Strange sezuire happened to me at work and need help identifying it for me.

[HidyHo]

Hello,

I was at work one day and the company hired some trainer to come in and present a new product for us. Since I know ahead of time that I'm photosensitive, I told him straight up that if he uses a laser pointer during the presentation that I WILL have a seizure. He (the trainer) told me that it was inconvenient, and I got a little nasty with him about how inconvenient it'd be for me if I ended up in the hospital.

I was fine for the first half of the training (it was for programming so I was using a laptop with my co-workers). Then the trainer uses his green laser to outline part of his power point presentation. He then looked at me and said smugly "ooo, sorry there pal" in a tone that still irritates me today. I immediately got a migrate, but nothing else so I continued with my work. A good twenty minutes later in the middle of a conversation with the person next to me, everything appeared to be in slooowww-moooo and I became really dizzy. My vision started trailing (like, I'd move my head to the side, and my vision was struggling to catch up) and voices became muffled. It freaked me out, so I quickly stumbled out of there, but yelling foul language at the trainer (a very out of character trait for me).

He became mad at me and complained to my boss (he told me later, I didn't witness it).

So I run to my desk and put my head down. I controlled my breathing and calmed my mind down for forty five minutes or so until which I lifted my head my vision and dizziness were fine.

What confused me though is the entire time I found myself crying (my nose running profusely and my eyes watering). Even after I felt fine, I was still uncontrollably crying. I wasn't sad. So any idea if that's a symptom of a seizure? Could it have been just an involuntary response?

Sorry, I'm Autistic too and still struggle to understand certain emotional responses. The crying aside, what type of seizure was I experiencing when everything appeared to be in slow motion along with an outrageous display of profanity?

If it matters to anyone, I'm extremely open when it comes to being both a high-functioning autistic and being epileptic at work. I know my rights and limitations and I'm also not afraid to be strong and stand up to my manager or boss, or boss's boss about it.

 

[HidyHo]

Update: The trainer was in fact fired for this.

 

[Cint]

HidyHo,

This sounds like it could have been a simple partial seizure. People often times don't go into a full TC seizure, but stop with a SP, feeling like things are moving in slow motion and crying uncontrollably and sometimes shouting profanities. Talk to your neuro.

 

[Hand of Blood]

i used to cry lots after a tonic clonic a couldn't stop it! I wasn't sad either it just came out. defo sounds as if u could have had a partiel sezure since u where still aware, it may not have been a sezure! ive had episodes of dizzy and lightheaded since I was young but I still don't know what it is.

 

[Chris515]

I'd say it's a sp as well. or possibly a cp. i've had crying after sps and cps, not sure if it's an involuntary response or just being upset and frustrated.

The trainer sure sounds like a jerk. Glad to hear he got fired!

 

[momof3boys]

I would say simple partial too. I get the slow motion feeling when I have a simple partial seizure. It also affects my vision, and my senses.. rising in my stomach, nausea, fast heart rate, fear/sadness, etc.

 

[arnie]

I've never actually experienced anything like that in any of my many thousands of partials, but I know that they can be different for different people, and clearly some of the other folks in here have had that same feeling with their partials. I'm glad the trainer got fired too. What a d--k!

 

[HidyHo]

Thanks a lot guys, I feel better now that I have a better idea as to what was going on.

Yes, I'm glad he got fired too. If it was truly accidental and I didn't tell him before hand, then I'd back him up to keep his job. After that whole incident, I refused to ever go into a projector room again. Thankfully I can attend most meetings via Webex, so I'm fortunate like that.

Thanks again.

 

[KarenB]

There's a kind of gelastic seizure (Dacrystic) that involves crying.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC492469/

Gelastic seizures are usually involuntary giggling (when nothing is funny) but can also involve crying spells (when not sad).

This type of seizure is often associated with the temporal lobes. It can also be associated with a Hypothalamic Hamartoma, especially in children.

Our son (who began manifesting photosensitive tonic seizures last August) began having gelastic/dacrystic seizures about 1 year ago (at that time, we didn't realize they were seizures). He's been having tonic and tonic-clonics since age 1 so this was a new development.

We've been able to control both the gelastic/dacrystic seizures and the photosensitive seizures (along with the tonics and tonic-clonics) with Zonegran and the Ketogenic diet and a whole lot of prayer (he's been seizure free since January).

Just wondering -- did you have an sort of GI symptoms at the time of that seizure? In our son's case, it seemed to be a GI virus that triggered both the gelastic and the photosensitive seizures.