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Old 10-06-2012, 01:24 AM
BarnOwl BarnOwl is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4
10 yr Member
BarnOwl BarnOwl is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4
10 yr Member
Default Possible Simple Partial Seizures?

I don't know if this could possibly be caused by simple partial seizures, because a few of the pieces don't fit, but so much does that I thought I should investigate.

The week before my finals freshman year of college I was in bed falling asleep when I started uncontrollable shaking all over my body, but I was completely conscious. I was able to sit up and started hyperventilating, but my roommate came back and was able to calm me down and I fell asleep. The next day I visited the school NP, who ran blood tests and prescribed Ativan so I could sleep. Those tests came back normal.

I visited my PCP and he said I had restless leg syndrome and suggested listening to music when I went to bed. After a little persuading he gave me a referral to a neurologist. I visited a neurologist and had an EEG done, which was negative, so he said I had an anxiety disorder and needed to see a psychiatrist, despite me being able to produce the symptoms in his office.

The psychiatrist prescribed Lexapro which did not decrease my spasms. At this point I called them muscle spasms and left it at that, I didn't even consider seizures until recently, because of the fact that I was conscious when it happened.

My symptoms are a bit odd, so I don't know if they fit the bill or not.
-I can "feel" it coming on, and I'm completely conscious. It's as if I can see the future and it's in my nerves. I can see in my head what my body parts will do next, and it happens.
-If I relax and rest back, they will usually start, but the gross muscle ones don't happen when I'm sitting up.
-They tend to move around; for a while it was my leg, then my hand, then my eyelids (they would blink super fast for 30sec at a time)

They get worse with stress, particularly after I've been really stressed.

Here's the part that doesn't fit with what I've read. I can let the spasms be triggered, for instance I can focus on my hand and then my hand does its own thing. Or I can focus super hard and try to make them stop. This is what makes me think they are psychosomatic, in other words all in my mind, not a physical problem.

They also tend to be worse when I'm alone in a room, perhaps because I'm more anxious about them happening so it's a downward spiral? Once when I was at home alone my legs gave out and I was twitching on the ground for an hour. Not continuous, it would be like a minute and then I'd lie there, and then a couple minutes start again. I also kind of zone out, feel a little bit out of body, etc.

Any suggestions or words of encouragement would be much appreciated. I've had them for a year now and every professional says it's just an anxiety disorder, there's nothing really wrong with me.
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