Have you ever had a seizure?

I had one last night (petit mal) which the doctor at the ER described as 'idiopathic.' Actually he did not use that term because he was acting like an idio(t).

Anyway, have you ever had one and what were yours like and do you think my paranoia is justified that 'oh shit maybe this will be a common thing in the future'?

glad you're okay, abbott!

....wait, so he *didn't* say idiopathic?

He said 'we don't know why it happened or what caused it," but not using the word idiopathic. So yes and no.

My mate had a fairly spectacular seizure when we were at university (not sure if it was grand mal; I wasn't there, and didn't know the first thing about this stuff, so didn't really ask any questions). That was, what, 15 years ago: he's not had another since. If I remember correctly, it was brought on when he was playing a video game in an arcade -- certainly not something he's avoided since ;)

Do you have any idea what might have brought yours on? What else did the doctors say?

In his book The Human Body, Isaac Asimov noted a comment about the term "idiopathic" made in the 20th edition of Stedman's Medical Dictionary: "A high-flown term to conceal ignorance."

i THOUGHT i had one last year, it was very scary. but i went to the doctor (this took me like 2 months because i hate going to the doctor and i was busy) and he just said i fainted. i'm not sure how he knew though. he said it was vasovagal syncope.

i did get paranoid because i couldn't imagine what else it was and i thought i would have to watch out for them for the rest of my life, and not drive or swim or anything. i am afraid of being disabled in any way, and also afraid of relying on other people to do things for me. so it would have been bad.

I don't know what brought mine on....last night I suddenly got super nauseous, like someone had pressed a 'nausea' button on my remote control, and stumbled to the toilet and I vomited, and I couldn't get up (my head was about to fall into the toilet. John dragged me to my nearby office chair and apparently I had a food 10 minute seizure? But not a bad one? I don't really remember, or know, I was barely there. i was trying to concentrate on a bicycle spoke to keep me present, and I couldn't really do it, just floating in and out, and mostly out and never entirely in. (I keep my bicycle in my bedroom.)

The doctor said it might be a fainting spell. He didn't explain further what that could mean. I don't know. But apparently according to John, it had like every petit mal symptom. So.

And all day now I've had like terrible ataxia. Just trying not to think about things like the two tests I have to take from 7-9 p.m. soon.

Like I don't think, knowing my chem prof, that he'd accept 'I spent seven hours in the ER last night' as an excuse to delay taking it.

The only kind of seizure I've ever been subjected to was carried out by police. Not planning on any more of any kind.

I'm glad yer ok, too.

Thx yall.

I'm okay except for at walking. Ah, i was never a champ in that field anyway.

good wishes to you...I hope it never happens again

yeah that's kind of what happened to me. somehow doctors are able to tell though, maybe gbx knows how they do it. i was sleeping, i got up to go to the bathroom, i felt very nauseous and thought "oh no i think i have a fever, i better do whatever i can to get back to bed before i pass out" and on the way out of the bathroom, man down. i share a bathroom with my neighbor and he found me and saved me. i tried to have water and food but i threw up twice. i also couldn't see right for an hour or so. everything was fuzzy. but this was almost a year ago and nothing has happened since.

Like I don't think, knowing my chem prof, that he'd accept 'I spent seven hours in the ER last night' as an excuse to delay taking it

Hmm: might be worth trying? Certainly, if you feel that taking the tests is going to cause you a shitload of stress, it might be wiser in the long run to delay them!

I, too, am glad you're OK -- just don't make things difficult for yourself if there's an alternative!

Whoa. No.

???????

Abbott, how old are you? My neurologist says that these "idiopathic" (okay, "mysterious") seizures are relatively common in adolescents & young adults, and that in the great majority of them the cause is never diagnosed. And the majority stop occurring over time. Not very reassuring. My son (age 18) and I have both experienced seizures, but for apparently different reasons, neither of them epilepsy. Mine is from a brain injury, while my son had an episode similar to yours. It happened again three times over a period of a couple of months about two years ago. He was prescribed trileptal, eventually stopped taking it, and hasn't had another since.

I'm sorry to hear about your seizure, Abbott. They can be caused by many things and yours might be a "one off", never to be repeated. It certainly happens. But be sure to check it out further, if you can afford it. A brain tumor can't be ruled out until they look for one, so if it were me, I'd go ahead and let them look.

I hope this was just one of those things. Good luck.

Whoa, I think I may have had 6-8 vasovagals.

Never passed out, but got pretty damned close. Seeing stars, everything is going black, numbness in hands, etc.

abbott will you marry me?

oh abbott, not fun at all and very scary. did they suggest tests of any sort? (NOT the school kind, I mean like a brain scan to make sure everything is ship shape in the old cranium?) I hope it is just a one time deal and you won't have any more trouble with the things.

p sure it wasn't a seizure, but it was a freaky moment. was on an Amtrak train overnight (and hadn't slept much) and then finally got an hour or two, but I was afraid of sleeping through my stop (Amtrak generally comes by and notifies you that it's time, but I didn't want to leave to chance).

so my body was trying to fall asleep and I was fighting it, and it did that hypnic jerk thing that it is wont to do in those circumstances, dozing for a second and jerking awake. Nothing abnormal.

but then moments later, still wide awake, my body started jerking again (mostly my arms, partially my shoulders). only I couldn't control it, like a hiccup. it lasted about 15 seconds and right as I was about to panic, it stopped. no other symptoms. it started up again a moment later but somehow I managed to stop it, and then I was fine after that and went to sleep immediately at first opportunity.

going to chalk it up to "hypnic jerks due to fighting sleep" (that's what the doc I consulted with thinks), but lord it's freaky to not be in control of your own movements.

I suffered from petite mal epilepsy in my childhood/adolescence and experienced about 5 confirmed fits and possibly a few other other minor nocturnal ones that nobody noticed. The last time I had an "official" fit was about 25 years ago when I skipped my Tegretol for a couple of days cos it interfered with my drinking! But I still vividly remember how horrible it is to have that half conscious feeling of being trapped inside yr own body followed by complete memory blackout until you wake up in an ambulance or surrounded by panicking people, feeling completely exhausted and vulnerable .

I reckon a lot of them "locked in" type sleep experiences are probably related to epilepsy because I have experienced a lot of them and they do feel similar.