View Full Version : Seizures or Depersonalization? Help!
Can anybody help?
Been googling again: http://www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_Symptom + brain tumours.
My symptoms:
In the car as a passenger:
Head rush
Memory blanks
Feeling of unreality
Shaky
Can be when I'm on a walk with the dog too. Can last seconds, or ten mins...
When I go to work I am ok or on a driving lesson when my mind is not on it. Been to the doctors a few times and got Diazepam.
How do I know it's just DP and not more serious? my symptom of unreality has lasted six weeks on and off.. :lac::wacko:
i had DP on & off on a daily basis, for over 4 months. Til i had therapy and went on 20mg Citalopram. Im now on the road to recovery after having a complete nervous breakdown due to my severe health anxiety. You have NOT got epilepsy. If u did, u would know about it, trust me. My auntie has epilepsy and I can assure you 1000%, u are NOT having seizures. You are obviosuyl very much like i was few months back, you are pretty much constantly in a high state of anxiety. A neurologist explained to me (as did my therapist) that when we are iun such a high state of anxiety, the neurotransmitters in our brains are literally like 'standing on end' and rushing adrenalin through every nerve ending in our bodies. Hence why people get such odd feelings all over their body. Changing ur chain of thought, getting therapy and taking the right medication has helped me on my road to recovery, and you will get there too, trust me. Firstly, speak to ur GP about ur worries, and then ask for a referral for some CBT. Good luck to you.
I get DP and when I was a child once I had a seizure as an allergic reaction. They are completely different things.. but I do know from lots of personal experience that DP can be very scary :( but is generally harmless. Maybe talk to your doc about some anti anxiety meds.
I've had the exact same fears but my psychiatrist is also an experienced doctor that used to specialise in seizures and other brain stuff. He has garunteed me that the effects I experience (much like yours!) are not the same as those of siezures. Especially the fact that we are aware of it. That's the first indicator that it's not a seizure. Have another chat to your gp or something for some reassurance :)
I googled Temporal Lobe Epilepsy which has me worried as it says depersonalization is a symptom. (Found it on google)...
I have felt spaced out and anxious for the past few days nothing seems real. I'm terrified this is not just anxiety as I had depersonalization on and off before but now I feel overwhelmed by it...
When it's been bad my symptom is a head rush and each end of my head feels sore and if I think about it then it gets more intense and I feel so unreal..and right now I feel so strange on this planet all the time..I could not get a proper sleep last night due to it...these symptoms eased down a few weeks back but now they are back..and I'm worried as ever again...is it seizures!??
..Is there any way I can be sure it's anxiety? :lac::wacko:
Phil,
You are your own worst enemy and you know it. So many times people have advised you in the chat room NOT to google but you still do it (I know it's hard not too, BUT you have to try).
The only way you are going to get better is to accept the anxiety, find a helpful way to deal with it and move on from it.
I think some really good counselling is the only way you will get past this constant worry. You said in chat the other day you weren't prepared to pay for counselling, but isn't some kind of relief from this torment you are in, worth it at any cost?
Worrier
It all got worse a few days ago when I thought about resitting my driving test as passing thoughts. I then got a surge like a head rush which triggered a state of depersonalization. I've now had it all day 24/7 for two days...I feel:
Foggy, spaced out, weird.
Flashing thoughts.
Disorientation or so it feels.
Very little can take my mind off it..I'm quite on the edge/unrelaxed.
For a few weeks it had kind of vanished as I had a few other symptoms of anxiety. I started researching and found all these and they sound so similar to depersonalization. I could go to the doctors 24/7 with how I feel right now but I may have to go get some private therapy.
I've become chronic with anxiety...I have worried about these seizure things all day before and I felt like terrible and now I feel it again and more so. And it's cycle...I'm so worried about my mind/brain worries me what I will think next, so much adrenaline, fear...I feel it's really took over me.
Sometimes I feel a purpose or need to google I just go ahead and do it then regret it. Then I say well I had to because I found some diagnosis and here I go sitting worrying..I could have it but I could have anything...even if it's just depersonalization It's not a steady symptom it's one that's really took over my life..I worry about it alot more than a general panic attack now... :blush: I'm not sleeping well now due to worrying! :huh:
Belfry1973
14-08-10, 13:36
As a person who has had Temporal Lobe Epilepsy for over 25 years I can assure you, you would really know if it was a real seizure! If you have taken proper notice of the symptoms you will have noticed the following effects of the seizure proper, none of which you have described or experienced.
As is often the case you have picked out the symptoms that you match with your own and ignore the rest which show you dont have it! As Worrier says you are your own worse enemy and until you take a pause, think about and acknowledge what is really going on you are going to find it difficult to move on and will continue to torture yourself.
NeverRelaxed
14-08-10, 17:22
I had this for at least 3 months constantly. From the minute I got up until when I went to bed. Such a horrible set of symptoms!
Sorry to being this up again but after a spell of other anxiety symptoms my depersonalization has came back again:
Basically..I felt when it was away I was alot more relaxed but felt a tiny bit depersonalized..but I came home from a night out early one symptom I got was on the bus "wow where am I?" and everything seemed unreal part of the reason I came home..since then worry has took over.
Tonight I started googling temporal lobe epilepsy again. Reading forums was worse as it says it can be similar to panic disorder. Many of the symptoms match depersonalization. What made me worry it was seizures was I'd get a head rush, feeling prominent veins, feeling unreal for 5 minutes very intense...at it's worst it made me agoraphobia about going out.
I have suffered DP since having anxiety however it was less intense I remember my old job light seemed funny, I'd feel a bit woozy and shake myself out it. This year it's been like 10 times worse.
I'll be honest and say all I can say to back up it may just be anxiety is:
Last week I was totally obsessed with my bowels, and later in the week i thought I was having a heart attack. I had these symptoms before but they just hit me, fresh and new.
So I have been thinking clearly this year the way I handle worry has changed. Rather than mildly worry I make a bigger deal out of it than it may be and feel a bit silly after it. But at the time the worry is very genuine and real to me.
Back to the worry I know there's tests you can get but don't want to overreact because the rate I worry I'd have a test for everything right now. But rather than be able to distract myself I sit worrying, worrying, worrying, I don't enjoy it but feel a requirement to worry, to check think of nothing else almost.
Do I really thing I have epilepsy? Maybe at worst of my panic..but the reason I am posting as I'm on the fence almost...between the posts not wanting to go out, feeling safe indoors, having these random attacks again. Now my head says I can't cope with these "so called anxiety symptoms"..they feel worse than the last DP over the years so maybe it is epilepsy? I don't think there's any major clear signs between depersonalization and epilepsy as they seem so similar?
Is there just something somebody can say to stop me feeling spaced and depersonalization and unreal? I wish for once I could put this worry to bed as I've had these attacks since May. :doh::blush:
Its your anxiety Phil ...I replied on your other thread hun ..Please read it ....You will be ok ..I promise ..Sue :hugs:
ladybird64
21-10-10, 15:24
Sorry Phil, I know you're going through hard time but the best thing for you is to take the advice you have already been given..no comforting words are going to do the trick if you continue to Google.
Re-read the previous answers on this thread including the one from Belfry whi actually suffers from Epilepsy..you know you haven't got it. :flowers:
I can't remember if you have had counselling or CBT but if not you have really got to use these options now, I'm sure you don't want to be on here in a few years time not having progressed any further than Google.
Take Care :flowers:
Please stop googling Phil!...its the route to all evil when trying to define our symptoms...your gp will help identify any symptoms that are concerning you. searching google made my health anxiety esculate to a point where i didnt believe my gp over a search engine! please stop for your own sake.:)
Please stop googling Phil!...its the route to all evil when trying to define our symptoms...your gp will help identify any symptoms that are concerning you. searching google made my health anxiety esculate to a point where i didnt believe my gp over a search engine! please stop for your own sake.:)
I know.
I actually just couldn't help myself when I google I keep saying I won't and for some rash reason I do it.
Googling is a symptom of anxiety in its self.
allergyphobia
21-10-10, 16:00
phil i google all the time when i really shouldn't. it's like a compulsion to do it. i try now to make a real physical effort and if i am going to do it i will come on here or go on facebook instead.
i know what you mean, i have the internet on my phone and would just go on it without realising half the time, then be so angry with myself because i never found reassurance from it, just ways to feel more anxious and concerned about my health! if you feel so compelled to look things up, try looking at things that are going to be helpful like anxiety and online self help cbt therapies, you will get out of the habit eventually.
bobwilliam
21-10-10, 19:35
As the human voice that is the fear of going crazy because of anxiety. You are not crazy, you're not! This is just a concept, the changes due to high anxiety. Anxiety can take many forms, including the perception of change itself. Once you get to eliminate your anxiety, depersonalization should subside. Main steps are tried for their own lives and think that it will ignore it only to make matters worse feeding.
I get dp every single day, it comes on without warning and without feeling anxious. ive had it ever since i started having panic attacks. I can be walking through town holding the pushchair and my arms wont look like mine, and its not me pushing it, its very strange. The worst is the feeling that my arm/hand is not attached to me, and i cant actually FEEL it, like its dead, and im not able to move it. but i CAN move it, just feels weak, and that reassures me its not stroke or anything like that coz i CAN infact move it. I get dp badly in supermarkets, i get severe head rushes all the time, the other day badly i fell over!! i suffer rly bad balance problems bcoz of it.
but i must say the worst for me is when i get it, objects feel strange to the touch,like they dont feel 'right;, hard to explain, its like i havent touched it before or it feels different to what it normally does. like holding a cup of tea, feels strange to hold the cup, its rly rly rly hard to explain. but i have severe dp, i dont go an hour without getting it. i get both depersonalization AND derealization. my arms and body doesnt feel like mine, my face looks unfamiliar (and peoples do) when i look in mirror or at other ppl, but i just convince myself its just dp. nuffin serious. dp is a potential life ruiner if u let it beat you. ive had it for 10months now day in day out, so im pretty used to it, but its still hard. ive still had days off college on rly bad dp days!! it does affect my life but i still drive, look after my little 2 year old, (even tho when i look at him sometimes i dont quite know who he is) which upsets me. but theres nuffin i can do, its dp and im on meds and have had cbt. its just anxiety. i dont even know wot im anxious about most says but i wonder if its all my past history of taking cocaine that done it. but nuffin i can do but live with it. its funny coz when im rly rly busy i dont get it!! which is why i dont like to sit around lol. hence why i get it badly when im typing at a pc!! haha!! but honestly phil, this is just dp. nufin more. u dont have epilepsy. my auntie has temporal epilepsy and has seizures, and my god, when u have a seizure u wont have to ask ppl 'am i having a seizure?' coz they will god dam KNOW U ARE!! lol x
Stop googling (totally hypcritical of me i know lol) but it rly doesnt help! just accept its dp and nothing serious (u would known by now trust me) .
i know its hard but u gotta accept its anxiety-related dp, and speak to ur doc about the best treatment for it. unless u tell urself its JUST DP then ul never start to get better.
tke cre :)
MidnightCalm
22-10-10, 14:16
The arm thing is horrible crazyhayz, I get it everyday, sometimes ALL day, waking up in the night with it is the worst!
They just don't feel attached!
Has adoc said DP?
MidnightCalm
22-10-10, 14:34
How are you now Phil?
& Crazyhayz how do you cope with the arm thing? I just can't :/
MC, i am exactly the same, i get it all day pretty much all the time!!!! I dont rly cope i just HAVE to carry on, and i force myself to carry on. I read on a website that it is symptom of DP, and im pretty sure it is, though i havent asked my gp if im honest... im waiting to see a neurologist coz i get balance problems, and sudden vertigo, blurry vision, prickly feelings in parts of my body, numb patches....etc... The arm thing is BY FAR the hardest to live with, i wake up in the night with it and it scares me so much that i find it hard to go back to sleep... i hate it!! If u hold something in ur hand (the hand that doesnt feel attached), does the object feel strange in any way? like ur hand is over/under sensitive?? I get this, and i read on a website that that too is a symptom of DP. I personally think ive got depersonalization disorder. all my symptoms (well, most of them) are linked to my DP, so if i could just get rid of that i know id be alot better... but it just wont shift. Ru on any meds?????? Sum1 told me meds can cause ongoing continual DP, (im on citalopram 20mg, and this is an SSRI, which apparently can cause DP and DR) do u get DR? I hate that too, sumtimes i look around and i dont know if im even part of the world or i ask questions in my head like 'wow this world looks weird, how did that get there?' and stupid things like that lol.
But no, i dont cope rly, i get very depressed about it... and ive gotta little 2 year old boy and a full time college course...i dont know how i do it...but i do...i have to :/
Hope ur ok?
the arm or arms that seem unattached also feel VERY VERY VERY weak when i get it. Like almost dead! I still have my strength but it just feels either VERY heavy or VERY light, and the weakness and clumsiness is unberable!! i hate dp, its deffo worst thing about anxiety coz it changes ur whole outlook on ur SELF AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. what could be worse than that?? I hate it :(
MidnightCalm
22-10-10, 21:04
the arm or arms that seem unattached also feel VERY VERY VERY weak when i get it. Like almost dead! I still have my strength but it just feels either VERY heavy or VERY light, and the weakness and clumsiness is unberable!! i hate dp, its deffo worst thing about anxiety coz it changes ur whole outlook on ur SELF AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. what could be worse than that?? I hate it :(
Everything you've said is just like me! :(
It's horrible.
Sometimes I'll just be sat here and my arms will just feel completely foreign and I will be able to see them but not feel them and then things like typing seems weird because I'm thinking to do it I can see it happening but I can't feel it, in a way it feels like I'm moving in slow motion.
I told my GP yesterday that I keep feeling like my arms aren't real, like they're numb and not mine and he didn't seem too concerned :/ how can he not be too concerned when it's MESSING up my life.
If that disappeared and the overall weird dp and dr things I get went away I'd probably live a much more active and enjoyable life! (if dp and dr is what I have) I guess it's hard to tell because there's no visable signs it's inside).
MidnightCalm
22-10-10, 21:05
I too get numb patches, I get tingling in my hands sometimes and in my back and face, I get blurry vision and smetimes it also flickers and sometimes I jsut feel weird in my body like it's not working right and I can't sit still because I feel like I'm dying, my eyes feel like they're not working properly, my arms do, my legs get weak alongside my arms, I feel like my breathing isn't controlled by me, like my heart is either going too fast or too slow :/
That last post is also exactly like what i go thru!!!!! i get every single one of those symptoms!!! the whole dont feel in control of my breathing and the eyes not working properly, my goddddd i have this everyday :( my body itself feels weird alllllll the time, its so hard to explain isnt it but i know exactly what u mean!!! i also get flickers and visual problems every day, i cant focus on sumthing for too long or it makes me feel kinda weird, and i have to constantly readjust my vision/eyes. Its so odd. Ive kinda come to the conclusion thats its one of three things:
* My Medication - Reason: its a side effect of SSRI's.
* Some brain disease, like MS - Reason: A symptom of this.
* Anxiety - Reason: Also a symptom of this!
So... what do i think?? im 90% sure its anxiety... it always is. I was suffering severe DP back in march CONSTANTLY. (with dizziness too). I had a ct brain scan and it was perfectly normal :/ something i did not expect if im honest. So really... I do think its anxiety. HOWEVER, i have stupidly googled and apparently CT's dont show diseases, they just show things like stroke/tumours... well im glad i know i dont have either of those two things....but now im pushing for an MRI.. coz this would show MS... but the thing is... i do have alot of symptoms of MS however I have read countless threads from people on MedHelp who atually suffer with MS and my goddd... the pain they go through... and numbness isnt just numbness like what we get, i mean, their numbness is like actual numbness where they physically cannot move their limb... and apparently when u have a brain disease like that then u would know about it. With anxiety symptoms, they arent as powerful (although we may think that they are, their no where near...) so i say lets just pull together and try our best to accept its a horrible symptom of anxiety and that its nothing serious and wont harm us. The more i got used to it back in March the better i got and the more it went away! The arm thing has only just started happening the last month or so though, so thats why im seeing a neuro, coz it freaks me out and i just wanna know for sure thats its not something going on in my spine or brain rly... im 90% sure theres not but i just neer that confiemation... oh and yes my heart is always going rly fast, or normal rate just pounding HARD out of my chest but not actually going fast... or its rlyyyy slow :( i hate it! i get ectopics but have had tonnes of ecg's all normal. Im getting a heart scan on tuesday, coz of family history. sure it will be all clear as expected but i just need to know for sure... anxiety is no end i hate it.... i had 8 sessions of cbt and totally relapsed after 2 months :( but it did work! and thats what i need to remember! its re-training ur brain! so hard but it is possible :) oh, and the thing i learnt is to FORCE YOURSELF to be more active! When i get what i call 'the arm thing' (lol!!!) I make myself get in my cart and drive... it soon passes, sometimes it doesnt... but i make myself do something ACTIVE. coz have u found that sitting around makes it escalate and just get worse??????? coz it does for me!!!! Uve gotta fight this, coz if u dont, it will never go away and i dont wanna spend my whole one chance at life in a state of anxiety, i want to beat this and i will, i done it before and il do it again! hope ur ok x
CharmaineMarie
09-03-11, 14:08
Hello everybody,
Wether you listen to an 18 year old that is up too you entirely. But i'll share my experience, a year ago i started experiencing panic attacks, and ever since i'd panic about everything, always thinking the worst is going to happen, always thinking something is wrong with me, heart attack, appendix, i have had repetitive visits to accident and emergency when their has been no evidence that anything is wrong with me. It was me looking on google everytime i got a pain anywhere in my body. Due to my build up of stress, which i didn't realise i had until now, 2 months ago i had a hugeee panic attack at night time, i was shaking, felt hot rushes in my head, could sit still, my body was trembling i was so frightened, i thought i was going to die, or should i rephrase that i beliefed i was going to die. I felt really unreal and like i was dream it was terribly weird i couldn't explain it.
I looked up my symptoms on the internet of depersonalization, it did nor put me at ease, i went to the doctors the next day told him how i felt he was telling me it was anxiety, i didn't believe him, for a month and half i didn't believe anything anyone said i felt so weird and unreal it was terryfying, no1 understood me. I seen a psychological mental health practitioner once a week 5 times for 30 minutes each session and i didn't think she was doing anything for me i was saying to her "how do i know this is even real" then i started getting all these negative thoughts which really made me feel worse, it was always what if this what if that.. Jennie the mental health practitioner helped me identify my thoughts, and my last visit with her was yesterday, my anxiety was really high when i first seen her, was at 27 points in 4 sessions it is now at 9, i have really improved. I am now on anti-depressants, citalopram 10mg, it has took me a month to get courage to even swallow one tablet i was scared of what they might make me like, but it was my anxiety taking over. I am having now CBT therapy which i hope willl make me better. I have become more in control of my thoughts but still awaiting for the eeffect froem the medication which has only 5 days since i started them. I still get really disturbing thoughts, like, what am i? Whats life all about? How did i get here? Am i human? vWhat is human? But then again all i think is, If i didn't have a panic/anxiety disorder would i be having these thoughts the answer is no... neither would your... ! Hope this helped.
wiskersonkittens
09-03-11, 19:13
Not to sound redundant here, but depersonalization IS a symptom of anxiety. It is a time when your mind is literally on overload and it "shuts down" temporarily as a defense mechanism. It is doing what it is supposed to do under the circumstances. What you end up doing is ruminating over your symptoms -- finding the solution to them, not accepting them. It is easier said than done, but the more you give these symptoms power, the worse they will be, and they will last longer. Next time you feel that way, take a moment and say to yourself, "This is just anxiety, I'm going to be ok, I will not give it power." I've had to start doing that or else I would literally go crazy. :) You are fine. Believe in yourself, not your thoughts. Hugs, Wiskers ~
jessicalittler79
04-08-11, 03:54
hun sorry u are feeling so bad ive felt like this bad on and off for 1 year and its awfull feeling i wish i could help u get passed it :( as i havent found a way out yet myself but i do know that it will pass when u stop worrieing over and and get plenty of sleep no sleep with make it 100000 times worse hun take care i hope u feel better soon
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