Simple Parital Seizures with a speech/hearing focus

Hi there.

This is my first post, but having read the supportive and wise help on this forum thought I'd tell you my situation.

I have simple partial siezures that are speech-related. I get tongue-tied, frustratingly so, and if I am listening to someone or to the TV, all I hear is meaningless syllables. I say meaningless, but what I mean is that it sounds meaningless but feels like it has its own meaning. In other words, it's like I'm hearing a different language that I partially understand. The sounds i hear are also the ones i want to say, and if I'm on my own I do say them just to hear myself, and boy it's ridiculous!! Sometimes even noises sound like semi-meaningful speech patterns, as though a running tap was trying to talk to me. Episodes usually last from between 10-20 seconds, but sometimes there can be several in a row.

I'm a teacher, and because the intensity and frequency of these SPSs has increased, I'm off work for the time being.

I tried keppra last year, (am on 450mg of phenytoin normally) and while it seemed to control the siezures, I got soooooo tired and weary I stopped after about 6 weeks. Am now wondering whether I should give it another go but pereservere with it for longer. Will be discussing this with my consultant soon.

If anyone has similar symptoms I'd be pleased to hear from you. It's so hard trying to describe what happens to people who haven't 'been there'.

Thanks.

Hi Ducky and thanks for replying,

Came off Keppra gradually, but have had a few grand-mals over the last few months. tbh though, I find the simple partials the most difficult, as they interfere with conversations, work and even relaxing - like watching a movie or whatever. When I came off the keppra I thought I'd just try and live with the parital siezures but lately as I say they've been more intense and more frequent. My own doctor today has sent a fax to the neuro dept at the hospital saying that I need to be seen and have my medication reviewed. He said there are long term problems associated with phenytoin, which I've been on for years now, so I'm a bit in limbo at the moment. By the way, i'm in the UK, and my nearest hospital's neuro clinic is underfunded and waiting times are ridiculous, so I'm hoping my doc will make a good case for me. (yeah I know it's a crazy situation).

Andy193,

I don't know if this will help you but this is my experience, I had a similar situation happen to me ~ usually brought on by stress,
I've had epilepsy since 1979, controlled by meds.
I get a form of petit mal seizures that my Dr. calls "speech arrest". It only lasts a few seconds, I am aware of what is going on around me but I can't respond.

When I try to talk, my speech is slurred (more than usual).
Most people have no problem speaking but I have to concentrate to form every word. (all the time but twice as hard during a speech arrest).
Everybody thinks I'm stoned all the time.

Boy, I didn't realize that we take our speech for granted so much.

Randy (Ontario) <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Hi Andy,

I've had one seizure in 23 years. At the time (and every year after) my EEG's have shown epilectic activity in the lower left tempral lobe so as per the Ministry of Transportation, in order to keep my drivers licence, I had to be medicated and seizure free as sworn statement from my neurologist.
I'm currently on Dilantin 325mg
Pheonobarb 150mg

The Doctor says it's like an insurance policy, I have a 50/50 chance of having another gran-mal seizure. I didn't want to take the chance of having an accident and injuring myself or others.

My first attack was Oct/1979 ~ my next seizure was Dec,/2002, then Oct/2004. I take meds daily, same dosage of meds now as day one.

Randy

Hi Ginny,

Sorry to hear about your symptoms and issues re meds. Thanks for the advice re researching medication. Will bear this in mind. The school I teach in are very understanding and I'm being given time off to re-adjust to whatever medication I'm put on. Thanks again for reply.

Take care,
Andy

Hi all!

   This is my first time here & my first post.   I was amazed to find several people experiencing the same speach-related siezure activities.   I can relate to all here and greatly appreciate HealingWell giving us the opportunity to discuss and hopefully help all our situations.

   Most of my siezure activities have been of the grand-mal type (for which I am taking medication for), but have been experiencing more and more speach related episodes.   I have/am experiencing episodes much like Ginny, Andy193, and RanMan.   Lots of time lately, when I have these speach/hearing related episodes, I might see something and I will "hear" my brain processing what I see, and then "hear" my brain telling me what the item is.   Like Andy193, conversations and voices are like listening to someone speaking a language nobody can understand.   Most of these episodes last one to three minutes or so with varying degrees of intensity.   I can relate most of this to stress situations (mostly work - small wonder huh lol).

   I use to have deja-vue like episodes once in a while, but havent had one for about two years now.   I also experience tremors occosionally (again stress related) that were attributed to too high Dilantin level.   My last medication adjustment was for this and has helped, but I now have more of the hearing/speach episodes.

   My current medication dosage consists of 560mg. of Dilantin and 200mg. of Keppra daily.   I try to keep dosages as close to 12hrs apart as I can, but with my job and daily activities, sometimes take dosages as much as 3-4 hours past when i should.   I can usually relate any siezure activities to irregular (and sometimes missed) dosage times.

   One question I have centers around a TV show I saw recently concerning a child who experienced frequent and violent grand mal siezures.   He was put on a strict diet which reduced his siezures and allows him to lead a pretty much normal life.   Does anyone know of this diet and will it work for adults?

Thanks, and hope to hear from you soon!

Rick 

Hi RanMan
Thanks for the Keto diet information. I will research this more and might see if it helps.

Hi there,

 

This is my first time here. I found this thread on Google and it has given me a bit of comfort. I have had a range of symptoms for about 7 years now. I tried to talk to my parents when the symptoms first started happening, (i was in highschool at the time) but because I was a kid who lied to get out of homework, they just took is as I was trying to get attention and after a few weeks of them giving me crap I stopped talking about it.

            I am now married and my husband and I have started to talk about children. It was nerve racking after so many years of silence to talk about it (my husband didn’t know till about a month ago) but I went to my new doctor and though no one should get pregnant if they think something is wrong… I wish I didn’t ask.

            My symptoms include:

• “loss” of hearing. I don’t really loose hearing, I understand the person is saying something to me but I have NO idea what the heck they are saying. I hear the sound as mumbles, I understand that something is being said but I can’t figure out what.

• Speech difficulties, I stutter or just can’t speak. I have to sit and wait for a few seconds to try again. Most of the time when that happens I feel like my head is going faster then my mouth.

• Memory loss, that was the first symptom I noticed. There are just chunks of time I just don’t remember. When I “wake up” I feel slightly dizzy but in a non dizzy way – if that makes any sense.  

• My balance sucks

• I get dizzy while sitting down

• I have weird headaches along with regular ones (not at the same time). It feels like tingles but not. When it happens I feel like the only way to make it stop would be to dig my fingers into my head, grab my brain and throw it across the room and smash it. It’s a very violent feeling, I don’t like it.

• My forehead fell asleep a few weeks ago. Like when your foot or leg does, but it was my forehead – scary and not pleasant

• My feet and index fingers move on their own. Sometimes my shoulders too

I don’t think it is just a seizer disorder. Though my general practitioner won’t give me specifics, he scheduled an MRI. It’s this Thursday and I am freaking out. I saw an ENT, because at the time I didn’t know they memory loss and the hearing issues may actually be connected. He said I might have a seizer disorder but if my general practitioner ordered an MRI then he is looking for a brain tumour. Waiting for tests and results is one of the worst things in the world. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Did you doctor think the worst but then it was only a seizer disorder? I am just hoping that all my years of waiting didn’t screw me over in the end.

i have that same problem too. Mostly when i am on the first few days of my period, or about 2 weeks before i get my period. Actually it just happened to me while i was typing this, lol. It usuallly happens when i am reading or listening intently. I can usually stop it within 5-10 seconds. And i have discovered that if i turn the noise off and concentrate on a sentence if i am reading and just read it over and over i can get out of it. Or if i am talkign to someone and i feel it coming on (this is stupid, i know go ahead and laugh!) i start reciting the pledge of alleginace in my head. Or outloud if i am like on the phone, i just cover the mouthpiece and say it! I think its because it forces my brain to concentrate it clears me up!

But its so annoying cause if i dont catch it sometimes i will type something that is totally crazy, or i will say something that makes NO sense at all, but to me makes perfect sense.
Its horribly annoying and i tried to tell my dr about it but cant explain it that well, so i just deal with it. It doesnt affect my motor skills or ability to do anything like that, so i dont worry too much about it.