WARNING: This post is ungodly long. If you don't wanna wade through the whole thing, the condensed version is: Can MS cause seizures that have weird symptoms such as dissociation, deja-vu, the feeling of something being new(unfamiliar) but knowing it isn't, and being completely void of emotion? For a short period of time, of course.

Feel free to call me looney, but I have a semi-embarrassing question to ask. I ask here because I'm currently in the MS limbo. I'm trying to figure out if this is MS-related or not.

I've had MS-like symptoms for the past 4 years or so, with a steady, severe increase in symptoms over the past year. But one thing is particularly disturbing to me....weird dissociative episodes. They can last as short as 3 minutes, or as long as half an hour (with it coming on, having maybe 5 minutes or so of leveled dissociative-ness, and the rest of the time with it waning quickly). I've had some instances where it was instead a very, very sudden emotion that was come and gone in seconds. For instance, I was driving in my car singing along to happy music, feeling great - then suddenly, I let out a sob as my breath caught in my chest due to a sudden and OVERWHELMING feeling of grief. It lasted not but a second. And I was absolutely BEWILDERED and confused.

The whole thing scared me enough to ask my psychiatrist (who I see for ADHD) for an anti-depressant. I didn't tell her about the dissociative thing (didnt wanna make her think I was crazy), but I had kinda mild depression-like symptoms (repetitive thoughts, mainly) and the celexa helped a lot with the former. But the dissociative things have increased in frequency. They're weird and scary. And sudden. Out of the blue, I feel absolutely numb. I feel no emotion and don't feel attached to the world. I feel like my body is not mine. Everything I see seems not real, farther away (it LOOKS farther away and feels different), and very unfamiliar but yet deja-vu like. I feel floaty, or like my stomach and head are floating up. My body goes cold and numb - I barely feel pain or anything touching me. Talking to anyone is like dredging water from a well - it's hard to bring words up. And I do not care about anyone or myself. I'm attached to nothing. I don't feel real or alive. It's like it's a dream.

Obviously this is very scary once I come out of it. I'm scared of what I will do because of the lack of attachment to the world. It happens randomly with no triggering event.

I happened to recently stumble upon info about simple/complex partial seizures...and I know that MS can cause seizures. Oh, and also that Celexa can reduce a person's seizure threshold. So my question is....can MS cause some kind of seizure that causes this kinda stuff? Or am I just off my freakin' rocker? I'm kinda scared and pretty embarrassed about it. I really don't want anyone to think I'm a nutter!

We're all a little nuts here, Hoshi. But yes, MS can cause seisures in some people, along with many other illnesses and some Meds can also cause them.

I hope you get answers and symptom relief soon..

I don't think mine is quite the same, but one of the first symptoms of mine that took me repeatedly to the doctor was maybe simular? It would happen under certain situations where I would all of a sudden feel like I was floating and that the world was whizzing around me and I was no longer in sync with everything that was going on around me.
After a while I chalked it up to an anxiety attack but it wasn't. However; when the feeling started...then I would have an anxiety episode!! I used to tell the doc that it was like I was moving in a different direction than everyone around me. I didn't feel sad or cry....just afraid especially when I was driving. I get it in the grocery store while moving down the isles and looking to the side and under flurescent lights. Doc does think its an MS thing. And yes, tell your doc even though you feel looney. Just tell your doc that you are afraid of admitting it. When I finally told a doc what was happening to me, I fell into his arms sobbing......the feeling tormented me. No I was not nuts and neither are you. Big Hugs and be sure to tell your doctor.

What an excellent description, Karilann! I truly understood that and I don't think anyone who hasn't experienced it could have said it better!

I used to have that same feeling. I told my neuro it was as if I was detached, looking down or back at what was happening around me, that I was still and the rest of the world was moving, or I was moving past everything. I told him it was like being the highest I have ever been without being high, like I was floating and drooling and no one noticed, like how it feels when you come out of anesthesia after surgery. I'd have to tell myself to breathe when it was happening or I wouldn't.

I never could explain it well enough for him to understand and that frustrated me and I quit trying. It happened when I was driving, in stores with crowds, fluorescent lights, heat, etc. It was a feeling of unreality like I never had before (well, I did, but that was back when I was a teenager and I stay away from those drugs now!)

It was my ophthalmologist who figured it out. It had to do with vision, perception, spatial awareness, cognition and how my brain was interpreting things that I saw as opposed to how I used to see and how my brain used to interpret things. It was a part of my relapses for years, and I hated it!

One thing I did, besides steroids, was to get an eye patch. It covered my bad eye when I had this feeling and honestly, within 5 minutes I would be fine! I'd put on the patch and sit quietly, or lay down for a few minutes and it would all stop. It sucked having to use the patch but it was the only thing that made it stop.

Hoshi, give the vision thing a try. Get tested. I had nystagmus, diplopia and a host of other words I can't even remember now! Thankfully it is all gone since Tysabri, but when my old neuro told me my MS wasn't "debilitating", I was incensed and very nastily said "Maybe not in YOUR world, but in mine it is HUGE!"

I got a new neuro after that! I kept the eye doc. He was the one who diagnosed me after my first clinical episode of ON.

Hoshi,

I have been tested for seizures due to dissociating and my neuro recommended I quite driving because of "episodes" that would happen while I was driving.

My EEG came back just fine, I wasn't having seizures and my dissociating had nothing to do with MS.

You don't have a diagnosis of MS so I would not suspect MS as a cause. However, you really should talk to your doctor about what you are experiencing. I hope you get answers soon.

In case you don't fully understand Dissociative Disorders I have provided a link -
http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentG..._Disorders.htm

Yep, I've not been diagnosed. Yet. Waiting to hear back about my MRI results from my neuro.

I looked up a lot about dissociative disorders before mentioning it. And it just doesn't seem to fit. I have sexual/physical/mental abuse in my childhood, but it's something that hasn't much troubled me(...I kinda chalk it up as something that, though not pleasant, made me the strong person I am now) - so I don't think that has anything to do with it. It doesn't seem to be triggered by stress or emotions, either.
It's the sudden nature of it that scares me. And the fact that is seems to happen most when I'm driving at night. It doesn't happen every day or anything, but does happen a few time a week. It's...startling. And afterwards, I'm incredibly sleepy and can barely keep my eyes open.


Bah - I hate to think that it's a mental issue...especially since it doesn't feel like it.

This was also a huge part of what I experienced. When it happened, I would get immediately, overwhelmingly tired and I would have to lay down or fall down. I can recall having to leave my grocery cart right where it was and go out and lay down in the car with the AC on full blast in December. I turned on the AC because I wasn't sure if it was heat that was causing it or what. I was overjoyed when the opthalmologist finally figured it out, just because it validated what I was feeling.

I truly sympathize with you on this one, and I hope you get answers soon.