Hallucination-Seizure or migraine related?

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!

R

Romans12_12

New
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this board, but a very short history of me is that I had grand mals at night as a kid (starting in frontal lobe), "grew out" of having seizures and stopped taking medication, but began having seizures at age 21. I'm now 27 and the seizures have been very well controlled for a few years.

The other night, though, I woke up to what I thought was a tapping noise (which may or may not have been real, my dog did not react to it. I felt pretty afraid even though I knew that, logically, no one could be in my house because my security alarm would have sounded. At the same time, a red light on my tv kind of morphed into the neon outline of a fairy or angel. Again, I knew that logically this did not make sense, but the image continued to be there even though I knew it wasn't real. It was like how a neon sign of a fairy would look (like an outline) but very small and moving around like it was teasing me. At the same time as the visual and the auditory (the auditory was more intermittent), my entire body felt achy, including my hands, arms, legs, and head. All of this happened about 2 hours after I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I was no longer een sore and felt fine. However, I did get a little lost on my way to work, which is silly because I drive there every day (maybe I was just preoccupied thinking about what had happened the night before?)

Anyways, I'm confused about if any of this is cause for concern or if it needs to be discussed with my dr. I've also been diagnosed with complicated migraines, but the visual auras I get with that are more like blurry spots of flashing lights, not actual forms. So I guess I'm confused if it could be seizure related, migraine related, or just one time dream type thing.

Does any of my description point to it being one or the other? Or has anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks!
 
Welcome R_12_12

To be honest it sounds like you were probably having a nocturnal (night time) seizure and still partly asleep & dreaming. Hallucinations have been known to occur in people during seizures though. If I were you I'd make sure to mention what happened to my neurologist as it might tell them something about your seizures.
Hallucinations associated with seizures can either be ictal or part of a post-ictal cortical release phenomenon, and their features may help distinguish their etiology.
Click to expand...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16714243

Your getting lost on the way to work sounds like it could be the post-ictal effect of a seizure. Quite often after a seizure I might not feel tired or confused & think that I'm back to normal (at least what's normal for me) but I find myself forgetting things that I know very well (like you & your way to work).

Also, I've moved your post to the "foyer" of the website since everyone deserves to be welcomed here properly.
 
I was reading more out of curiosity, but I guess I'll welcome you as well. I've never had anything similar, stopped taking meds for a while, like you, and the epilepsy kicked up a few years later. I think at the age of 25.

Hi.
 
Again couldn't relate to the specifics other than having recurrence of seizures after a period of control and then being weaned of meds.

So hi and welcome, think its worth mentioning anyting new an unusual to your Neuro.

Q
 
Thanks for the welcome! I should add that part of the reason that I am hesitant to discuss this with my neurologist is that my state has mandatory reporting for drs regarding driving and seizures. I don't want to drive it is unsafe; however, I don't want to lose my license (and ability to work) if it was just a silly dream.
 
If nothing else, keep a journal of any unusual happenings. That way if this type of thing becomes regular, you have a record of it to give to your doctor.
 
I never had an image as clear as your red light fairy, but right before a partial seizure I'd sometimes see something like dust swirling up or out from an object as if it was going to form something. If I heard anything it was more like muffled conversation. When all that stuff is going on, I am frequently misplacing things and getting lost. I HATE not being able to drive, so I understand your concern.
 
Last edited:
Queenie and N Sperlo- that's really interesting that all 3 of us had seizures come back after a long period. I was off aeds for about 11 years before it happened. The drs originally thought I might have some variant of benign rolandic epilepsy of childhood, but they weren't positive because they were coming from the frontocentral region, which apparently is not typical of rolandic epilepsy. But I had night time tonic clinics back then, and only complex partials now (as far as I know. Whenever my regular dr asked if I have had any seizures lately, I always have to qualify it with as far as I know- sometimes if I do something spacey or silly I'm really not sure if it was or if I'm just being forgetful).

@Endless- thanks for your advice- I checked out the thread and I'm fairly sure that's not what I experienced. I appreciate you taking the time to find the link though.
 
It is quite an adjustment thinking of being a person with epilepsy after such a long time.

Q
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom