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Default Sep 26, 2020 at 06:15 AM
  #1
I've experienced seizure "auras" (which are considered seizures themselves due to the abnormal brain activity) for a few years now, and just curious if anybody else has them, and how you would describe them.

One thing is they are usually very difficult to (accurately) explain for most people, and I'd say that's the case for me. But one word I would first use is just, weird... Like, seriously weird, and literally unlike any emotions or feelings I've ever experienced.

These are just as accurate as I can think of, but I'd also include similar to deja vu, fantasy and dreamy/other wordly, and nostalgia, but also like a deep loneliness, an impending doom, and being pulled into a 'black hole' type of feeling, all at once.

Whenever one occurs it seems like it 'fades' in and for the first 2-3 seconds it's not intense, but then it's like it just suddenly flips a switch and drastically sweeps over and grows in intensity exponentially. Most usually seem to last maybe 5-10 seconds at the peak, but sometimes they seem to last a good 20-30+ seconds.

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Does anybody else experience seizure auras?
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Default Sep 26, 2020 at 10:37 PM
  #2
I saw that your post had been up nearly all day and no one had replied so I thought I would take a crack at it. Though I have never had a seizure I do have panic attacks every once in a while. It’s like the thoughts in my head are coming way to fast and I feel a pit in my stomach then I’ll have a snap back to reality. Afterwards I’ll often feel exhausted for quite awhile afterward. I don’t really have any visual disturbances with them though.

P.S. I love your Carl Sagan quote 🙂

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Default Sep 28, 2020 at 09:39 PM
  #3
All my life. Doom, fear. Terror. Empty. Dead. Hollow. Then, tingling beginning at the back of my brain, slowly marching forward toward my eyes. Once there, my vision goes to hell (born blind in one eye). Iam cycled down into depression. IQ drops precipitously. Sad and confused. All my life. Thank you so much for posting this!

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Default Sep 29, 2020 at 07:25 AM
  #4
I have had a few experiences where I find myself shifting into a dream like state while awake. My subconscious takes over and everything I experience is symbolic. There is a sense of derealization. There is a strange deja vu like thing happening, but its more like time stops and the world synchronizes with my thoughts like a dream does. When I am lucky, it lasts for a minute and then fades. However, twice now I have gotten stuck in this state for hours and my brain felt like it was on fire. Heavy psychosis sets in. It is very scary.

I get multi-day headaches before this comes on and also the tingling bpcyclist described and then my ears ring so loudly I can barely hear. I see tiny dots of bright light as well.

I do not have any physical abnormalities in my brain that cause seizures, but I wouldn't be surprised if a chemical imbalance caused one. My experiences are very consistent with people who have temporal lobe epilepsy and experience schizophrenia like psychosis. The treatment they provide for that works for me as well.
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Default Sep 29, 2020 at 08:44 AM
  #5
Quote:
Originally Posted by fern46 View Post
I have had a few experiences where I find myself shifting into a dream like state while awake. My subconscious takes over and everything I experience is symbolic. There is a sense of derealization. There is a strange deja vu like thing happening, but its more like time stops and the world synchronizes with my thoughts like a dream does. When I am lucky, it lasts for a minute and then fades. However, twice now I have gotten stuck in this state for hours and my brain felt like it was on fire. Heavy psychosis sets in. It is very scary.

I get multi-day headaches before this comes on and also the tingling bpcyclist described and then my ears ring so loudly I can barely hear. I see tiny dots of bright light as well.

I do not have any physical abnormalities in my brain that cause seizures, but I wouldn't be surprised if a chemical imbalance caused one. My experiences are very consistent with people who have temporal lobe epilepsy and experience schizophrenia like psychosis. The treatment they provide for that works for me as well.
Yes, a dream like state that is such an accurate way to explain them and how they feel for me too. Same for the time stopping feeling. This is so much better and more accurate than I've ever been able to explain them.

Mine usually never last more than I'd estimate maybe 20-25, or 30 seconds for the longest ones, though most are usually only maybe ~10 seconds tops. I can't imagine how it would feel being stuck in one for any really extended period of time. I mean, there is a small part that I kinda like (probably just the dreamy type of sense) but the other 'darker' feelings wouldn't be so great to get stuck with at the same time.

I know at the end of every one I have for the first 5-10 seconds it feels like I was experiencing just the most deep, absolutely intense emotions/feelings, regardless of what they were, that I ever have in my life.

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Default Sep 29, 2020 at 01:59 PM
  #6
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Originally Posted by Photonate View Post
Yes, a dream like state that is such an accurate way to explain them and how they feel for me too. Same for the time stopping feeling. This is so much better and more accurate than I've ever been able to explain them.

Mine usually never last more than I'd estimate maybe 20-25, or 30 seconds for the longest ones, though most are usually only maybe ~10 seconds tops. I can't imagine how it would feel being stuck in one for any really extended period of time. I mean, there is a small part that I kinda like (probably just the dreamy type of sense) but the other 'darker' feelings wouldn't be so great to get stuck with at the same time.

I know at the end of every one I have for the first 5-10 seconds it feels like I was experiencing just the most deep, absolutely intense emotions/feelings, regardless of what they were, that I ever have in my life.
Yes, exactly. It starts like that for me. It is a feeling of connectedness that words just cannot do justice. When it stops there it is a great experience and very spiritual for me.

When my brain gets stuck it is a waking nightmare. I do not think. Things pop into my head and I act on them immediately. Its like the normal delay life has just goes away and you just do without thinking the same way you do in a dream. I hovered over my body and watched like you can in a dream during portions of it. I blacked out for other parts.

The crazy part was how symbolic everything was. After I came out of it I talked it through with my therapist and we analyzed it the same way you do a dream. My subconscious had a lot to say while I was in that altered state. Its like it threw up almost 40 years of stuff I didn't even know was in me. So very strange.

Are you on meds? I wasn't before all of this happened. The hope now is that I can use an antipsychotic as a prn med when I feel it coming. I get days of headaches and insomnia before it gets bad, so I will hopefully see it coming next time.

My neurologist and psychiatrist somewhat disagree about whether or not I need some sort of med full time. The neurologist says to just use a prn if needed and maybe an anticonvulsant full time if my episodes get closer together. My pdoc thinks Abilify might work. I hate not knowing what causes this...
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Default Sep 30, 2020 at 12:14 AM
  #7
I do really feel strongly that what some of us have is a kind of slow-marching seizure disorder. So much supports that. Seizures are just tons of coordinated action potentials along axons. Calcium and sodium rush in, usually, the voltage flips, all kinds of crazy shite starts happening in the neuron. Methylation. Phosphorylation. Receptors move and shift. Tons of stuff happening. I believe this is the tingling we feel in our brains sometimes. I do. I wish we could send in some nanobots with cameras to image this stuff for us. Then, we could just watch it on our tv''s. Here's George Jetson...

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Default Sep 30, 2020 at 06:30 PM
  #8
^^^ This.

I've experienced derealisation almost all of my life. Feels like everything I see is not "real". I also have bipolar disorder and severe migraines. I strongly suspect that I have some kind of neurological disorder, probably a seizure disorder, but medicine still lags on knowledge of the brain.

Oh - and the powerful spiritual feelings, yes.

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