Amplified Sounds/derealization?

[RunningGirl85]

While I'm at it with posting, I do have a question for you all! The other day, sounds suddenly became amplified, and when I was talking I felt like it wasn't really me talking... Like I was on the outside looking in. Do any of you have it, and do you think it's seizure activity? I had all this stuff kinda happen before I had my T/C seizures, but I'm kinda questioning it because on my last EEG nothing showed up, and my neurologist doesn't think it's seizure activity (probably in part because I reported it, but nothing showed up - this kinda happened twice). I'm starting to question stuff myself.

I'm starting to think maybe some of this is the medications I'm on. Aside from my seizure meds, I'm also taking Zoloft and Buspar for depression/anxiety. I will say that they seem to be working pretty well. I haven't freaked out over stuff (though I will say when my neurologist said no driving AGAIN I wasn't particularly thrilled or happy that day), and I haven't had crying spells like I was, so I'm glad I'm on those... I'm just kinda trying to figure out what is medication, what is anxiety, and what is actual seizure activity... I don't want to keep reporting stuff to my neurologist that isn't seizure activity that keeps stopping me from driving/returning to doing things normally. Gah. So frustrating...

 

[Hand of Blood]

I get this a lot! Mostly in big crowds or a lot in car, it's like ur not really there u feel like ur a soul in different body sort of thing? It could be meds but I think I got it before I ever took meds, it may be a mental thing I'm not sure maybe panic attacks?

 

[Nakamova]

Buspar can cause ringing in the ears, though sounds a bitdifferent fropm what you are experiencing. If it's an out-of-body sensation it could definitely be a frontal or temporal lobe seizure. Unfortunately, many TLE and FLE partials don't get picked up on an EEG. before you start second-guessing yourself too much, remember:

... the EEG has a number of limitations. Electrical activity recorded by electrodes placed on the scalp or surface of the brain mostly reflects summation of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in apical dendrites of pyramidal neurons in the more superficial layers of the cortex. Quite large areas of cortex—in the order of a few square centimetres—have to be activated synchronously to generate enough potential for changes to be registered at electrodes placed on the scalp. Propagation of electrical activity along physiological pathways or through volume conduction in extracellular spaces may give a misleading impression as to location of the source of the electrical activity. Cortical generators of the many normal and abnormal cortical activities recorded in the EEG are still largely unknown. Spatial sampling in routine scalp EEG is incomplete, as significant amounts of cortex, particularly in basal and mesial areas of the hemispheres, are not covered by standard electrode placement. Temporal sampling is also limited, and the relatively short duration of routine interictal EEG recording is one reason why patients with epilepsy may not show interictal epileptiform discharge...

(from http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/76/suppl_2/ii2.full)

 

[RunningGirl85]

Yeah... my last abnormal EEGs both indicated frontal/temporal lobe epilepsy (could've been either one), so that makes a lot of sense. Again, I did a crappy job explaining this out of body experience to my neurologist... I described it as "fuzzy headed." And he's pretty much established it's not... but then again, this is why he wants me to see an epileptologist, because he admits he is a bit stumped right now.

" it's like ur not really there u feel like ur a soul in different body sort of thing? It could be meds but I think I got it before I ever took meds, it may be a mental thing I'm not sure maybe panic attacks?"

This does seem to correspond with where I am... it's happened a few times where I'll be in a store, and suddenly I can every little sound, or at least it feels like it. Usually I'll get a deja vu experience or something shortly thereafter, which I also forgot to mention to my neurologist. And like you said, this happened before I was on any medications.. it was how I felt before my T/C seizures... but who knows. Hopefully I'll get to talk to an epileptologist soon who studies this in depth and deals with this all the time.

 

[LW6279]

Sounds like seizure aura to me but could be brought on by the meds.

 

[AndrewIrish]

I have this feeling all the time.

I don't know if it could be seizures... just a sense of 'I'm not really real...' and feeling like nothing is real... I thought it was a sign of 'Depersonalization', a mental disorder.

Though good point, maybe it's some kind of seizure activity...

 

[PFunk]

Hey RG. One of my simple partials is depersonalization. I feel like I'm inside my body watching everything through my eyes. When I move my body I feel like a puppeteer controlling a marionette. When I catch a reflection in a mirror, I feel like I'm looking a an object. Also like Andrew sometimes I feel like I or the people around me are no real... or even my life. To me it sounds like you are having SP's.

 

[RunningGirl85]

P-Funk, that's about exactly how I feel! I think the reason my neurologist doesn't think it is is because during both of my longer EEGs (video and ambulatory) I reported feeling "fuzzy headed," because I DO feel that way, and nothing showed up... but there is a difference between the types... if that makes any sense. I can tell you right now that I don't feel right... maybe more "fuzzy" than "depersonalized". Cause I do notice a difference. Either way, I forgot to take my meds last night and I'm stuck at work... so... I'm gonna say either a) just withdrawel blahness (like when I forgot my antidepressants for four days during my ambulatory EEG - THAT'S why I reported feeling dizzy on THAT eeg), or b) I'm screwing myself over big time right now.