Hi all, I'm new here so i've just posted in the "introduce yourself" section but i'm really anxious to ask this question of you all.
I had temporal lobe epilepsy as a kid (grand mal, petite mal the lot) and in the last few years it appears to have returned. I'm 26 and I have had a particularly stressful few years. I would swear the auras are the same as what I used to get but despite the list of symptoms below the neuro I saw last year was very arrogant and dismissive of my concerns. As i'm studying psychology he also assumed my new knowledge (all 6 months of it at the time) meant I must be psychosomatic and "imagining" it because he "sees it all the time". Admittedly the 24hour ambulatory EEG, EEG, ECG, holter monitor, MRI and blood work all came back inconclusive except the 24hour EEG which did show something but he didn't think it was epilepsy related.
This year, i've had what appears to be at least 2 partials witnessed by 2 epilepsy carers ironically enough, then I fainted in the ER and fell unconscious, began shaking and convulsing and it lasted about 20seconds. My mum witnessed it and was certain it was a seizure but the docs are now saying they suspect I suffer from partials but the 2 seizures preceeded by faints are actually pseudo seizures. However i often faint and I don't move, I just collapse, lay still then awake about 5 seconds later. I'm worried that this neuro is going to dismiss my claims and put it down to stress as he did last time. I don't mind if it is stress, hey that would be easier to treat but he can't just leave me collapsing on the floor and living like this! I am trying to secure an appointment with another neuro, I want a second opinion but because I ended up in "his" hospital, it's all going through him and they have all my details. I also want to say I have been dealing with my stress by going to counselling and working through things that are on my mind. I have also quit my job and reduced my units at uni to try and make life easy for myself. I am not currently on any medication. Last year I spent about 6 months on Epilim and it did help but I hated taking it, made me a total space cadet.
Here are the symptoms I get on a sometimes daily basis
I had temporal lobe epilepsy as a kid (grand mal, petite mal the lot) and in the last few years it appears to have returned. I'm 26 and I have had a particularly stressful few years. I would swear the auras are the same as what I used to get but despite the list of symptoms below the neuro I saw last year was very arrogant and dismissive of my concerns. As i'm studying psychology he also assumed my new knowledge (all 6 months of it at the time) meant I must be psychosomatic and "imagining" it because he "sees it all the time". Admittedly the 24hour ambulatory EEG, EEG, ECG, holter monitor, MRI and blood work all came back inconclusive except the 24hour EEG which did show something but he didn't think it was epilepsy related.
This year, i've had what appears to be at least 2 partials witnessed by 2 epilepsy carers ironically enough, then I fainted in the ER and fell unconscious, began shaking and convulsing and it lasted about 20seconds. My mum witnessed it and was certain it was a seizure but the docs are now saying they suspect I suffer from partials but the 2 seizures preceeded by faints are actually pseudo seizures. However i often faint and I don't move, I just collapse, lay still then awake about 5 seconds later. I'm worried that this neuro is going to dismiss my claims and put it down to stress as he did last time. I don't mind if it is stress, hey that would be easier to treat but he can't just leave me collapsing on the floor and living like this! I am trying to secure an appointment with another neuro, I want a second opinion but because I ended up in "his" hospital, it's all going through him and they have all my details. I also want to say I have been dealing with my stress by going to counselling and working through things that are on my mind. I have also quit my job and reduced my units at uni to try and make life easy for myself. I am not currently on any medication. Last year I spent about 6 months on Epilim and it did help but I hated taking it, made me a total space cadet.
Here are the symptoms I get on a sometimes daily basis
- Slurred or laboured speech (like i've had a few), fizzy numb mouth
- dizziness to the point I have to hold on to furniture or sit down regardless of where I am
- Headspins powerful enough to make me jump/hang on to the bed. I get these laying down, walking etc.
- numbness in my face, arms etc
- Inability to stand up or get out of my chair. My body has no strength whatsoever
- Inability to put my words together
- Forgetting half way through a sentence what I was about to say
- Hallucinations or visions of being in one place, then feeling disoriented and having to trust my friends when they tell me i'm actually somewhere else. This only happened once but I felt totally fine. It happened again on the way home
- I look at other people and for a few seconds its like they have frozen and they aren't moving, then my head feels like its rolling backwards and I realise it's my vision. It's like it's got stuck, as though someone has pressed pause!
- Headaches, feels like my head is in a vice
- My vision feels like I can't focus, my eyes wont stay still.
