rush, not pleasant, and some vertigo and immediate tiredness. Often headaches if I have a number of szs in one day. The one thing I am never aware of, even though I'm fully conscious, is that I smack my lips or make chewing motions. Also, I always think that my family will not notice that I'm having one, and they invariably know because of the way I look and my mouth movements.

 

[Electra]

The best way I can describe mine is that it feels like the pressure in your head when you yawn. And if it happens mid conversation I lose connection and can't respond or engage in conversion only pretend....oh yes or I don't know is the biggest vocabulary for those few minutes. Then I feel tired and wonder if I triggered it some how...i also get rapid heart beat, nausea my knees feel weak. Then I am ready to go again.

 

[suebear]

I just happen to find this topic when looking for something else so decided to reply to it while I was here. I have been experiencing Complex Partial seizures for years but ever since about two weeks ago more or less I honest started to notice there has been a change taking place in the type of seizure taking place and I'm unsure why.

I'm noticing that the seizure is much more light as I'm actually aware of WTF is going on and it's freaking me out. I'm beginning to think the few times that I've just sat here on the couch prior and went into a total daze with my hand doing the shake motion it was an abscence I just never realized it. At least not until now.

Anyway, I'm beginning to think that the seizures are changing from the complex partial and moving into that abscense mode. I'll be speaking with my epitologist about this when I see him on Monday next week. I had one of them this evening where I blanked out for about five seconds and it literally flipped me out as I had no clue what the heck was going on.

I'm not sure why they are suddenly doing this type of activity or making this type of change as I'm not doing anything different. The only thing that could possibly cause this to take effect is the VNS being turned up to a specific setting. I'll be in touch when this gets figured out.

onder:

 

[Janus]

I totally relate. My absence seizures are weird that i have total awareness of what is going on around me but can't do anything. I am told that i have that scary, vacant stare. I feels like virtigo where my center of gravity is tipsy but i do not fall over. After i seem drowsy and relaxed but not tired exactly. I know; its hard to put words on these kinds of things. I strongly relate to everything i read here too.

 

[suebear]

I totally relate. My absence seizures are weird that i have total awareness of what is going on around me but can't do anything. I am told that i have that scary, vacant stare. I feels like virtigo where my center of gravity is tipsy but i do not fall over. After i seem drowsy and relaxed but not tired exactly. I know; its hard to put words on these kinds of things. I strongly relate to everything i read here too.

I'm having that same odd feeling lately. Instead of having the typical type seize that I'm accustomed to taking place it has changed into something completely different and I have not been able to figure out what or why this is taking place.

I just went through my seizure log last night looking over everything and it would seem that the changes actually started as of mid-September. As I was reviewing the log I got the thinking and could recall a few months ago, actually more than a few months, there was a time when my husband had taken me to the ER because of this similar type of activity neither of us could explain as I never had experienced it and he has never seen it.

We both thought at the time it was the DBS acting odd or possibly causing some type of reaction with the settings as I could not stop shaking; it was like every 20 minutes there abouts I would be shaking. On top of that I had a major migraine. It is still an unanswered question I have never been able to figure out even though things went back to normal. onder:

Now, here we are again I am experiencing similar factors with the exception I don't go into the shaking mode as I had done that night. I've only experienced that one time. Now I am just going through these odd times when I'm blanking out and what is more strange this does not happen frequently. It is on a very rare occassion. onder: I've made notes about everything and I'm taking it into the office with me Monday so it will be quite interesting to see what comes out of this before I leave. I did cc the neurosurgeon so he will see a copy of this activity Monday morning when he comes into his office at the hospital. All I can do now is wait.

On a good note, I did speak with my mom this morning just on a gut instinct and found out when I was a kid I used to have Petit Mals. I actually had a variety of seizures as a child. I sent an email to the neurosurgeon after getting off the phone with her so he was updated so that should help guide him on a new direction. This is a new experience for me with this type of seizure so I'm not sure how to deal with them but at least there is a direction to begin looking. :twocents:

 

[Janus]

Suebear, i relate a lot. I have found that magnesium supplements change my brain chemistry for the best. But also diet and medication changes effect my Temp lobe issues. I suspect that there is a strong 'power of suggestion' effect in my case too. When my doc said "your seizures may start to get much worse." I started having T-Clonics etc.

 

[mikepen0287]

id like to think i can remember being aware during one, but i think ive just got used to how people look at me when i come out of one.

 

[masterjen]

My doctor is not sure if I have them or not, but is suspicious.
I read through others and these kind of sound like some who have had an actual diagnosis, but not entirely so I am hoping that means I don't. Just the same, if anyone can relate, I'd like to know.
Whatever it is, it starts off where I feel I am drifting off to daydream but I can't stop it and I can remember what I am daydreaming about for that first 2-3 seconds but then there is a blank until I am completely out of this state, maybe another 5 seconds. I can tell it isn't too long because I generally haven't missed too much of the conversation. The only time it was a big problem was in university lectures, and then much more recently I took a bad fall when walking, and I recall that I was completely "gone" before I fell however I do remember in hindsight my foot catching on something. I try to analyze why I stay tuned in sometimes and not others, and it has nothing to do with interest (or lack of lol), fatigue, other things I have to do, etc. That brief period of daydream is completely random, and generally pleasant. I haven't ever thought much of it and just thought everybody took a "listening break" or "concentration break" from time to time. Don't they??