Dizzy spells and auditory hallucinations TLE?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

Messages
415
Reaction score
0
Points
0
My sister-in-law told me she has been getting dizzy spells for years now. She said she just suddenly gets dizzy sometimes. The spells don't last very much longer than 15-20 seconds usually, but they've been getting longer and--as far as I know--farther in between recently. She got them checked out by a doctor, but she goes to a rural clinic so you know how they can be. He just told her they were auras, but that he didn't know what they led up to since she doesn't have migraines. She has been referred to a neurologist, but she's on Meidcal, so it could take months for her to actually be seen.

She's also told me that she sometimes has auditory hallucinations--usually someone calling her name. A few days ago, she was convinced that my mother was telling them to get up (they still live at home so she could very well have been). She, however, wasn't.

Do you think it could be TLE?
 
Gee, that could be lots of different things. A neurologist is the best person to evaluate it.

If it were me I'd describe to her the different types of TLE seizures and see if she recognizes herself in them. She may be having a lot of different things going on, and she doesn't realize they are seizures. Or not.

Hope she feels better soon. And gets in there QUICK.
 
We all hope she gets in quick, poor dear. I think she knows generally what the symptoms of TLE are because of the research I've been doing, but I'll make sure.

Thanks for the advice, Endless. ^_^
 
Yes it could be. I get auditory hallucinations and I have TLE< sometimes I have seen things like visions for breif moments....and its very very real...its very very VERY hard to diagnose...and I had to be very patient, esp becuase Ive been diagnosed with Bipolar too.. which also has similar symptoms. TLE causes psychosis just like certain mental illneses. A Neurological workup is good, but then sometimes they still dont capture the seizure... it takes time and paticience.

Please dont assume its a mental illness, or for attention if tests show up negative at first for a while...all the best.
 
My trileptal got rid of my auditory hallucinations-2 men having a loud disagreement in various rooms.but Im still not entirely convinced that it wasnt the voices of the 2 men that have comitted suicide here in the past 40 years.I KNOW...its the E since trileptal made it go away,but still....i did have some visual that are also gone-trees eating car monster dog on sidewalk,and patterned items{clothes,chair pads,etc}became 3d and bubbles playing with me--these are also gone-seizures are pretty boring now but thats okay.
 
Bipolar can cause auditory hallucinations?? I didn't know that and most of the people in my family HAVE bipolar!

We suspect she does, but she's from a family that strongly disbelieved in mental illnesses. She took it badly when we told her she has DYSLEXIA, much less bipolar. :/
 
Hi Literophile,

You said your sister-in-law hears her name being called, and said she thought that your mother was calling her to get up: does your sister-in-law only hear this when she's asleep or dozing? I ask this because I have a repertoire:) of sounds that wake me up. Sometimes I hear a doorbell, sometimes a phone ringing and I'll jump up and run to the door or phone and find out no one is there. I've figured out it's as if my brain is acting like an alarm clock. Usually when this happens, I realize there was some reason I needed to get up and my subconscious remembered the reason when my conscious mind didn't. Now that I'm a full-time caregiver for my dad who does in fact often call for me in the middle of the night, the sound of Dad calling my name has been added to the other sounds. I've lost track of the times I've jumped out of bed to see what he needs and he's fast asleep:) I've told this to some friends and family members and some say they have had the same thing happen to them. So if it only happens when she's asleep or in that twilight, it may not be epilepsy or bi-polar, just a mental alarm clock.
 
Hi Literophile,

You said your sister-in-law hears her name being called, and said she thought that your mother was calling her to get up: does your sister-in-law only hear this when she's asleep or dozing? I ask this because I have a repertoire:) of sounds that wake me up. Sometimes I hear a doorbell, sometimes a phone ringing and I'll jump up and run to the door or phone and find out no one is there. I've figured out it's as if my brain is acting like an alarm clock. Usually when this happens, I realize there was some reason I needed to get up and my subconscious remembered the reason when my conscious mind didn't. Now that I'm a full-time caregiver for my dad who does in fact often call for me in the middle of the night, the sound of Dad calling my name has been added to the other sounds. I've lost track of the times I've jumped out of bed to see what he needs and he's fast asleep:) I've told this to some friends and family members and some say they have had the same thing happen to them. So if it only happens when she's asleep or in that twilight, it may not be epilepsy or bi-polar, just a mental alarm clock.

No, I remember her telling me she has heard them during the day.

I have the same thing, though, with the subconscious alarm clock. I have sleep paralysis and I've asked my sister to rouse me if she ever catches me having an episode. Now, I sometimes wake up to her voice calling me. ^_^ Better than a jackhammer, I'll tell you that.
 
Back
Top Bottom