[Mckey]

I have been having staring spells all my life. And lately after the "stare" I will have a "duh" moment. Usually my stare is just a "stare". But now after I stare at something, afterwards I will be dazed and confused for about 15 minutes. And I have had "duh" moments after my severe Absence's. So I thought this was an apprpriate place to ask.

Today, I was staring at the dog. Notice, I didnt know I was staring. But then I notice that I am staring, and I have been staring with my tongue sticking out of my mouth. I dont remember sticking my tongue out initially. I have no idea how long I actually stared, but I did feel a time lapse.

My parents notice my "stares". They say when I have them I am completely still, I dont blink, and my eyes look empty. My eyes look empty to them when I am daydreaming too (Mckeys World). But when I daydream I am oviously indulged in thought. While during my staring spells its as if I am completely void of thought for a few seconds.

I dont remember blacking out. I just remember that I notice that I am staring and sitting completely still.

How can you tell if you black out?

Maybe I dont black out, maybe I just stare with void of thought being completely still without blinking. Maybe?

[Mckey]

Help?

[lostinthoughtandjaded]

Have you poked around the Dissociative Disorders forum at all? Cause I do something similar, but I don't think I experience the "lost time" issue that it sounds like you are going through, it's much closer to the daydream spells you say you have...

But as you've posted this in the seizure forum, you're also probably aware that a seizure disorder can cause this too- there was this study done along the way that I'd have to look up again, where researchers would flash a light repeatedly at subjects, and measure the brain's response... for the seizure kids (even the ones who had shown almost no symptoms) their brains would "miss" some of the flashes- kinda like the brain stepped out for that split second...


I think if it gets worse- especially if your stares get longer- I would check out a neurologist and see what they have to say... just my opinion...

[Mckey]

Thank you for the response jaded.

I do see a neurologist, and I did an MRI and EEG (with the flashing light included) and both came back normal. I havent talked to him about the staring spells though, I really wanted his opinion, and I dont see him until January. I am on lamictal and it helps my CP's and SP's but not the staring spells.

I dont have dissociation with the staring spells or the daydreaming. I only have dissociation with SP's and CP's.

I just wonder if the staring spells are Absence's or not. I keep looking for more info on them but I keep getting "mostly seen in children" thing. Which makes me wonder...

[Mckey]

Are these spells a concern? Are they a flag to get an earlier appt with the Neuro? I am not scheduled to see him for 2 and a half months.

[nalgas]

I assume this is the same stuff you were talking about in that other thread a couple weeks ago, right?

Mckey, on 14 November 2009 - 11:40 PM, said:

Are these spells a concern? Are they a flag to get an earlier appt with the Neuro? I am not scheduled to see him for 2 and a half months.

A concern? In the sense that you should talk about them with him, yes, that would probably be a good idea. They tend to like knowing about weird things like that going on, especially if you can keep a log of each time they happen and what was going on at the time, which can help a lot with narrowing down what's causing it.

As far as whether or not you should reschedule your appointment for an earlier time, I don't really know one way or the other. When I have something like that happen and I'm not sure, I call my neurologist's office and ask whether I should come in or it's ok to wait. I just had to do that recently, after my brain was acting funny last month. I wasn't scheduled to go in until the beginning of next year, either, but they had me go in last week instead. Other times I've just had to keep an eye on things and let them know if something changed. I would guess that if it's not getting worse or causing significant problems, they won't have you come in Right This Minute, but there's a reason they're the doctors/nurses and I'm not.

[Velvet Elvis]

I get daydreaming trances almost this bad from ADHD. I don't know about the no blinking part. It's not like I black out so much as I get lost in my train of thought and completely shut out the outside world.

[Mckey]

Yeah its some of the stuff that I was talking about in the last thread. The staring spells are just odd though because I have no idea what they are, and not even sure if they are neuro related.

VE, I have major daydreaming spells as well. Where I stare off into space and think. But with the spells I am talking about, I am completely void of thought. Its hard to explain the difference, but the feelings of the each instance feel different.

[LikeMinded]

Mckey, on 17 November 2009 - 10:04 PM, said:

Yeah its some of the stuff that I was talking about in the last thread. The staring spells are just odd though because I have no idea what they are, and not even sure if they are neuro related.

VE, I have major daydreaming spells as well. Where I stare off into space and think. But with the spells I am talking about, I am completely void of thought. Its hard to explain the difference, but the feelings of the each instance feel different.

One thing that could help you and your neurologist out is to see if you can identify any triggers that cause these staring spells. I get them too, and it's normally 1) when I'm in a hurry and need to look for something [I normally forget what I was looking for upon entering the room] or 2) when I experience rejection. I think both are forms of psychological dissociation (or maybe the first is just AD/HD acting up).

However, if traditional seizure triggers (lights, sleep deprivation, hyperventilation, etc.) are triggering these, this should be a major flash for your neurodoc.

It's also possible that you might not be able to identify a trigger at all, but I advise to look for one as much as you can... best of luck, anyways...

[Mckey]

Hrm...dissociation...

I forget things when I enter a room too. But my memory is just fucked. Like I saw my pdoc today and when I came out of his room my dad said "what did he say" and I said "i have no clue". All memory just *poof*

I am not sure of the triggers. The last one I had was in the middle of the day and I cant think of any triggers.

Dammit another reason to journal. I suck at journaling.

[LikeMinded]

Mckey, on 19 November 2009 - 09:15 PM, said:

Hrm...dissociation...

I forget things when I enter a room too. But my memory is just fucked. Like I saw my pdoc today and when I came out of his room my dad said "what did he say" and I said "i have no clue". All memory just *poof*

I am not sure of the triggers. The last one I had was in the middle of the day and I cant think of any triggers.

Dammit another reason to journal. I suck at journaling.

Does sound like your 'staring spells' are due to general spaciness (if you will), like mine are... and that journalling should help... are you (like myself and many of my AD/HD friends) hypergraphic (meaning that you like to write notes and stuff like nobody's business)? If so, you could use that issue to your advantage. In my worst bouts of chronic meningitis (these almost always screwed with my already-fragile memory), I'd have a "workflow" post-it note chart of things to do literally stapled to the bottom of my shirt and a pen in my pocket to write on the back of the same post-it note anything that I should have to remember.

If I remember to write it down, that is. That's the hard part. I understand, though, that remembering to write stuff down does come by habit, no matter how bad your memory is......