I might have finally gotten in to see a neurologist!

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Buffheart

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Hi all! I haven't posted here in a few months because I was becoming so overwhelmed with all these possibilites of what may or may not be afflicting me.

Today I went to see my Optometrist (not sure if I spelled that correctly) to get my eye sight checked. While there I thought to mention to him some kind of strange things that happened to me.

When I was younger I was scared of strobe lights. By the time I was 10 I learned to avoid them because I discovered they made me feel "weird." I don't remember exactly how I felt because I have not been around one in about 10 years, but I remember feeling lethargic, slightly confused and dizzy, and pretty spacy. Within a few seconds of leaving the area I felt completely fine.

For the past 4 years I have also had strange reactions that may be related to flourescent lights. I clearly remember almost every school day from my junior year in high school up until college within minutes of entering my first class I began to feel very tired. My eyes would go blurry and crossed and my head would start to droop because I felt so tired. To the best of my knowledge I could still talk fine, though maybe slightly slurred. This would also happen sometimes outside of school. It seemed to happen on days when I had to wake up early but would go away within about an hour or so.

I would also sometimes have an upward jerk of my eyes and head to the point that I would sometimes be walking around and couldn't lower my head for more than a few seconds because my head would keep jerking up. I do remember this happening at school and while at a hotel. This may have also happened on sunny days, but the days I remember it happening mostly was on cloudy days or, like I said, when I had to wake up early.

Now, about half the time I go shopping I start to feel very tired and lethargic and want to fall asleep, even if I am standing up. However, within minutes of leaving the store I am fine. Even if I go shopping for 5 minutes I start to feel tired.

The Optometrist thinks it may be some kind of seizure like response to flickering lights and sent a note to my GP who will *hopefully* finally refer me to a neurologist. I was also diagnosed with Myoclonus by a previous neurologist, but I stopped seeing him. I have dozens of Myoclonic jerks daily, maybe 50+ on some days and they seem to intensify in my hands and arms when I try to fall asleep.

Is there anything I should tell my GP when I call her in a few days?
 
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I would tell them exactly what you wrote here. You can never give too much information.
I know when I was in school (particularly high school) I would get those feelings of tiredness. To the point where my mom got into a fight with my English teacher for yelling at me because of not being able to pay attention. After that the principle gave me permission to get up out of class and walk around outside whenever I needed to. Now the only time it really affects me is when I pass a cop with his lights on. It frustrates me that they changed many of the police cruisers to the strobe type of lights. Flurescent lighting doesn't seem to bother me that much anymore.
Good luck and I am happy to hear you are finally able to get some answers.
 
When this first started I would call my mom at work, crying, begging her to pick me up so I could go home.

Did they ever determine if your feelings of tiredness were related to seizures?
 
The doctor I had at the time said it could have been related to my medication (tegretol and depekote combo at that time) or it could be related to my seizures. We could never really get a straight answer from him.
 
My doctor's thought maybe medication was to blame as well, but after changing several medications this was still happening. I have just never heard of a seizure that presents like tiredness. At least that's how I perceived it.

Oddly enough, now that I am no longer in school this doesn't happen as much. Mostly only at stores though sometimes at home.
 
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