Sunday I slept in, worked on my uni assignment, then had a 40minute nap and headed to my friend's place for our usual Sunday dinner. We took the quad bikes for a spin to say hi to the horses, and I had a ball. Felt fine. We had just finished eating when I became convinced that I must have some meat stuck in my teeth because the right side of my jaw was aching. As I started to zone out, I realised it was my numbness/aching feeling. I put my head in my hands and struggled to stay conscious. Then I burst into the usual tears, laughed a bit, and went to lay down. I started shivering as I often do. My hands and feet were slightly blue, and cold and clammy apparently, although I didn't actually feel as though I was cold.
About 20mins later I was lying on the couch and my eyes started blinking and my body jerking uncontrollably. I began jerking, groaning and crying out, and arching my neck and back. I started opening my mouth awkwardly. I was aware, but struggled to respond or control these movements and noises. I was apparently drooling. This came in waves, with each episode lasting between 30 seconds and two minutes. When it finished, my whole body would shake and my teeth would chatter, sort of like a shock reaction. I was aware, and able to communicate, although I was stuttering and having trouble talking. Then the aura would wash over me again and another episode would start. After 6 of these, my friends called the ambulance. The paramedics witnessed one and we did catch some on video.
3 hours later I was finally examined, and the doctors did bloods, ECG and neuro exam, all of which came back fine. They even did a chest xray to check for lung tumours but as usual, you can't get an EEG WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST!! Sent home at 3.30am.
Coincidentally I had appts with my neuropsych, neuro and vestibular physio the next day.
Neuro watched the video and couldn't decide if they were real seizures, but he did say I fit the criteria for 'generalised motor epilepsy" I think he called it?? Awkward movements, but no loss of bladder or bowel control, and no loss of consciousness.
Neuropsych switched me to a new antidepressant (SNRI called Pristiq) and suggested the "rolling" movements in the seizures, plus my zoning out state seemed dissociative. Fantastic. Now he's thinking along the lines of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I pushed for therapy, I want to get to the bottom of this and ironically enough, all of this crap IS starting to make me depressed now!
The vestibular physio got me to do some eye coordination exercises and confidently diagnosed 'visual vestibular mismatch' a condition where my vision and my brain have a bit of a communication problem. This causes dizziness, headaches, neck stiffness, inability to focus etc. YAY!!! Finally some answers here! She said this is usually a consequence of neurological disturbance, such as migraines or epilepsy. So its not the cause of the seizures, more a side effect of them. Still, she gave me some practical help with work and everyday life, plus some exercises to help retrain my brain to the irritating stimuli such as fluoro lights, computers, patterned carpet, supermarket shelves, driving etc.
Today I've had a good sleep and some painkillers, but I'm still getting the auras and the headache. See how we go from here. Thanks for reading =)
About 20mins later I was lying on the couch and my eyes started blinking and my body jerking uncontrollably. I began jerking, groaning and crying out, and arching my neck and back. I started opening my mouth awkwardly. I was aware, but struggled to respond or control these movements and noises. I was apparently drooling. This came in waves, with each episode lasting between 30 seconds and two minutes. When it finished, my whole body would shake and my teeth would chatter, sort of like a shock reaction. I was aware, and able to communicate, although I was stuttering and having trouble talking. Then the aura would wash over me again and another episode would start. After 6 of these, my friends called the ambulance. The paramedics witnessed one and we did catch some on video.
3 hours later I was finally examined, and the doctors did bloods, ECG and neuro exam, all of which came back fine. They even did a chest xray to check for lung tumours but as usual, you can't get an EEG WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST!! Sent home at 3.30am.
Coincidentally I had appts with my neuropsych, neuro and vestibular physio the next day.
Neuro watched the video and couldn't decide if they were real seizures, but he did say I fit the criteria for 'generalised motor epilepsy" I think he called it?? Awkward movements, but no loss of bladder or bowel control, and no loss of consciousness.
Neuropsych switched me to a new antidepressant (SNRI called Pristiq) and suggested the "rolling" movements in the seizures, plus my zoning out state seemed dissociative. Fantastic. Now he's thinking along the lines of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I pushed for therapy, I want to get to the bottom of this and ironically enough, all of this crap IS starting to make me depressed now!
The vestibular physio got me to do some eye coordination exercises and confidently diagnosed 'visual vestibular mismatch' a condition where my vision and my brain have a bit of a communication problem. This causes dizziness, headaches, neck stiffness, inability to focus etc. YAY!!! Finally some answers here! She said this is usually a consequence of neurological disturbance, such as migraines or epilepsy. So its not the cause of the seizures, more a side effect of them. Still, she gave me some practical help with work and everyday life, plus some exercises to help retrain my brain to the irritating stimuli such as fluoro lights, computers, patterned carpet, supermarket shelves, driving etc.
Today I've had a good sleep and some painkillers, but I'm still getting the auras and the headache. See how we go from here. Thanks for reading =)
rest well.