Generalized without losing consciousness

[Jfpinell]

Did anyone ever have or what seemed exactly like a generalized seizure while you were awake to see it? I've never heard of it before, but I had one once where I was shaking, etc., but was fully awake. I've always heard that when you're having a generalized seizure, you're, shall I say, out of it.
There was also a case (granted about 9 years ago, but it's going to be bugging me until I figure out what happened) Is there such a thing does anyone know, as someone freezing up and not being able to move as an after effect of a seizure -whether it progresses to unconsciousness or not? Even after 9 years I'm of course hesitant to mention it to an M.D.: I was driving along when I started to get light headed, I pulled over in a parking lot and started having a small seizure (an aura without losing consciousness). After it stopped and I felt better, I started home (yes, I know what everyone is thinking, but I've done it many times before. I always wait 'til I feel 100% again, which with me only takes a few minutes.) Suddenly I just couldn't move. I KNOW I was NOT having another seizure (to make a long explaination short), but I just couldn't steer or brake or anything, but I could see hear and feel everything perfectly fine. There apparently was a brief few seconds where I can't to this day for the life of me remember (momentary amnesia?) because witnesses were saying something happened that I don't remember at all. I then like the flip of a light switch remember going back the other way down the road still unable to move at all, until.....well, I don't have to say what happened. After a seizure I'm like total confused and afraid of everything around me until I am fully back into it. It takes me awhile to be able to form words again and to balance again -NONE of which happened afterwards, so again I KNOW I didn't have another seizure. But this has been bugging me ever since....has anyone else ever experienced either of these?

 

[epileric]

I've had such seizures where I remember my body being jerked & such things. I've also had seizures where I thought I'd remembered everything that happened and was conscious throughout the whole thing but apparently I had to be told that my body did other things that I was totally unaware of so realize you might not be as alert as you feel, I know I wasn't.

 

[Jfpinell]

These are both instances that happened ONCE -never before and never since. I didn't have any other injuries that would make these worse or cause something new. I just need as many opinions as I can because this is something that's going to getting me until something clicks 1 day and I figure out what happened while driving that day.

 

[Jfpinell]

No other advice?

 

[Nakamova]

It sounds a bit like sleep paralysis. That's the sensation that can happen either when falling asleep or waking up, when the brain is aware but the body is still in sleep mode. The paralysis is not complete, since people can usually move their eyes. Sleep paralysis is also one of the symptoms associated with temporal lobe epilepsy, so perhaps that's what happened in your case. Even if it only happened once, that doesn't rule out TLE as an explanation.

 

[Jfpinell]

Does that mean that a person has to be falling asleep or tired or just waking up for that sort of thing to happen? This happened while I was driving and of course I wasn't asleep at the wheel I also wasn't tired (I know enough to not attempt to drive then). There was a show I was watching not too long ago "CHiPs", if you're old enough to remember that from the '70's/'80's. There was a guy on a motorcycle who wouldn't pull over when they told him to, and the cops realized it was a freeze up. They had to turn off his engine and guide the bike over to the side of the road. The guy was total in a trance if you will, for a few seconds and then kept saying: "Why didn't they tell me it would be like this? Why didn't they see I wasn't ready for the freeway?" Granted that was T.V., but the "incident" suddenly hit me lilke; "WHAT THE....! THAT'S KINDA' WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY!" Not that I was afraid of driving (I had been for 15 years then), but I wonder if something didn't "malfunction" if you will.

 

[Nakamova]

Well when sleep paralysis happens just before or after sleeping it's just sleep paralysis --many people have this sensation. But when it happens when you're awake it's likely to be temporal lobe epilepsy.

 

[Chel]

I'm sure I read on here recently that someone had had a generalised seizure, but had remained awake through the whole thing.

Now, my interest here is that I work in a hospital, and only yesterday one nurse at lunch described someone seizuring just like that, but said this person "couldn't have had epilepsy, because they were aware through the whole thing". I knew that was wrong - I'd just read it here - but couldn't give her the correct answer.

I'd like to print something out for her and the nurse she was talking to, to educate them both.

Someone in the other thread posted a link.

Boy, I hope this post makes sense - backspace button is really getting a workout here (brain is on the way out!).

 

[Jfpinell]

Well, the report by the officer read in part: "driving through the backyards of houses and between 2 houses to get back on (the road)". I don't believe that all the way it sounds, after talking to 2 people that, apparently seen most if not all of it. The area I (reportedly) drove around in is nothing but a big empty lot by the lake with 2 houses set far back towards the shore. If I was having a seizure, there's NO WAY that I know of (and others have the same opinion) that I could've been able to steer around and especially between objects without hitting them -especially because during that reported time is when I don't recall a thing. It couldn't have been more than about 15 seconds (and when I have a blackout, I'm out much longer than that.) Suddenly like the flip of a switch, I recall going back the other way on the road and the vehicle moving across the left lane (still unable to move or steer) I remember being able to see and feel clear as day like I do right now, and all I could think to myself was; "Why on earth can't I just hit the brake?" I recall screaming in total fear when I seen a tree coming towards me, and, well... Afterwards a lady ran over and asked if I was alright. I was able to get out of the vehicle and walk on the shoulder just fine, and whenever I have a blackout, my balance is TOTALLY out of it for at least an hour -almost as if I just finished off half a bottle of Jack Daniels (No, I rarely drink.) The only thing I can think is that I hit my head on something when I ran over the curb (I recall the jar when the wheel hit like it was yesterday), and blacked out from that for a few seconds. But then I wouldn't be able to steer around anything, would I?
Does this make ANY sense at all to any of you?? This is just going to bug the living heck out of me until the day something just clicks and it all comes back or until I can figure a logical explaination. -Which is why I need all the help and suggestions or ideas/theories I can get here.

 

[Endless]

Thank heavens you are okay.

It sounds like one of my complex partials. Instead of doing complex physical things, I do complex verbal things that look/sounds like I'm awake but I'm unconscious, and I say completely wacky things that are real, very complex sentances. My doc says for me it's a right temporal lobe siezure because my language is intact during them.

I've had complex partials where I've unlocked the front door and gone down the stairs to go outside. I've had just one where I took my clothes off (in my own home, thank goodness). So doing complex stuff is definitely possible.

So, you bet it sounds like a seizure. And yes, it's unusual but I can very well believe you drove around between houses and through a field while you were having a seizure.

I'd guess that driving is out for you for a period of time. Here's a place to look up the law in your state for driving and seizures:

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/living/wellness/transportation/drivinglaws.cfm

http://www.epilepsy.com/EPILEPSY/rights_driving

 

[Jfpinell]

Oh I'm familiar with the State laws (This is going to sound strange but I was in the law enforcement training and I helped for years as a role player -a.k.a. guinea pig as I affectionately call it.) This also happened about 9 or 10 years ago (Out D.O.T. only follows you for a max. of 5 years after your last one.) The weird thing is, I don't recall the driving through a field part (which was actually just a big undeveloped lot) but like the flip of a switch, I recall everything afterwards. Why would I be able to steer around objects like that, but then suddenly again, not be able to move to steer or hit the brake when I WAS able to see and hear and feel everything normally again (if I'm making sense there)? Wouldn't I be either out of it the whole time or partially into it the whole time, not in and out and in again?

 

[Endless]

Could be partial seizures, in serial. Feeling paralyzed is most probably a simple partial. Many people in here have mentioned two types of seizures back to back. Usually the simple partial comes first, before the complex partial, but it doesn't always have to work that way.

After my complex partials I'm not always confused. I almost always am, but there have been a few times when I haven't been.

Really, this all sounds very "seizure" to me. I'd be questioning it, too, if it were me. I hate accepting it when something really wacky happens. I'd rather think I'm nuts than think I'm not in control of myself.

Once I was in the kitchen, feeding the dog, getting dinner ready. The next second I tasted something like cardboard in my mouth, plus a funny undertaste, plus a dry/icky texture. It took me a minute to figure out it was the dog food from the bowl that was still on the counter. Complex partial. I spent the entire day questioning it and trying to explain it away, when it's so clear what it was.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck.....

.

 

[Jfpinell]

The thing that seems weird though too is that, I've had seizure due from meningitis since I was 2 weeks old (yeah...not even old enough to crawl around on the floor by the dog, so to say. Where the heck...?) They've always been the same exact pattern, etc. How could a person have out of the blue, a new kind of seizure once after 30+ years and then never again? My EEG's and such have always come back "normal", so to say without change. I've never in my life found myself somewhere or doing something I can't remember as you describe above with you, until and only on, that day.

 

[Endless]

This last week I had a completely new kind of seizure - I woke up to my left side jerking. There it was. Out of the blue. It happens to lots of folks - as the years go by their seizure patterns change in frequency, type, etc.

There are a number of reasons your seizures may not show up on an eeg. If partial seizures, they could be happening too deep in the brain to pick up. Especially frontal lobe siezures. The eeg may not have abnormal waves inbetween seizures because either again, too deep in the brain, or, there may not have been enough of them or they weren't bad enough to cause permanent changes in your brain (this would be good news).

Another possibility is that they aren't epileptic - that there is another physical cause for them. That might be the case for me - I have cerebral spinal fluid pressure that is too high, pressing in on my head. (non-epileptic means not caused by an electrical misfiring in the brain) Your meningitis as a child may have something to do with it, though I'm not sure how. I'd think scarring on the brain might cause epileptic seizures, but maybe nerve damage might not... Idon't know. I'm not a doc! Thank goodness we all have one to sort it all out.

It's all really complex. My neuros and I been trying to figure it all out for a year and a half now, and are not done yet - we are still sorting through everything trying to get to the root cause, trying to get my meds right..... sigh... I am not a patient person.

 

[epileric]

If I was having a seizure, there's NO WAY that I know of (and others have the same opinion) that I could've been able to steer around and especially between objects without hitting them -especially because during that reported time is when I don't recall a thing. It couldn't have been more than about 15 seconds (and when I have a blackout, I'm out much longer than that.)

Actually it's VERY possible that you are able to steer around during a seizure. I know I came out of a seizure numerous times to realize that despite being in a state I can't remember, I was still able to grab the pole of a bus stop so that I didn't fall over. I can also do things like speak full words even though the words may not make full sense. During a seizure some things can be reflexive if you do them often enough, like driving but not knowing where.

Suddenly like the flip of a switch, I recall going back the other way on the road and the vehicle moving across the left lane (still unable to move or steer) I remember being able to see and feel clear as day like I do right now, and all I could think to myself was; "Why on earth can't I just hit the brake?" .

That's just part of a seizure. You still may be able to steer but you are not in full control. Realize you will probably NEVER remember what happened during that seizure, no matter how much it bothers you.

Also realize I often feel dizzy for a while after some of my seizures. It may have nothing to do with hitting your head.

 

[epileric]

How could a person have out of the blue, a new kind of seizure once after 30+ years and then never again? My EEG's and such have always come back "normal", so to say without change. I've never in my life found myself somewhere or doing something I can't remember as you describe above with you, until and only on, that day.

Actually it's very common for seizures to morph. I've only ever had partial seizures until I was 18 when I had a T/C seizure. I've never had nocturnal seizures until I was in my 20's, I've never had more than one seizure a day until my late 20's (still unusual though). Never blanked out (that I knew of) until my 30's and so on. My seizures keep morphing & there are many people on this site who have said the same thing you have, that their seizures changed into something they weren't & they are uncomfortable with it. Each time they change you have to accept that this is now a new fact of how your seizures present themselves.

 

[Jfpinell]

Another possibility is that they aren't epileptic - that there is another physical cause for them. That might be the case for me - I have cerebral spinal fluid pressure that is too high, pressing in on my head. (non-epileptic means not caused by an electrical misfiring in the brain) Your meningitis as a child may have something to do with it, though I'm not sure how. I'd think scarring on the brain might cause epileptic seizures, but maybe nerve damage might not... Idon't know. I'm not a doc! Thank goodness we all have one to sort it all out.

I DID have a shunt put in at about a month old due to secondary hydroencephilitus from the meningitis. At 8 years old a neurosurgeon did tons of x-rays and what not, and then told my parents I didn't need to use it anymore. (Me and my ma noticed a squishing sound when she'd push on it suddenly one day.) I haven't used it daily since then. Every so often if I have a seizure or if I feel like I'm about to, I'll push on it. The last time I did, it took a long time to expand again (usually it would be withing seconds...kinda' like squeezing a baster for turkey in the oven). I wonder if that could be pushing on something "in there". I've just never had a seizure where I didn't have the same exact kind of aura first (usually that's all that happens -and that's what happened the first time, when I originally pulled over like I said in my original note here.) I'd be scared to death (and everyone has said they wouldn't) to have it taken out! Not to mention another scar on me! I'm starting to wonder...could this be part of it?

 

[Endless]

call your neuro and your neurosurgeon. tell them both. get some answers. sure could be the shunt. hugs to you...