Epilepsy & Seizures Support Group

I passed out about six months ago while at my first day volunteering at the hospital. It had been something I'd come close to a few times right before that. Sometimes there was a warning, sometimes no warning at all, or just like a 1 or 2 second warning. I went from doctor to doctor, no one knew what was wrong. I eventually showed an abnormal EEG and was dx with complex partial seizures originating from the temporal lobe. All my life I've had periods of spacing out or picking out my eyebrows and not knowing I was doing it. Or sudden fearful moments or deja vu that went away after a bit.

I had attributed this to my Bipolar and OCD. I read last night that complex partial seizures originating in the temporal lobe are linked to OCD in some ppl.

However, with the reading I've done on complex partial I haven't come across anything about actually losing consciousness or actually physically seizing. One time a year ago I did and it lasted for 20-30 minutes, I was aware of what was going on and I was scared to death. My sister said that even my eyes in my sockets were shaking. At the time my family doctor attributed it to slight anemia.

Now I am wondering if I have another type of seizure other than just the complex partial. I've read that it is actually simple partial seizures that start complex partial seizures sometimes and that is what the deja vu feeling and the way I will sometimes hear things or smell things that aren't there.

There was one time when I was a teenager that I was driving then started screaming and crying hysterically and went into the other lane all of the sudden, totally out of the blue. I narrowly missed an oncoming car. It was over just like that but left me really shook up.

What the partial complex seizures do to me is I suddenly get a feeling of deja vu, or panic, or start crying, or smell or hear something, then either space out or will get very dizzy and come close to passing out. Sometimes they are out of the blue and sometimes they seem to be stress related. Afterwards I feel weak and very shook up.

Also, what about the seizing and shaking that lasted 20-30 minutes from a year ago? I don't know if that can fall under the partial complex category. But, I fully new what was going on.

For awhile I had the partial complex seizures up to five times a day, even on medication, almost every day. Now I don't know but I think it has been about two months.

I am counting my last seizure so that I can drive again as the one from when I passed out, not the little ones I've had since.

I am on 300 mg Trileptal for it, twice a day. I often go with very little sleep.

I am also on Depakote for my bipolar (1000 mg), Lamictal (50 mg), Synthroid, Celebrex, and Singulair.

I am really confused right now, I don't even know if my problem is actually serious enough to worry about. My neurologist is very nice but he pretty much said that they are no big deal and will probably be gone in a couple of years of medication therapy. (But I've also been on Tegretol for a long time before, which Trileptal is a derivative of, and I still have them. But I am not on Tegretol anymore.)

Should I even be concerned or really worry or care about this? I don't even know if this is considered "epilepsy" or not.
Posted on 09/09/07, 10:09 pm