seizures,spells,psychogenic,help ! - Epilepsy Message Board

kelly721 · 08-27-2003, 10:51 PM

hello everyone1 yr ago i had my first spell,seizure whatever you wanna call it. i ahve had up to 4 a day,i can be in a great mood,bad mood,it doesnt matter. cooking,cleanin,laundry,something comes over me like a black out feeling,and then i know i have to get to a safe place,laying down,my husband tells me i shake alot,stiffen up,sometimes stop breathing,bite my tongue and cheeki have never lost function,but i cant hear anything during and just before,i cant speak,i have ringing in my right ear for about 2 yrs now. my mri came back normal,but did find a chiari malformation,which might need brain surgery,we arent sure yet,doc said it was a mild case,i am going to be admitted for a video monitoring test to see waht kind of spell doctor thinks it is,my 1st neuro said it sounded like pseudoseizures,and that i was repressing something,but then said it was from my chronic pain,ive had since 1995,from bad surgeries. can i please have some advise,opinions. thanks guys&gals

maggie39 · 08-28-2003, 11:00 AM

Aye Carumba! Your first doc sounds BAD! You didn't make it clear if you actually loose consciousness, but either way, these sure don't sound like it's psychogenic. MRI's rarely show anything (as my doc put it, there's very few things that cause seizures that would show on an MRI and none of them are good!). EEG's might show a spike wave pattern, but not always! If the seizure activity is deep in the brain it may not show up on the EEG. In those cases they have to go by description and then see if AEDs stop the events.

amydianne1 · 08-28-2003, 01:25 PM

Hi Kelly!

I have complex partial seizures, and both my MRI and EEG came back normal, which is quite common. Maggie's right, you might want to consider another doctor! My doctor told me when I had the EEG that unless I was having seizures, then probably nothing would show up.

As far as the chiari goes, what number is it?? I don't know if that's correct or not, but they did find it on me when I had my MRI...he said mine was a Chiari-1 which didn't require surgery and had nothing to do with my seizures, it was just probably some type of birth defect or something like that.

Hope any of that helps!

Amy

kayakmom · 08-28-2003, 04:07 PM

My son also has a normal EEG interictally(between seizures). His MRI's have been normal also. Keep pushing for answers...

Josephine · 08-29-2003, 02:08 PM

Hi every one. I to have normal eeg's. My doctor said that it's normal for some people. I have not had a sezurie for almost (2) years. I am hopeing that i will not have them anymore. because when i do have them they are real bad. I feel sorry for my husband. I know it has to do a number on him he said's he is afried that he will loose me.I tell him that he won't loose me.

Bye for now.
Josephine