Help - Seizure or Panic Attack

[sunflower7]

I had a panic attack on Sat and was worrying it was seizure. Well when I was driving to my hospital app today it happened again. My left arm felt weak then I felt anxious and kept going in a daze for a few seconds but I also had a feeling of my stomach rising and a lump in my throat. I'm terrified it was a seizure as the symptoms were similar to the one I had on Sat. The rising stomach thing has scared me as it seems to be linked to simple partial seizures and not panic attacks. Please can anyone tell me if they've had that feeling before and also if there panic attack symptoms have changed? My heart was beating so fast after as I was waiting for my app plus I'm still feeling strange/detached.

[kiiing]

I had a panic attack on Sat and was worrying it was seizure. Well when I was driving to my hospital app today it happened again. My left arm felt weak then I felt anxious and kept going in a daze for a few seconds but I also had a feeling of my stomach rising and a lump in my throat. I'm terrified it was a seizure as the symptoms were similar to the one I had on Sat. The rising stomach thing has scared me as it seems to be linked to simple partial seizures and not panic attacks. Please can anyone tell me if they've had that feeling before and also if there panic attack symptoms have changed? My heart was beating so fast after as I was waiting for my app plus I'm still feeling strange/detached.

i'm not expert nor a doc but i can say if you did in fact have a seizure you would not remember anything...you black out in a sense during a seizure
so by you saying you knew exactly what symptoms you were exp before and after leads me to believe you had a anxiety/panic attack


everything you exp is on par with panic attacks
for example this is what i exp when i have one
my hearts starts to race, i get super dizzy, i feel nauseous *gross sometimes ill vomit, i feel unbalanced
sometimes ill feel like my limbs even parts of my head go numb-ish like pins and needles and chest discomfort

its a vicious cycle
irrational thoughts>fear>fight or flight mode gets activated>huge adrenaline rush (what i personally think is the physical sensations you exp during a panic/anxiety attack)
sadly many of us rinse and repeat

are you getting any type of treatment ?

[Gary A]

Its true that simple partial seizures can have the symptom of gastrointestinal rising. Typically, this will be the only symptom. You said that your arm felt weak and you felt anxious, this rarely happens with partial seizure activity because partial seizures are caused by rogue electrical firing in one specific region of the brain.

This means that a leg will go numb, or perhaps an arm will feel weak, or, as you've aluded to, you'll get gastrointestinal symptoms.

Your description does not suggest a partial seizure, simply because you had a number of symptoms over a widespread area. A partial seizure, as I said, hits one area of the brain and produces symptoms in whichever part of the body that area controls. It stays in that area and doesn't move. If the siezure activity spreads over a wider area, you lose consciousness.

It sounds to me like you simply had a panic attack, which can and does give you almost identical symptoms to partial or even complex seizures. It takes a bit of knowledge to spot the subtle differences at times.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There is also something called a Non Epileptic Seizure (NES) according to the Epilepsy Society and it is a specific form found in one of the Dissociative Disorders. Guess what is listed as one of these - a panic attack.

Anyone can have those under stressful situations.

[sunflower7]

Thank you all for your help. Ive started taking Citalopram about a month ago but not sure it's helping much. I was have some panic attacks before but these seem to be following more of a pattern which got me worrying about seizures. Is it possible for panic attack symptoms to change? I the last couple of days twice I've thought my Husband has spoken to me when he hasn't which of course is fueling the worry more! It's been about a week since I last got a full nights sleep.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, panic attack symptoms change. You want the other board for that one as there is a thread about this very subject, I think.

Thinking someone has said something when they haven't is common regardless of anxiety. I can remember having that many years before my anxiety started. It's just that we notice such things and worry about them.

If you think you heard something when you were falling asleep and within the first two hours of sleep (Hypnagogia) or waking up (Hypnopompia), these sleep stages are known to have sleep phenomena that include auditory & visual hallucinations, so don't worry about meaning another mental heath issue because all people can experience this.

[sunflower7]

Thank you for your help.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, panic attack symptoms change. You want the other board for that one as there is a thread about this very subject, I think.

This might be the thread I meant.