Reoccurring unexplained loss of consciousness

Posted by sdneb44 @sdneb44, Oct 28, 2019

I am not sure that this is the group to post on but am at a loss and unsure where to start. I apologize up front for the length of this post as well as jumping around.
Two years ago,I was sitting at a baseball stadium outside when I started to feel strange and then had the tunnel darkness start in my peripheral vision. I don't remember anything then until there was a woman standing in front of me talking to me. I couldn't hear her at first, just see her. It was reported that I just slumped over in my chair, my eyes were open and moving, but I was not responding. Once I could hear her, I stood up and tried to leave. I immediately felt weak and nauseous. A wheelchair was brought to where I was and I was taken to the medical office. The medical staff at the field began the questions and I couldn't remember important details such as how old I was, medications I take(I took one for 18 years prior and couldn't remember), etc. Paramedics arrived to assess. I began to vomit and feel shaky and very unsteady. At the field they took my blood sugar, pulse, and blood pressure. Everything was good but my pressure was up a bit. I was taken to an acute care clinic where I was still vomiting and too incoherent for them to see so they sent me to the ER. At the ER they did the stroke test which was difficult for me but I could do it. I really had to think about it. The doctor accused me of faking how difficult it was. I had a CT scan done with everything looking normal. He diagnosed me with an anxiety attack, which the paramedics had diagnosed me with at the park. He instructed me to follow up with my own doctor. I began taking anti-anxiety meds, and 1 month later while sitting at my desk after finishing my lunch, I felt the same feeling right before losing consciousness the first time so looked at my coworker and try to ask for help. The same thing happened, my head was down on my arms, my eyes were open and moving but I was not there. I was taken by ambulance to the ER where I was had an EKG done, blood work, monitoring, and then fitted with a heart monitor for 72 hours. Nothing showed up on the heart monitor. My PA then ordered a series of tests including an MRI, EEG, tilt test, and EMG. I began seeing a neurologist who ordered more tests. All came back fine. I saw a neuropsychologist who ran tests on me as well that came back that I was fine. I had a couple of different episodes after where I felt like I had had a spell but hadn't lost consciousness and my blood pressure went very high. I was put on blood pressure medication. All test results showed that I was healthy. With doctors thinking it was anxiety/stress, I chose to change jobs at the end of that year. I gave up caffeine, carbonated drinks, changed my diet, and began exercising more consistently, saw a therapist to work through childhood trauma, and prioritized myself in my life. Thirteen months after the previous "spell", I was sitting at my desk at the end of the day and I started to feel what I have come to know as an aura again. I tried to talk to my coworker but couldn't say anything, and my head went down on my desk. The paramedics were called but I did not go with them. That spell felt as though I had to fight hard to come out of it and was significantly more scary, for lack of a more medical term. After that, I was taken off of the blood pressure meds and anti-anxiety meds as they seemed to be treating after symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. I saw a cardiologist who referred me to a neurologist specializing in seizures interestingly enough. The cardiologist noted that on one of my MRI scans there was an area that was showing slowed activity. That neurologist reluctantly suggested I begin seizure medication but my regular neurologist overruled and said that there wasn't enough to justify my taking that medication. The next tests that were ordered were two sleep studies, one in my home and one in a facility. The company that does the ones in my home closed and so were not able to administer the test. The one in a facility, tey wanted $1400 up front to run the test and we could not afford to pay so haven't had that test done. I saw an endocrinologist as well, and my thyroid levels were checked and adjusted. I was just cleared last week from seeing the endocrinologist again for another year. My blood pressure was good, heart rate was good. I have lost weight. I completed a half marathon this past spring and was readying myself for another in November. A little over a year since the last one, and I had a fourth spell 4 days ago. Once again, I had been moving around doing my job and came back to my desk to send a quick email and felt the aura. Thinking it might help if I moved again, I stood up and started to walk. Realizing that it wasn't going to help, I told my coworker that I was going to pass out and to help me. I then sat down and my head laid down on my arms. She reported that all color drained from my face and my skin looked yellowish. She thought I had passed away. I had been feeling the best I have felt in years health-wise, mentally, and emotionally when this spell occurred. The following things have happened each time: It feels like picture in picture as I feel it coming on - like I am in the present but there is some sort of activity, sound, movement that is going on at the same time. While in the spell, there is activity, thoughts, dreams, what have you, going on in my head, but i am not in my surroundings. Once I regain consciousness, I am unaware of where I am, confused, struggle to find my words, nauseous, and upset. After the first spell when I couldn't remember things, I feel as though I consciously try to remember things and do somewhat better, but still struggle with important information when being asked. Initially, I can sit upright and answer questions but within a minute or so, I am weak, shaky, and feel very sleepy. I will either vomit or dry heave. I struggle with my words and staying awake. Once I have been settled in and left alone, I sleep hard for 45 minutes or an hour. It takes me a couple of days to fully regain my strength,often sleeping the entire day after an event. I am also in a brain fog for at least 24-36 hours struggling to find my words and understand what people are saying to me. The time immediately after a spell I can remember faces of people, and how I felt about what they were saying but only remember bits of what was said. Still today, I can only remember 3 or 4 things said to me four days ago, but can't remember anything else. In this process, I have had people that were with me at the time write up their recollection of what happened as soon after as possible. Many report seeing the same things. They don't last a long time, 30 seconds to a minute and a half. An addition to this episode that wasn't noted previously is that throughout the day of this most recent spell, I had great difficulty hanging onto things. I kept dropping things even though I had a good hold of them. I am an educated professional and not wanting to take more meds and I hate missing work. I may be grasping at straws in trying to think of any detail that may be important. II am struggling to find a path to answers so I thought that maybe someone on this site could help me. Thank you for reading!

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Lisa, I had another neurologist appointment two weeks ago and they are calling them non-epileptic events. He doesn't think that I need to go on any medication at this time and we will continue to let the loop recorder gather information. I have been feeling good, which is the case for most of the year and then I have an event and things are in turmoil for a month or two and then I am fine again. We will see. Thank you, all, for all of your kindness, suggestions, and help. I appreciate having this forum to reach out.

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Our daughter started having this two years ago and only at nights sounds like what you get as well ..at least yours is infrequent she would have this every two months ..we do feel it was stress related as we discovered she was harboring emotions and not sharing. Then she changed her lifestyle, sleep habits and dealt with emotions and now less frequent ...not on medication and we are waiting for a video EEG at the moment where she will be hooked for 3-4 days to try to catch the seizure and get the data.. very similar she would get an Aura and twitch before seizing.
I hope you get answers as well but I won't put her on meds until we are certain, we are under the care of a neurologist and he agrees. We videotape her episodes so he can analyze patterns and he is uncertain if it is epilepsy still

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