Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

I have partial seizures like that from time to time. They can be disturbing/disrupting. The actual episode only lasts between a half hour and two hours and it's the worst during that time. Everything looks and feels unreal and messed up like my brain exploded and I can get really emotional and irritable and very sensitive to certain patterns, lights, and colors. It's annoying and hard to explain to some people because it doesn't look like I'm having a seizure because I don't convulse, I just kind of stare off into space or act weird. I really don't like it nor like to talk about it much.

For me though it doesn't last a long time, like I said maybe half hour to two hours, and it only happens a couple times a month maybe, and some times I go a while without it happening. But when it does happen it can leave me messed up emotionally for a while. Kind of like how you describe but it's really just the aftermath for me as my brain tries to pull itself together and work out WTF just happened and get on with life I guess. I also get ocular migraines that make me partly blind for about 20 minutes which can be triggered by light patterns, stress, or sudden loud noises. That's really annoying.

 

I personally have never experienced a seizure or a migraine but am close with people who are out for entire days because of them. They have to manage it with special migraine medication or with a strict ketogenic diet as they're the only things that keep them at bay. I guess for some they can sense a migraine is about to come on and they can medicate and try to prevent it from happening or take the edge off.

Do you find that you can sense the migraines coming? Is there anything that actually triggers these up? Do you have to manage a specific diet or anything to try to reduce the episodes?

I am curious as someone who has never really had so much as a bad headache.

I read something about cluster headaches before which apparently are excruciating. Is this different?

 

Yeah I get a precursor to migraines but it can be hard to pin down. I feel kind of dopey and not all together, and it can be hard to think. I'm also some times suddenly thirsty. But some times feeling that way isn't all unusual so it can be hard to predict. Stress and excessive stimuli seems to trigger them more often.

I get a lot of what are called silent migraines, which are painless migraines. I know that sounds really weird and counter intuitive, but it's actually a thing. They just make it so I can't see right for a little bit, and I might feel a little stunned and disoriented. It looks like I'm trying to see through cloudy water over my eyeballs or something like that, and the distortion slowly spreads out in a ring pattern, eventually I can see through the middle of it and it's only cloudy on the edges, and after a bit it'll go away completely. Though there are times I get the pain too, often in the top left part of my head, which usually comes with some nausea. That's usually less frequent for me, thankfully.

 

I have never heard of a silent migraine before. That's fascinating. I can relate to the cloudiness but that usually comes from dietary habits or from very high stress or panic attacks.

Do you find that you have to stop what you are doing to let it pass or can you still function during that time? When I think of migraines I think of people laying very still in a quiet dark room with a puke bucket by their bed lol.

The brain is so interesting how it does these things. I always wonder what the root cause of it is.

 

I can usually keep functioning if I have to but it is better if I rest. Luckily this is only maybe a half hour in the case of an ocular migraine. It gets to where it's difficult to do things due to confusion and being unable to see well. For a while I can't properly read and such without really struggling, but it's only central visual disturbance so I can get by and try to focus if I'm really desperate and there's a thing that needs doing right now.

I do get the ones where I'm in bed with the puke pail but that's not very common for me and I think those usually show up when I've been slacking too much on taking care of myself, like not getting enough sleep and drinking too much caffeine. A severe painful migraine hurts so bad that you just can't. Just can't anything. It feels like you're made of pain and vomit lol. Every little light and noise feels like it is trying to kill you.

 

That's very similar to something I experienced when younger. I believe the epileptic fits were triggered by medication as it eventually stopped when I was took myself off it. The bold part really struck me as I remember feeling such a cavalcade of disturbing emotions afterwards. A very uncomfortable period.

What I found the worst were the feelings of deja vu. It was a near constant thing, where every experience seemed unreal, a mirror of a previous time. It made me really wonder if I wasn't loosing my mind.