I have had about 6 tonic clonic seizures...some of them tumbled in to the next so it was difficult to know if it was one or two...but I don't remember any of the seizures while they were happening.....i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope...I never do.
Simple partials and focal seizures...I remember them but not tonic clonic.
There are more seizures than just grand-mal, I have petit-mal seizures, very very very strange sensation, can be different every time I have a seizure. Been told my head goes to the left side (I have left-frontal lobe epilepsy), my eyelids flutter, nose tweaks, lick my lips. Personally I go hot then cold, have to sit & put everything down, ALWAYS put my head in my hands, don't know why, feel sick, mouth feels dry, sometimes aware that I am having a seizure, went shopping once & was having a full blown conversation whilst having a seizure, stood there talking 2 the door at 1 point, thats when my friend walked off & left me arguing with a flipping wall!!
People notice if I am having a seizure but its weird when I am able to have a conversation at the same time!
I have had 3 grand-mals & have been epileptic since I was 18, 30 now, so I do think I'm lucky in that respect, unfortunately in 12 years not a day has gone by when I haven't had a seizure, have between 5 & 10 a day, love to have a day when I don't have 1.
I have had only two GM in my whole life. But after I did I realized I must have been haveing partial ones from the time I was a child.
I would always have intense feelings of de ja vue, and it would be like an out of body feeling. funny thing is when I was a kid and teen I liked to think that maybe I was phsycic, that maybe I should let it go all the way. Cause I could always make the feeling stop by forceing my mind to think of somethign else, or talking about it while it was happening.
But then one day I told my hubby I was getting that feeling, the aura, the taste in my mouth the strange detached feeling in my head. And I rememeber standing up. And then I rememebr the EMT 's talking to me while I was on the floor. Hubby said I spun in a circle then went down. I do remember feeling confused. And ashamed cause I lost body functions.
They did all kinds of tests, and came up with nothing much.
Put me on meds, then doc at that time said my chance of haveing another was 1 in 5 so took me off the meds.
A year later the same exact thing happend. So I said I will be on the meds forever. I dont' ever want to take the chance of it happening again. And if I can control it with the meds then so be it.
I'm sorry mamm but please be glad you don't know what it feels like to have a seizure.It's not pleasent.:
I am so grateful to have never had a seizure. I would just like to know because I've seen people have seizures and I want to know how it feels when it's happening... like a girl I know says it feels like she is trapped in her own body. I am getting many helpful responses and now I can support that girl I know with Epilepsy correctly.
wow i just want to ask when i was like 3 yrs old up to about 10 i use to passout for no reason at all and i blackedout my parents were told id just out grow it since back then they didnt know what they know today im now 44 and i have been having spells where my stomach starts hurting really bad i get this really terrible feeling through out my body i get dizzy my head hurts then i fall to the floor only i dont blackout this has been happening since sept 2006 and even now if ever im stressed or scared i will fall even in public thats why i stay home all the time and im just wondering what this could be could a seizure come back yrs later? and i also get this scared feeling about going places i have been housebound since sept i only leave to go to dr appointments can medications cause any of this or could this be a seizure? as a child i did it all the time and i blacked completely out for like 5 mins or less.i dont know whats causeing this i do have low thyriod levels but i dont know if that would cause this or not .
vickie45
I don`t know I`ve had them. Had my 1st about 5 yrs back. I was talking to the Mrs and had my hand rested on the bannister. Then I rember sitting on the bed and the Mrs getting me a glass of water. I said I did not ask for that and she said you had a fit, I said don`t be stupid. She reckoned she had to put her hands on the sides of my head as my head was bashing on the door frame ( she`s a good old stick my Mrs)
I thought I felt fine at the time, but a few days later, when looking back on it, it felt unsureal, like a dream. There are times I notice a big bruise on my body and can only assume I had a fit.
Well, I'm new to this board, and reading this thread makes me thankful for my situation. I"ve been epileptic since I was 5, and I'm 34 now, so I've got a bit of experience to draw on. I've been medicated my whole life, including during pregnancy.
Anyway, my first seizures were petit mal - we called them mind blanks. There are lots of formal names on this site I'm not familiar with - maybe an absense seizure?? I didn't feel them at all. Didn't even realize I'd had one unless someone told me. Just stopped talking or playing and then started again.
Since my early teens I've had grand mal. What does it feel like?? For me, thankfully I guess, nothing. I get no forwarning. The first I know of it is when I wake up. I usually wake up once, very disoriented and woozy. Depending on the situation, I either go straight back to sleep, or stagger to a place where I can. I'll usually wake up about 1/2 hour later again. At this point I'm coherent enough to realize what happened, but still non-functional. I then go back to sleep for at least 6 hours.
I've been seizure free (thankfully) for about 10 years. For about 8 years before that, all my seizures were nocturnal. Strangely, having a seizure in bed doesn't necessarily make it easier. I've dislocated my shoulder, and bit my tongue so seriously I almost lost it!! :-) Before that they were during the day. I've fallen off the stage at a school, and various other fun situations. But for me - I don't feel the seizure coming, I don't experience the seizure itself except as a blank spot in my memory for about an hour - time is just missing. I only experience the side effects!! I've also never been taken to hospital, so haven't had to experience all the fun drugs it sounds like some people are subjected to!
In reading these posts I just wanted to share this. I consider myself very lucky, and want people to know that it isn't all bad. In fact, I reached a point in my life where I don't even think about seizures anymore - and I used to have them very predictably (at least once a week). Epilepsy is just a part of me, and doesn't affect my day-to day.
However, my daughter has febrile seizures (She's 3). I've got to say that, although I understand how she feels, watching someone you care about have a seizure is the scariest thing in the world - even if you know and understand the process.
can any of you tell me what a aura is?? im now blacking out from mine now i dont feel it coming but sometimes i do like i will feel sick to my stomach and my head starts hurting real bad then down i go no matter where im at i can even passout sitting on the couch .but once i passout sometimes i can remember sometimes not and my eyes are either closed like im sleeping or my eyes flutter open and shut and im motionless and its got me scared to dealth will a seizure kill you im going to a hospital the 27th who specialize in this but not till aug 27th am i safe to be alone since my kids start back to school the 14th of aug and hubby will be at work allday will i be ok till the 27th or is this dangerous to be left alone? i had the seizures way back and if im under too much stress can this cause the seizures to come out now ????and then once i have a seizure my head hurts horribly i take advil but they dont help could i possibly take advil migrane to stop my head from hurting ? would those help better? iam also hypo thyrold and am wondering if that would hurt if im taking levoxyl 50 mcgs for my thyrolds plus i take norvac for my b / p 5 mg my b/p os fine and so is my heart last time i had the 48 hr holter on and passedout my heart rate went up to 180 .i also take 1 mg xanax for me to calm down ............
vickie
MY pattern- (complex partial seizures)
Aura- feels like a weird sensation in my chest
Seizure- (have to rely on witnesses for this since I don't remember)- blinking, chewing, left face twitching/pulling, and left arm stiffness
Post-ictal- hearing, vision, and speech come back slowly, then I just want to sleep; if someone can ask me yes/no questions during the few minutes I'm awake, I will nod/shake my head, but speech is too complicated. Then I sleep very hard for up to several hours. When I wake up, I feel worn out, and like I've been hit by a bus. Sometimes (especially at night, when I have no clue what happens) I wet the bed.
When it first starts, I just want to get away from people so they don't see it.
hi neuro my life is practically the same but when i get an aura i freeze then fall to the ground .ill stay conscious im right out of it for 2-3 minutes then in then takes 10 -15 minutes bofore im tottaly aware of everything around me.and ive wet myself a few times to.see ya
To tell you the truth, I can't tell you what I feel like DURING a seizure .... I'm totally out of it. That means that it's like I fainted .... having no sensations or awareness around me. For me, it's like being knocked out.
On the other hand, PRIOR to the seizure, I will complain of a headache and I'll be rubbing the very area where the headache is at; usually right above my right eye to the bridge of my nose. The pain of the headache can be at different levels but is painful enough for me to really say something to my wife about it. Then, apparently, I just "go away"; feeling no pain, no sensations --- nothing. When I come out of it; if it was a petit mal; then I will complain of being weak, having a headache and complaining that I'm tired.
On the other hand, if it's a grand mal, I will really be complaining of a headache that is VERY painful over my right eye and to the bridge of my nose. I'll feel weak and tired and then .... I'm out .... not knowing a thing. Until I come out of it, though, and it may be a couple of minutes or so before I do "come to". Afterwards I'll be complaining of a severe headache and being very, very tired. It's usually when I NEED to go to bed and just sleep. Then, along with a pain above my eye, my weakish and tired feeling will last for up to three days. By then I'm pretty much back to "normal".
In my case, I usually am staring off into the distance while having either degree of seizure. My wife has mentioned I "lip smack" during a seizure.
When I had a very severe grand mal I wetted my clothes and the couch I was lying on. I didn't really know anything else except later as to what I was told. I was taken to the emergency room in that particular case.
My only other complaint I usually have is the twitching that may wake me up at night. My only way to work with that is to get up and walk around the house a bit. Then I try to go back to bed and sleep. That usually helps my situation in that case.
I have seen two other individuals have seizures. The first was my step-child during her teens. She would just "go away", stare and we had to really be there for her because she would just fall down. Another case I've seen was where the young lady began a very rapid and loud hand motion that were hitting the table she was sitting at; almost like in a "hammer" motion because her fists were closed.
Another interesting note is that our cats (we have two of them) will "watch" over me and in one way "warn" my wife that something is up and something's wrong. I really believe animals like cats or dogs can sense something is up when a seizure patient is about to have one.
My seizures are due to a head accident I had in my late teens; early twenties. It was when I was riding a motorbike and basically got rammed into a pole; head first; at 35 mph. I AM very fortunate to be alive. Apparently when this happened my brain snapped forward hitting the front of my skull. It then snapped back hitting the back of my skull and that's where the temporal lobe got "bruised". It's too close to my motor skills therefore no one will operate. The cellular structure of the brain is such that when bruised that bruise will not "go away" as if you bruised your arm, for instance.
Plus, as you've seen, there is a variance as to what people experience during a seizure. There's no one way it happens and all of us experience that "one" way.
Hope this helps ---
Last edited by moderator2; 08-09-2007 at 06:32 PM.
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I agree- I just know the aura and feeling after I wake up from sleeping, aside from a brief period after the seizure before I fall asleep- and then I'm slow on the uptake, but do understand people, I just process things like I'm in slow motion. But I definitely know the aura, and post-ictal headache and muscle aches. I've been told what happens during the actual complex partial part of the seizure.
