This might be a stupid question, but... Simple Partial seizures

[iluvscoobydoo04]

I have just been recently diagnosed with simple partial seizures in addition to generalized tonic/clonic seizures. I know I have been having them for awhile and did not realize what they were. Most of my simple partial's that I have noticed were auras. I would get ringing in ears, strange smell, light-headed, would get really hot right afterwards, as well as very tired. I give all that background to ask the question, can my simple partial seizures change?

The other day I went through a tunnel (the lights on the walls flashed as they went past because of where they were placed on the walls) and almost immediately my face started tingling very badly. This has only started happening in the past couple of weeks since I was diagnosed. The feeling moved around until it was all the way around my head. Afterwards, I was extremely tired and had a headache on the left side of my head.

Friday I did not get much sleep because we were coming back from Pittsburgh. After work I went out to dinner with my DH. I felt a strange sense of euphoria. I had no reason to feel like this and I have never really felt it before. We went to the mall and walked around for a bit. It seemed like all of a sudden, my legs seemed to turn to jelly and I almost collapsed. I had a huge problem keeping my balance and not falling over from the balance issue or the legs into jelly metamorphosis. I also because exhausted and could barely make it home and into bed. I again had a headache on the left side.

Today I had a twitching in my right hand. My right thumb and pointer finger started twitching. This has happened many times before, just not as bad as this time. Almost my whole had was twitching and I could not do anything about it. It continued for about three to five minutes then finally stopped.

I am just getting worried, because if these are simple partials, then my seizure activity has greatly increased in the past week. Just asking for some opinions and would like some reassurance that I am not going crazy.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

onder:

 

[momof3boys]

Well I can tell you what I experience when I have a simple partial seizure. Everyone is different with how they experience seizures, but I thought since I have simple partial seizures, i would tell you what goes on when I have them. Ive had epilepsy my whole life, having alot of complex partial seizures and grand mal seizures in my child hood days. But this year, after going since 2000 when I had my last grand mal seizure, I had my first video EEG. I was cold turkey'd on both seizure medications... Carbatrol and Keppra. I had simple partial seizures and a couple of complex partial seizures. I was put back on Keppra after getting out of the hospital from having that done. But while I was there having seizures, my simple partial seizures started out like the following.....

I would get this sense like something wasnt right. Like I could tell something bad was going to happen. I would get a feeling of fear or sadness that would over come me. My left side of my body started to feel tingling, like pens and needles were poking me. It would start in my left hand and foot and work its way up to my head. During this, my head would turn to the right, and my body would stiffen up. My left side would start to jerk like crazy. While my body was jerking, I would be feeling tons and tons of needle like feelings thought out my whole body, but especially in the face, the roof of my mouth was the weirdest feeling of all. during all of this, I can hear people asking me questions, and if the seizure wasnt a bad one, I can try to respond back during all of this. But sometimes when it happened, it would overcome my body so much, that I had to wait til after the seizure was over to answer them. After the seizure was over, I felt dead tired. My body felt like it had been run over my a truck. My body was sore from stiffening up, and I had a headache. I was very tired after all of that. While I was there, I did have a simple partial seizure that got so intense that I blacked out and came to, seeing a nurse give me medication in my IV to stop the seizure. That was the day before I was released. Since then, Ive been pretty well controlled. I recently experienced some seizures in my sleep this week, but I think it was due to a medication my dr put me on to treat GERD. I havnt taken the medicationf or two days now and so far no seizures have occured If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. If I were you, I would be making a call to your dr with what youre describing to us and see what they can tell you. I find it helpful in keeping a journal or even a note book handy when things like that happen. It gives myself and my dr's a good idea of whats going on and can help them help make things better.

 

[iluvscoobydoo04]

Thank you for your response. I am waiting for my doctor to contact me with my blood levels and I guess we will go from there. I will definitely let him know what I have been experiencing.

I had another strange experience today at work. I went to the bathroom and "lost" about five minutes. I have no idea what happened in those five minutes. I did not have a recognizable break in my conscious. I have my bathroom routine down so it takes about ten minutes or so (it is quite a walk to the bathroom). I did everything I would normally do for my break and nothing extra. I walked back to my work area and realized I had been gone for about twenty minutes. I have no idea what happened. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[momof3boys]

did you feel confused, or have a headache after you got back to your work? normally if it was a seizure, I know for me, I would feel "off" and not normal. I'd have a headache and feel tired. Those are just two signs for me that I could have had a seizure and not realized it.

 

[iluvscoobydoo04]

I was extremely tired and I did have a headache. I told my supervisor and they sent me home for the day. I have slept for the past four or five hours and had some issues actually waking up to eat dinner (this tends to happen when I have a general seizure or two or more simple partials in one day). I will be going back to bed within about three hours and will hopefully sleep through the night.

 

[momof3boys]

Sounds like you could have easily had a seizure. Def bring this up to your dr. See if you can write down when these occur, what youre feeling, like if youre tired, have a headache, confused, etc. It will help your dr to explain whats going on and how to make things better! Feel better soon!

 

[iluvscoobydoo04]

I have started a seizure journal. I am writing down when I have them, when I think I am having them, as well as what I was doing around the time. Still waiting on test results to see how much medicine I have in my blood. IMHO, NOT ENOUGH. LOL Do you do anything specific when you go through stressful times? I am having a lot of stress from money issues and think that this might be part of the issue. Was wondering if you had any ideas on how to not stress out and maybe make this worse? It is very annoying though because I am stressed about one thing, I have a seizure, then I stress about money, having a seizure and possibly having more and losing my job, which makes me stress more about money...Endless cycle?

 

[momof3boys]

Ive been going through alot of stress lately too. Since around August of this year, its been one thing after another for us. My husband has been having some medical issues and in august we found out from the dr he was seeing, they didnt know what else to do, so we left them and went to a specialist. Turned out, they found a growth on his pituatary gland. They are treating it with hormone medications for now, til he can see a specialist that specializes in the growths and check on getting it removed. But it was alot of stress for me to handle. Dealing with that, along with the kid's issues, my medical issues, money, me having to be the one to take care of the bills, making sure everything is paid on time, dealing with other stresses... for me, it was just one thing after another. One thing that I do when I am stressed, is I go into our bedroom, shut the door, lay down on the bed and take a few deep breaths. I have to be in a quiet place where there is no tv, no music, no kids, etc around me. It calms me down and relaxes me. I say try doing something like that and see how it goes. Im now waiting on seeing some specialists for myself in the next couple of weeks. With the holidays just around the corner, I wish we all didnt have alot of stress during these times.

 

[iluvscoobydoo04]

Well, if you are having any stress about money, then add the biggest spending holiday of the year and you have a pot of stress about to boil over I guess. I hope your husband improves and that your problems turn out to not be anything big or expensive. Finding time for myself is very hard. I only have one day off a week, working sixty hours a week right now. I am either sleeping (not enough) or I am spending time with my husband. Let me know how things work out for you.

 

[momof3boys]

Thank You.

I think with all the issues that has come up in the past months, alot of it has finally gotten to me. When my husband was dealing with the financial stuff, his body reacted my pucking all the time. Just the thought of bills, and that put him over the edge. So I took over and that all quit with him. For me, Ive been dealing with all that the past 3 years, and I think as time went on, and the more issues that came up, like school stuff with the kids, more medical issues with my husband or I, as things piled up, my plate got too full, and things started to fall off of it, causing the stress to get too much for me to handle. Now Im just hoping that what Ive been experiencing since the end of July, the symptoms of GERD, chest pain, etc all are just part of my body saying its stressed too much. But I guess I will find out more on that when I meet with a cardiologist on December 6th. Im so worried about this, and have been praying its nothing serious with my heart. Then I have another appointment set up with a GI dr who can see if Im having a problem with GERD. I just want all these issues to go away so I can focus on my family. Now On a positive note, I may be able to bring in an extra $400 a month for our family. My sister is finally going to be getting child support from the father of her two kids, and she will be losing her assistance for daycare when that happens. She asked if I would be willing to watch her youngest during the week for her, for $100 a week. For now, I have our youngest son, who just turned 5 about a month ago, still home with me. Due to him still being home, It gives me a opportunity to stay home with him and make alittle extra income for us. Maybe having that extra cushion there will help deal with my stresses. At least Im hoping it does!

 

[elizzza811]

The twitching in your thumb is definitely a simple partial seizure. My (left) thumb did the same thing, same duration and everything, and my neurologist increased my Lamictal because of it, stating (without hesitation) that this thumb twitching was definitely a simple partial seizure, "especially with the thumb". Apparently there is a large nerve that runs through the thumb. My 6-month ban on driving started all over again because of this thumb-twitching too.

I know what you mean by the 'jelly legs' too...my left leg often does this, never my right. You might be at risk for atonic seizures ('drop attack' seizures). I've had them, maybe 2 or 3 a year (not very frequent, and none since starting Lamictal), but I actually scarred the skin on my left knee during one of these...just nonchalantly walking along and without any warning or sensation whatsoever, left leg collapses beneath me, causing me to fall. I don't remember having this 'jelly leg' feeling immediately before any of my 'drop attack' seizures - like I said, those occur without warning. But since starting Lamictal, though no 'drop attacks' per say, the jelly legs persist. Whether they indicate an atonic seizure is in the offing, I've no idea...but I do worry. You might want to mention this to your neurologist.

 

[iluvscoobydoo04]

Momof3-I really hope it is only stress causing your chest problems. I will pray for you and your family if that is alright. I really hope you and your family get better so you can be an even better family than you already sound.

Elizzza-Thank you very much for the helpful information. I currently do not have a neuro b/c I (foolishly) believed that my seizures were under control. Did not realize I have been having simple partial ones for years. Are there any other symptoms you get with an atonic seizure? I will look this up later, just wondering about you particularly. I am glad you haven't had any drop seizures. They sound really problematic to have. I realized that my tonic/clonics start out as simple partials so at least I have some warning. I am sorry that your ban on driving started again. My husband is getting really frustrated with that. He does most of the driving anyway, but now he does all of it. I hope the increase in Lamictal helps and allows you to drive.


Having some issues getting my test results back from gp doctor. He took my blood 15 days ago. The test is supposed to take 7-10 days, but they said there is a back-up at the testing place due to Thanksgiving. I realized that last week I had either a simple partial or what I suspect to be one every day for 6 days straight. Right now it seems to be once every other day. I am going to call my doctor on Monday and make sure they understand how many seizures I am having and why I want those darned test results so badly. (the last time I called, the nurse started to get a bit touchy)

Good thoughts to all!