Anxiety & Depression gone after having grand mal seizure

[adh]

I have a question that has been in my mind ever since I had my first and only seizure.

Let me back track for a moment before I go into the seizure... I have suffered from severe anxiety my entire life (toddler-23yrs) I had been treated for a variety of things, depression, generalized anxiety, blah blah.. when eventually my doctor put me on a medication for OCD. It seemed to be helping so I was on this medication for about a year. December 26th of 2010, I took my OCD medication at night (as instructed) but I was also suffering from a cold and took some nyquil (bad idea) I had no idea these medications were not supposed to be mixed :/

The next day I suffered a grand mal seizure. I was taken to the ER and was told everything came back great (blood, MRI) only I was dehydrated. They sent me home with a referral to see a neurologist.

I went to the neurologist, they did EEG's, cat scan, etc.. and he said everything looked 100% perfect and normal, and suspects (but cannot prove) that the seizure was caused by the mix of nyquil and my OCD meds.

Now comes my question, sorry the build up was so long... It has now been over a year since my seizure (and none since). My anxiety has completely gone away, I feel so much better about life in general. Since everything went so perfectly with the neurologist, he won't see me again. But I'm really curious as to how this seizure could have "cured" my anxiety? I'm doing better in school, in social life, everything...

While I know having epilepsy cannot feel fun or beneficial at any time, but I'm wondering if anyone else out there has had a non-epileptic seizure and felt better, for lack of a better word, after?

 

[LJ-Bain]

Wow and welcome! What an added benefit to having had a seizure! Perhaps your medications lowered your seizure threshold and one sneaked through. It is possible for someone just to have one seizure in their lifetime and I hope it doesn't happen to you again.
I know that after a larger seizure (I mainly get simple partials though) and sleeping it off a bit and recovering I do feel a bit better...like after a big sneeze. Perhaps it's like getting something out of your system or getting something off your chest. Maybe your brain reset itself in a positive way!

 

[adh]

Yeah, I am thinking maybe it just altered my chemicals so much and just switched things around, maybe fixed them? I know with seizures they really send your chemicals in a whirlwind, if that makes sense.

I am definitely not complaining! About a week after the seizure I was kind of in this is-this-real-life, daze-y kind of feeling.. then I just felt normal and happy (like i hadn't in years!) I have just always been so curious as to how it worked!

 

[Cint]

Welcome Adh,

Good to hear that you've only had one TC seizure. I've suffered from epilepsy and depression and at times after I've had a TC seizure, I would feel wonderful.... couldn't have felt better. But for me it only last a short time. I've had terrible mood swings with epilepsy and when I would go back into the depressive state, sometimes my neuropsychiatrist said that maybe a seizure would help. After all, that is basically what ECT is. And some places still use it. It does alter the brain's chemistry.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi adh --

My first seizure was no fun, but there was also a definite sense of relief and release (along with the confusion and anxiety). I had been experiencing a strange tension along my left side for almost a year prior to the seizures. That tension disappeared with the seizures and hasn't returned.

In retrospect, the tension was at least partially due to (unacknowledged) emotional stress. (The seizure came as a 10-year relationship had ended, and occurred in the office of the realtor when I was signing a lease on a new apartment.) So the seizure was a watershed moment. When I look back at things I wrote then, I'm surprised at how clear and on the ball I was. (It's all been downhill since )