Intense Deja Vu, followed by lightheadedness and strange feeling

I know what you mean about not being able to control the thoughts. I'll feel one coming on and I say to myself "No, no, no...." and I try so hard to control the next thought and NOT have the memory clip or deja vu thing happen....but I can't make it stop. I hate it when it happens. It will last 3 days sometimes with each day getting more intense.

I’ve had th same thing on and off for years, what is it?

I’ve experienced the same as you-it’s horrible. Did you ever find out what it was?

I always say the same “oh, no, no” when it happens, too. I dread the feeling that follows.

I'm 16 and I have the same issue.
When it happens to me, I have the Deja Vu (usually happens when I'm relaxed, in bed, almost asleep), The Deja Vu is usually of a dream that I have had, as if I'm slipping into a dream but then come out of it. It gets hard to breath, probably because of panic since it's a strange Deja Vu feeling, my body goes numb, and sometimes tingly, I get lightheaded and nauseous, I also usually zone out. It only lasts for about 1 to 2 minutes, and afterwards I can never remember what my Deja Vu was.
This sounds exactly like some sort of seizure, more likely Temporal Lobe Epilepsy... I was tested for epilepsy and the results came back showing nothing at all! I also used to have anxiety but because I'm literally never doing anything but laying down when it happens, I find it unlikely to be a panic attack, (I've had panic attacks before, I used to have really bad anxiety, the two are very different). And I'm not stressed much at all, apart from normal things like school but even then I don't see how me falling asleep can trigger this uncomfortable feeling if that was the cause...
Even though I don't get it often I just want to know what causes it and what it is. I've had it for about a year now and have experienced it about 20 to 30 times.
What makes it even more weird is the fact that I have experienced Deja Vu many times throughout my life and have only recently had these other side effects. Even while I've had these weird ones, occasionally I'll have a normal "I feel like I've done this or seen this before" with no physical reaction.
If all the symptoms for epilepsy are there, but it's not that, then I have no idea if I'll ever know... I hate it so much.
I just googled (for about the 50th time) the symptoms because as I was just falling asleep ten minutes ago, I got it.
I've never personally met anyone else with these symptoms and always feel so crazy when explaining to to someone, especially because they never understand; even my doctors don't understand.

Yes!! Finally someone who has mentioned the breathing thing! I feel like I can almost control how long it lasts. Sometimes I enjoy having them...as weird as that sounds.

hope this post helps someone ! My husband gets these strong dejavu feelings which are followed by a strong bout of nausea. His mother had them as well. Their doctor told them it was a drop in blood pressure. Things such as painkillers, alcohol, hot baths can thin your blood and trigger a blood pressure drop. This in turn causes the dejavu and nausea feelings. It may not be everyone's problem but probably most ! Keeping salty snacks handy can help stabilize these attacks.

hope this post helps someone ! My husband gets these strong dejavu feelings which are followed by a strong bout of nausea. His mother had them as well. Their doctor told them it was a drop in blood pressure. Things such as painkillers, alcohol, hot baths can thin your blood and trigger a blood pressure drop. This in turn causes the dejavu and nausea feelings. It may not be everyone's problem but probably most ! Keeping salty snacks handy can help stabilize these attacks.

I get this, and my doctor told me it is a form of migraine and prescribed Sumatriptan. I take one at the onset of symptoms, and another two hours later.

P.S. Look up things that are migraine triggers, and try to figure out from experience what does it for you. For me the strongest triggers are nitrates/nitrites, alcohol, and having come through a period of stress, when the stress is over, I get the actual painful migraine, with nausea nothing can stop but I.V. Zofran at the hospital.

Wow I thought I was the only person that had this and it looks like other people have been experiencing it as well! I call it one of my spells just l like you except I call it a Nauseous spell because I get very nauseous along with a headache and déjà vu of the same thing every time! I see and hear the same thing like a dream or something I have had before but I don’t know where it came from. I’ve been trying to do some research and I found this article. I don’t know if somethings going on in my brain but I deathly think I should get it looked at since it’s been going on for five years now.

I’m 37 and this is what happens to me from time to time. Been going on for five years now along with severe nausea with the headache and déjà vu spell that is always the same. Goes away in a couple of minutes but the headache seems to linger a little longer as it gets weaker overtime. I can go for weeks without having one or a couple of days without having one. It’s like an episode or something. I’m glad I’m not the only one in the world this experience is this but it is very hard to describe and now you and others have shined a light on it for me thank you

I'm 47 and have had these things since my late teens. I am lucky in that they only last a few seconds and that I seem to be able to control it -I have never passed out from it or lost control. It was at its worst in my late teens to early 20s when I would have to lie down and would almost vomit. I can have 6 bouts in 1 night or nothing for many months, usually the latter.

In my case I get a feeling of dislocation, the smell of what I would describe as burning plastic, nausea and "aura" where I get images that I am certain (at the time) are from my dreams, the past or are from the future. Normally this is is accompanied by a feeling of dread or foreboding.

I believe it to be the TLE form of epilepsy. The symptoms match, epilepsy runs strong in my family (my brother, a 1st cousin and a 2nd cousin) and I have had 1 Grand Mal and 1 Petit Mal seizure in my life (brought on by other things and for the most part without the symptoms which we are discussing). While these episodes can occur at any time they are more likely to occur when I am fatigued, have long term stress or both. The symptoms are much weaker than they were when I was young.

If someone has this at the same level I do then my advice is don't worry about it too much, from the other posts many doctors leap to the wrong (and easiest) conclusions and this type of epilepsy at this level seems to be undetectable unless you are lucky and have one while being scanned. If you do not lose control and its only for a few seconds then why get yourself put on a bunch of drugs if they can analyze it at all?

If you are of a religious bent I find that a few prayers help me. If you aren't so lucky (hah!) then try to do something quick that reassures you......for all I know since it is a brain thing activating that part of our mind may ease the episode in the temporal lobe and end it.

My daughter started having deja vu episodes at the age of six, mixed with other symptoms like dizziness, auras-hearing muffled voices, tunnel vision, fear, feeling like she was remembering a dream etc. She was diagnosed with everything from low blood sugar to asthma, migraines, silent migraines, anxiety attacks and finally focal seizures. But at 16 they decided the episodes had changed and could not be epilepsy after all and discharged her from the practice, a pediatric epilepsy and migraine center. Before she was discharged a neuro-psychologist did extensive testing and determined that the episodes were NOT panic attacks but a newly discovered and little understood neurological condition, with no name, where the brain short circuits, "like a computer with too many tabs open that crashes", in the doctors exact words. The brain becomes over stimulated and crashes, leaving the person in a cognitive brain fog with what can be a slow recovery to full function. Like I said, her treating doctor discharged us soon after because it did not fit his practice standards. I think the real issue is doctors that do not want an unsolvable case on their records. Now at 17 she is being really crippled by these episodes. Sudden deja vu, overwhelming since of fear that comes on very suddenly. Feeling dizzy and like she will pass out. Auras of sounds, smelling things that are not there, visual (double vision), a chemical taste, Nausea or cramps, hiccups, racing heart. The fear ends suddenly at about 60 seconds or a little longer. When I say suddenly ends I mean instantly gone. She will be saying "I am so afraid, so afraid" snap "Oh, the fear is completely gone now". I have had panic attacks and I have never had the fear just end suddenly. The rest of the symptoms do not go away quickly though. Afterwards she is totally exhausted. Weak feeling. Sometimes she can't speak well or find the words needed for communication. She becomes aphasic at times. When we ask her about it later she describes it as information suddenly not being able to enter her brain, like a traffic jam. Music, TV, reading, someone speaking to her, they all jam up and make no sense to her. She can't remember many details of what happened during the episodes. The brain fog can last from hours to days or weeks. She loves to study and research, but these episodes shut her down. I have gone rounds with her former neurologist trying to get a referral or help. I have called the neuro psychologist and asked repeatedly for a referral also. They simply do not know what to do with it or where to send her.

I am really sorry to hear what your daughter is going through, but a lot of these symptoms sound like mine. I am working full time and studying, but since these episodes started for me around 6 months ago I am having real trouble getting my studies done. This morning I had at least three of the 'episodes' only lasting about a minute. The last one I wrapped myself in a blanket and sat on the floor crying. My fear can be actual fear, or just what I can only describe as weakness ... almost depression for those 60-120 seconds, then gone. It is debilitating and I don't feel like my strong self anymore, and I don't know what to do. It is adversely effecting my work, my studies, my children and family and my partner and I don't know where to turn or what to do next to help.