partial seizure and speech

[wanderlust]

I think I had another partial seizure a few nights ago but I don't know if it was a dream or not. I have been having very vivid dreams almost every night since I started lamotrigine. My memory of the event is blurry, but I had the really bad, 'something horrible is happening' sort of feeling that has been present with previous seizures. It was strange, it was like I knew something was wrong but couldn't really organise myself.. it's hard to explain. I was scared and knew something wasn't right and began asking for help. I felt like I was screaming the words, but as I became more... aware, I guess, it was like I was barely even whispering? I don't know. My boyfriend was sleeping next to me and can't remember a thing, and if I was screaming it would have woken him up so it may have just been a dream. But the feeling was so familiar, the whole knowing something is wrong but not being aware enough to know what it was or how to handle it. I woke up the next morning feeling very unsettled.

Does it sound like a seizure? Has something like this happened to anyone before; you felt like you were saying something clearly but realised you weren't?

 

[Endless]

I've wondered about something similar. I've had night terrors. Horrible nightmares with nonspecific content, where I've woken up enveloped with terror.

I thought I was screaming out coherent words but I was really just saying nonsense blurry/garbled words at a normal volume. (I recorded myself one night because I thought if I heard what I was saying I would find out what I was dreaming about). When it happened I had kind of the same feeling as I do when I have the fear seizures. The night terrors come in bunches. I'll have them for several nights in a row, then for months and months, nothing.

 

[Nakamova]

Lamictal is known to cause dramatic nightmares/dreams. It did for me when I first started on it, but I don't have them now.

Although it could have been a seizure, it also sounds like nightmares I've had where I'm trying to scream for help and can barely croak a sound out. And then I wake up and realize that being asleep is why I couldn't actually scream.

 

[occb]

Patner used to have nightmares regularly, where he thought he was screaming, but usually he just mumbled, or spoke regularly, although, on occasion he screamed. He always had that "something horrible" feeling throughout his dream, but his dreams were about war and always about being on the verge of dying.

In his case, the lamictal stopped the nightmares. He still talks in his sleep sometimes (those are always interesting talks), and once or twice has woken up with the fear, but no longer remembers what he dreamt about.

 

[wanderlust]

Thanks for all your feedback, everyone. Hopefully it was just a bad dream. I am seeing my neuro on Friday so I'll make sure to bring it up with him.

Also Nakamova, how long was it until your dreams went away?? I have been on it three months and they have not gone away as of yet. In fact, they've become more lifelike/unsettling. Is this normal?

 

[Nakamova]

I think it was about 4 or 5 months before my sleep patterns changed on the Lamictal. Until then, not only did I have crazy dreams, but my sleep was very restless, and I would wake up many times during the night before finally just giving up and getting out of bed at or 6am to start my day. (And I am NOT a morning person). Now it's almost the opposite, I sleep fairly heavily and late into the morning, and I feel like I could go back to sleep for another hour or so, even after 8 hours of sleep.

I am on a fairly low dose of Lamictal, so I don't know if that makes a difference.