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I went and saw my pcp last week. Next week I am having an MRI with contrast, an EEG, and I will also have a consultation with a sleep clinic to be tested for possible narcolepsy. I am still logging my seizure like episodes as often as they happen and so far they seem to only happen with temperature change from hot to cold or by being too cold. I had an episode yesterday when we dropped our twins off at their therapy clinic (it was cold inside). It was the same afterwards always, shoulders, neck and head tensed up and a cold shiver happened complete with the eye roll. My husband was once again looking away when it happened. It lasted maybe 3-4 seconds I suppose. It is hard to time them myself. I only wish someone else would witness them! Anyways, almost immediately afterwards I developed a nasty headache on the right side on my head in the back, nausea, and I was so so so sleepy. After therapy was done I went home and slept for a good 6 hours straight. Before my nap I felt like I had a nasty hangover! Does anyone else feel like that after seizures? *note* still unsure if I have seizures.

I am 22 y/o and have filed for SSI twice. The first time I got denied I didn't appeal within 60 days so I had to apply all over again. Now I am going through to extensive appeal process and no lawyer seems to want to help me. They claim since I am young, I almost need to have schizophrenia or an autistic/spectrum disorder to be able to actually be approved and get benefits otherwise it is going to be very hard to get SSI. Now here are some of the facts of my case. I was fired from my job last November due to "no call, no show" because I was in a bipolar depressive episode where I literally didn't leave my room but maybe 5x to make a microwave meal and shower once. This episode lasted a little bit shy of 2 weeks. So for my 3 no call, no shows I was terminated from my job at University. I asked if they would accept a physician's note explaining my circumstances but the manager actually refused documentation, saying "No it's not necessary, I don't need that". She also said that I should have called and at least have told her what was going on so she knew I couldn't come in, but let's be real guys, doing that during a severe bipolar depressive episode is like writing a PhD dissertation in less than a day. So I applied for unemployment and get a denial letter saying I am denied benefits of $50/week because they contacted my former employer and was told I was terminated for misconduct. So that was the end of that. I had applied for SSI last year around August I would say and was denied 1st time. Re-applied December and got denial letter again, this time on Feb. 8th stating "your conditions are not severe enough for you not to work. You are capable of substantial gainful activity". Yet on my listed disabilities I listed epilepsy (reoccurring grand-mal seizures), bipolar disorder NOS, insomnia NOS, ADHD, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, manic episodes, social anxiety disorder, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and listed all the medications I was on and how some of them has side effects that were impairing themselves. Has anyone here who is young actually gotten approved for SSI benefits? If so, how many times did it take for you to finally get approved and did you use a lawyer to help you through the process? Also, if you don't mind, what conditions/disabilities did you report to them that you believed qualified you for SSI or SSDI? I can't apply for SSDI because I don't have enough work credits so I can only apply for SSI. This whole process kinda sucks and is difficult especially for people with disabilities. So frustrating.

Hello all, I have a brain question and am not sure just where to post it; please bear with me if I'm in the wrong group. I have a history of migraine, GAD, and had a true bout of depression several years ago. I'm on a low dose of Lamictal -75 mg per day as a mood stabilizer and for migraine prevention. My P-doc thinks my depression may have had some bipolar II features so we have stopped using ssri meds. Lamictal has been a good med for me overall; I have descent moods most of the time and the migraines are pretty much the same variety they've always been. My migraines are rarely very painful, but they do give me the sense of being very sluggish in my brain and a sort of "dish rag" like feeling when I get one. There is a pattern to them that I've learned to understand. Something recently happened that has concerned me, however. I had developed the early stages of migraine a couple mornings ago, nothing terrible. Later that evening, after attending a wedding, I was doing some mundane chores and was lost in thoughts about the wedding event. I was using a small scrub brush, but decided I needed a sponge. I looked in my bucket, happily found a familiar yellow and green sponge, and continued scrubbing. I was briefly interrupted for a few seconds, and when I went back to reach in the sink for my sponge there wasn't one. There was only the scrub brush. I searched everywhere and it slowly dawned on me that I had imagined reaching for the sponge...and using it. I immediately started getting a vague, mild migraine headache. I've never had a typical visual aura, I've never had psychosis, and I've not "heard things" that weren't real. This wasn't the sort of migraine aura people describe anyway. It was as if something very typical and mundane was invented inside my brain. I'm sorry to say, but I'm still keeping an eye out for the sponge. That's how real it felt. I also had a different sort of experience happen several weeks ago where I was looking for a particular mirror that I keep on a windowsill. It wasn't in its usual place and after stomping all over the house trying to find it, I looked again and it had been there on the windowsill the whole time. I kept trying to figure out how I didn't notice it when it was the exact thing I was trying to find, all by itself on the sill. I had looked but not seen. I don't know if these events are related to migraine, or if I may be developing a seizure disorder, or something even more sinister. My husband knew I was worried so he gave me a quick early Alzheimer's screening test he'd had at the clinic. I passed easily with 100% accuracy, for what that's worth. 'My questions are-- is it plausible to have this sort of thing happen in a normal brain on occasion? Do any of these experiences sound like some sort of seizure? Is it possible that my thinking I was seeing and using the sponge was part of a migraine? Could a person invent that sort of thing if they were really deep in other thoughts? Im seeing my P-doc about this in a few days. I'd really appreciate input however...I'm sort of worried. Thankyou, I'll let you know if I find my sponge.

I went and saw my pcp last week. Next week I am having an MRI with contrast, an EEG, and I will also have a consultation with a sleep clinic to be tested for possible narcolepsy. I am still logging my seizure like episodes as often as they happen and so far they seem to only happen with temperature change from hot to cold or by being too cold. I had an episode yesterday when we dropped our twins off at their therapy clinic (it was cold inside). It was the same afterwards always, shoulders, neck and head tensed up and a cold shiver happened complete with the eye roll. My husband was once again looking away when it happened. It lasted maybe 3-4 seconds I suppose. It is hard to time them myself. I only wish someone else would witness them! Anyways, almost immediately afterwards I developed a nasty headache on the right side on my head in the back, nausea, and I was so so so sleepy. After therapy was done I went home and slept for a good 6 hours straight. Before my nap I felt like I had a nasty hangover! Does anyone else feel like that after seizures? *note* still unsure if I have seizures.

I went and saw my pcp last week. Next week I am having an MRI with contrast, an EEG, and I will also have a consultation with a sleep clinic to be tested for possible narcolepsy. I am still logging my seizure like episodes as often as they happen and so far they seem to only happen with temperature change from hot to cold or by being too cold. I had an episode yesterday when we dropped our twins off at their therapy clinic (it was cold inside). It was the same afterwards always, shoulders, neck and head tensed up and a cold shiver happened complete with the eye roll. My husband was once again looking away when it happened. It lasted maybe 3-4 seconds I suppose. It is hard to time them myself. I only wish someone else would witness them! Anyways, almost immediately afterwards I developed a nasty headache on the right side on my head in the back, nausea, and I was so so so sleepy. After therapy was done I went home and slept for a good 6 hours straight. Before my nap I felt like I had a nasty hangover! Does anyone else feel like that after seizures? *note* still unsure if I have seizures.

This might take a bit because this is what my mind has been obsessing over the last 2 days. Anyways, I'll start off with I was dx with bipolar 1 this year and was bouncing from regimen to regimen until I finally found something that worked while I was in the funny farm at the end of June. I am currently on Depakote 1000mg, zoloft 100mg, rexulti 2mg, propranolol 30mg for tremors, and ambien as needed for sleep. Prior to that..... I can't remember everything that I had taken this year, but Wellbutrin is the one that made me...have a lot of problems with.....it was NOT vertigo or lightheadedness, but I WAS very unsteady and DC'ing that medication and taking meclizine seemed to help. ANYWAYS again. I do not know when it started. I just know it has been several months. It begins as my shoulders will feel tense and I will feel a "chill" shoot from my shoulders and encompass my entire head. While that happens, my eyes will roll into the back of my head and there is no facial control. It is not painful. It feels....Like a cold chill. It doesn't matter how hot it is outside. It seems to happen when I am really hot and I feel a cool breeze, or when I am cold, but it is all involuntary and I cannot control my eyes or anything. I've always brushed it off as just chills until I realized that when I get those, they never mess with my eyes at all. It has also happened a couple of times while I was driving which has me concerned. The episodes only last a few seconds at most so far, but they occur almost daily, if not several times a day. 2 days ago, it was 6 times that night. That was the night that I started wondering about it. We were on a road trip with the windows down and the ac on trying to keep my husband awake while he drove. I only had one episode yesterday. I was standing outside, it was hot, I was sweaty, and a cool light wind blew. It was smaller than the ones I had saturday, but enough for me to notice if not anyone else. These aspects of the episodes happen very frequently and I do not know what to think of them. When I was in the psych ward getting my medications adjusted, the doctor had me try seroquel. When he asked me how it was treating me, I told him I felt like I was riding waves in 15 minute increments of being awake and almost asleep. He said that sounded more like seizure activity and asked if I had seizures in my family, or my personal history. At the time, my only knowledge was tv seizures, so i thought he was the one who was nuts! I didn't realize seizures could appear as shivers also..... One other doctor has asked me that also but I can't remember why.... Other things.....A few years ago I developed a twitch in my jaw which may or may not be related. Involuntarily it will just jerk, whether or not i am speaking. Also, I smell things that aren't there. I smelled bacon at my inlaws, and told them as much and they said....... we haven't had any bacon here in weeks...I have been doing that A LOT lately. And cigarettes have tasted like anything from chocolate to baked potatoes!!!! And it is NOT HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!! I did set up an appointment for this week, but insight would be wonderful!!!!!!

My Neurologist thinks that a few of my night time "episodes" are Panic Attacks. I don't necessarily agree (and my Psychiatrist isn't convinced either); but I'm reluctant to argue with my Neurologist. My Neurologist actually wants me to try to get off my Seizure Meds to see if I can "do without". But before I try to convince her to keep me on Topamax because I think I'm still having seizures, I want to make sure I'm not being irrational (or health anxious) - so I ask anyone who have experienced Anxiety or Panic Attacks (or simple partial seizures) if these symptoms sound familiar? It basically goes like this... I wake up...like my eyes just open...but I'm not completely "there" (I'm half there and just go along for the ride)I can feel my bed underneath me, and I know where I am (in my bed, in my room), but sometimes the bed feels smaller - and the room seems a lot larger my heart is pounding slow but HARD, and then my insides start to feel like they are going "inside out" - it starts in the bottom of my stomach, and works it's way up and "out" (hard to explain an "inside out" feeling - it's not really a "out of body" feeling...but somewhere on that spectrum I guess? like wave of acid butterflies going through my system, and my system knows these butterflies "do not belong" - and these are all a feeling not thoughts...I'm just trying to explain this weird feeling LOL) When the "inside out" feeling starts to go "right side in" I know it's almost overMy perception of my surroundings go back to normal - my heart then slows down to normal - and I just go right back to sleep (the ride is over) In all it lasts for 2 minutes. I have no fear or anxiety related to what I would think would be related to a "panic attack". And there is no rumination or worry period (or "mental recovery" period) right after the "event". When it's over, I go straight to sleep and don't think twice about it until I wake up groggy and go "WTH". I don't have Panic Attacks during the day, and my anxiety disorder is specific Social Anxiety/Selective Mutism when exposed to people in public; so my education and experience on Panic Attacks are indeed very minimal. As well my Simple Partial Seizures mimic this, so it's very hard to differentiate. I'm having a difficult time right now.

I've been titrating up on Lamictal to treat something that isn't epilepsy and has nothing to do with seizures. Once I raised my dose to 150 mg (the intended full dose was 200 mg) I started getting bumps on my hands and head and they were itching pretty bad. I assumed it was related to something else but two nights ago, a few hours after taking my medication it became hard to take deep breathes, then my head began to itch incredibly bad, and then for about half an hour to an hour it felt like someone poured acid into my eyes because they were in so much pain (caused by nothing external at all) that I couldn't even open them until the pain was over. Needless to say I decided that I don't want to take Lamictal anymore. I read that even if you don't have epilepsy, if you cut Lamictal cold turkey it could give you seizures, so I asked my doctor if I should titrate down because of this, he told me to just cut it completely and that no such risk exists. I don't know this doctor very well yet so I can't say I trust him very much, so I want to know, IS there a risk of seizures cutting Lamictal off at 150 mg? If so what should I do? If not, what are the other risks.

My name is Allison or Alliy but I might not remember that tomorrow. I am 22 years old almost 23 and am a housewife who stumbles through mental illness one confusing, chaotic, messy day at a time. I have been diagnosed correctly after years of medications and doctors who would rather write me a script that listen to my distorted mumblings but that is beside the point. I was finally diagnosed as Major Depression Disorder with Psychosis which only happened after a minor nervous breakdown and a stint in a hospital. I was released yesterday after 6 days and 1 spent in the er trying to get a bed for me. I have hallucinations that are vivid visual and audio. I have memory loss in the short and long term. I have crippling anxiety and a mild case of ocd and the occasional stress induced seizure.

I was fairly recently put on gabapentin for seizures, akasthesia (restless legs) and other fun uncontrollable body movements. Of course this medicine makes me feel like the walking dead until I drink an entire Starbucks worth of espresso and I'm ok. The doc recently upped my dose because I was starting to get breakthrough symptoms and I swear to god that's what hell feels like. After the upped dosage I started to get violent SI. Nothing actionable but very disturbing imagery. I also feel like I'm crawling out of my skin again. Has anybody had this experience and lived to tell? Any suggestions. I can't even go lie down in my bed because the torment will start again. HELP! Nikki

Immediately upon starting Risperdal about 3 months ago I started experiencing rapid eye twitching from left to right that lasts no more than half a second. It has been quite persistent throughout the last few months. A few weeks ago I played video games (which I rarely do, first time since starting Risperdal) and the eye twitching kept happening every five minutes or less, constantly messing me up in the game. I blank out when I have the twitching, everything turns white for a moment. The twitching happens often when I focus in on something, when I'm looking at an electronic screen, usually. It can be exacerbated by caffeine. My mother was the first person to see it and today she recommended me call my pdoc and let him know as she thinks it's a seizure. I'm on Wellbutrin which lowers the seizure threshold and also Risperdal which does the same. My thinking is the two are working together to produce partial seizures if that is indeed what is happening. Has anyone else had experiences with seizures from these medications? After looking online this could be a seizure especially is exacerbated by screens and lights and video games but it could also just be a muscle twitch. That's what I thought it was all along. And even if it is a seizure, simple eye movements for a split second isn't all that dangerous or annoying.

I was on 80 mg fluoxetine for 4 days ago, and now are on 40 mg. To morrow i have a plan to take 20 mg, and in a week on 0 mg. But is this seizure triggering, Even if i do not have seizure tendenses, and i do not have epilepsy?

Just in case anyone else is as fascinated by this as I am: http://neurosciencenews.com/neuroscience-brain-stethoscope-music-seizures-441/

Hello All, I am Ryxi and I have absolutely no idea what all to put here. I have been diagnosed with a ton of different issues and am currently back under the care of a psychiatrist/therapist/case manager. I don't want to get too personal, but I come from a large family that wants nothing to do with me because of these issues. I have lost all of my children from these issues. I am currently living with an ex-boyfriend (we are still great friends) just so I can get some kind of support while I deal with all of this. I am new to any kind of site like this, as this is really my first time really reaching out to anyone, other than my doctors and stuff. Well, I guess if you want to know more about me, feel free to ask away. My therapist encourages me to talk about everything as much as possible so that I can stop being a victim and move on with my life.

I've had juvenile myoclonic epilepsy for 3-4 years, triggered by severe anorexia. I'm on sodium valproate and my seizures and jerks are generally well controlled due to the high dose I take...but the seizures I've had over the past 2 years have been triggered by me overdosing on my antipsychotic med (Seroquel). The last OD was big and I ended up in intensive care after many big tonic clonic seizures. I am trying to study and get to a university level of work so I can do a degree but at the moment I'm struggling a lot with reading and concentrating. I'll admit objectively I'm a high achiever (well I was anyway) and perfectionist (in my view I think I'm a failure and fraud but hey), so it is really upsetting to struggle with these things. I can read in general, but the lines get muddled up and my voices (psychosis) interfere so it is often hard to make sense. I'm also distracted by the tiniest thing, a flash of light, a car going past outside (a VERY common occurrence...therefore very annoying when trying to study). My mum has suggested that I'm having to re-learn some of my thinking skills, making connections in my brain and how to 'learn' in general...due to injuring my brain from the number of full seizures I've had as well as the medication overdose's effect on my brain. Does anyone else have experience with this? And any strategies to help improve it? It's really upsetting - I already feel like I've lost most of my identity (no longer physically technically 'anorexic', not a high achiever etc). Thanks.