If you have recurring and STRONG deja-vu symptoms........ you might have temporal lobe epilepsy. talk to your doctor. I struggled for 8 years with this while being told they were panic attacks.
seriously DEJA VU sufferers (not your common deja vu) talk to your doctor. you might have epilepsy. they are called simple partial and complex partial seizures
You're exactly right! It took 18 - 50 years for my diagnosis of simple & complex partial seizures. It wasn't until I began having grand mal that I was diagnosed. I thought I had been having anxiety/panic attacks all those years. Wish I had found a site like this years ago........
'18 - 20' YEARS, not '18-50' years!~
You may be right, but epilepsy doesn't seem like the right fit to me, at least as it's described on websites I've visited. The descriptions of simple partial seizures don't really match many of the physical symptoms accompanying deja-vu described here. I responded immediately to what I read in this thread, on the epilepsy websites, it was more like.."eh."
I didn't find anything that matched my description of what was going on with me, and especially the intense feelings that went along with the deja-vu until I found this site (!).......and that was after my diagnosis. My neurologist even missed my description of what I was going through unti lthe grand mals began........then, hind sight was 20/20. I've learned that many, many things/symptoms we all have with different medical issues don't end up being included on the medical sites, and that's a shame because we could find out whats gong on with our health much quicker I believe. I wish you much luck and wisdom for your doctors. I haven't had any seizures from my very first dose of medication. : )
It is almost scary how similar everyone's story is to mine... When I was around 8 years old (I'm 21 now) I was diagnosed with minor epilepsy and—through multiple EEGs, MRIs, and wearing electrodes on my head for a week—they traced it to the source: artificial food coloring. I thought there were a few things that triggered my "episodes" (there were, but me thinking that it was going to happen actually caused most of them to elevate into a very uncomfortable feeling) but thinking back on it, they all seemed to happen right after I ate or drank something high in artificial food coloring. (Check your labels before you eat, you'll be surprised at how many foods have more than 3 types of artificial colors) When a seizure would start, my face would flush red and get "blotchy" as my mom used to say, but kind of pale too. I had the same feeling that everyone else describes—this feeling that was so similar to deja vu but the only way I could ever explain it at the time was "I feel like I'm not here." It felt like an out of body experience, like I was looking down on the situation but my vision was still from where I stood. I also felt a very similar feeling of "switching between worlds" the first 3 or so times I smoked marijuana (I was just really high lol, but this is the best way I can describe it to people). I mention this because the thing that I "thought" triggered the seizures (thought so hard that I actually, nervously, made them happen) was walking through door ways. I dont know if there are any spiritual connections there but I would like to believe there are haha :-)
But seriously, I highly suggest everyone talk to a doctor about your personal condition as soon as possible, and if your PCP doesn't know the answer go to a specialist. It might be expensive but it's comforting, especially when paired with anxiety, to know exactly what is going on in your brain. I grew out of my condition when I was in my teens and started eating artificial food coloring again and everything was fine, except I remember having a few—very memorable, like I could almost draw the scene of where it happened again— but scarce episodes my junior year of high school.
I've been drinking occasionally and smoking weed almost every day since I was 14 and nothing has happened to me due to either, other than slight, unproblematic paranoia and sometimes anxiety that happens to almost everyone at some point while high. When I was 18 I started rolling, only ate 1 roll but have eaten a great deal of molly over the course of shows and festivals the past few years, tried Salvia in high school, tripped on L too many times I stopped counting, tried mushrooms 2 times (both times weren't enjoyable), opiates/opium (never heroin), and have accidentally taken mescaline and another time, 2ci, which I would never wish upon my worst enemy. The first time I tried mushrooms was 2 or 3 years ago.. We drank somewhat weak tea and the experience wasn't too bad, everyone just fell asleep which is unusual to happen after taking a hallucinogen. The second time, I saw the most complete, structured visuals I've ever seen in a trip.. like they were flying through the air toward me, with a perspective like Dali paintings. When I got up to go to the kitchen everything got really bright and I lost control of my physical body but I remember thinking for a couple seconds "why can't I lift my hand?" I fell stiff backwards (luckily my friend caught me) and I was "out of it" for a good couple minutes.
This, and another time when I passed out 3 times in a row (I was very dehydrated, high/burnt out, and hadn't eaten much) at Umass's hempfest, really scared me because of the close similarities to my previous seizures. Currently I've cut down a lot on my artificial food coloring, have been following a more aryuvedic way of eating, and have been meditating and practicing yoga which have all helped my overall mental/emotional/anxious states. Just not doing those drugs that triggered those weird episodes (I felt like my body/mind was "resetting") also helps a great deal, as you could imagine haha. I didn't feel mentally "right" for a good few months after the horrifying 2ci trip that I and all my friends had but I found that meditation and spiritual healing helped a lot to alleviate any overwhelming feelings of anxiety or the especially frightening feeling that I was still tripping weeks after taking the drug. These feelings are usually just traces of feelings from the drug/experiences you had while on the drug (I don't know this scientifically but I've felt it), and they can be truly traumatizing. This holds true for seizures too, even if they aren't the Grand Mal ones, they make an impact on you physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Basically, my main advice is the kind I need to take myself too: seek answers from a specialist to fully know the state of your brain. Yoga or other relaxation methods or therapies may help you as much as they've helped me, but even I feel that my brain has undergone actual damage through the seizures and experimental drug use that only a doctor could decipher...
I hope any this helps at least one person,
I wish good luck and send good vibes to you all.
I am Guest from 3-26-2013! I have never noticed that they were triggered by stress or emotional concern - they seem to occur at the most random times! I saw earlier in a post that some experienced them due to stress, even in times when they didn't consider themselves stressed in the moment, so it could still be true! I would agree that they seem to be a revisit - maybe flashback isn't the best terminology, BUT it does seem to be like revisiting a dream I've had before but I am completely awake and cognizant! It is strange how you mentioned that these revisits seem to be more meaningful that just empty mental processing. I have wondered too if the images or revisits have meaning! I am also a creative, artsy type! Even though I am an extrovert, I do often tend to live in my head at least when I am trying to process things!
1.WE ARE NOT CRAZY
2.MOST OF US HAVE ANXIETY
3.WE ARE SMART PEARSON
4.DREAM FLASHBACKS IS (I THINK) ANXIETY RELATED
5. IF YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE GOING CRAZY, YOU ARE NOT!
6. YOU"LL BE FINE
7.I HAVE THIS THING FOR 7 YEARS
8. SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH
9.NICE TO MEET YOU MY FRIEND...
Creative/Sensitive/processor constantly running/anxious...
I'm real glad I'm not the only one. I just experienced it 3 times today. I felt very anxious and I felt like I was about to vomit. I also had another attack while typing this reply. Everything did happen before noon. Glad I'm not the only person who's experiencing this. It also seems like it involves Deja Vu.
Deja vu, feeling sick, can't describe what it is you have 'seen' feeling like passing out and getting hot sweats??
I went to see a doctor and then a consultant then had MRI, EEG and ECG tests which came back negative, which meant that there was nothing malicious (tumors etc)
Therefore diagnosed with petit Mal seizures (epilepsy) and have been on medication now for 6 months and they have stopped for the last 3 months once the medication got in my system. Felt quite unwell for the first weeks of medication but worth it now and no side effects 6 months on - Go and see a doctore and tell them you think it is Petit Mal seizures
Well this is quite a relief... I guess!! :-) At least knowing I'm not alone with these strange, yet sometimes euphoric episodes.I've always found them really difficult to describe, but this forum has really helped me understand. Almost every reply describes what I have felt at some time or other from my episodes. Mine are very random, I could have a few in the space of a few weeks, then nothing for months and they always seem to occur when I'm sat focused or relaxed, never stood up and never outside.
I never get any warning signs, they usually just take me by surprise, though occasionally I do seem to get short bursts where it feels like one is about to trigger, but never does. Now, most replies in this thread mention stress or anxiety and I am quite an anxious person generally, so that kind of adds up.
As far as I can remember, I started these episodes in my late 20's. They where very mild and almost euphoric. I never got that many, to the point where just went away and I forgot about them. They seemed to start again around my mid 30's and I was getting them more frequently and stronger. This time they would leave me with nausea and confusion throughout the rest of the day, almost like a feeling of un-happiness. During these episodes I was also getting a feeling of strong anxiety, I would just stop and stare, knowing that I could move and snap myself out of it, but something didn't want me to. There would be a very strong feeling of familiarity; a feeling that my head was nodding in agreement to something. I would get them at work or at home, and they always felt the same even though the environments where different.
I'm now 42 and my last episode was early last year, quite strong, usual episode really. I don't really get that stressed, but like I said I am quite an anxious person.
Do you remember images from dreams for a few swconds that are familiar, than forget everything???
I used to have these déjà vu's as a child all the way up to my early 20's. It always started with a very uncomfortable lightheaded feeling that made me scared as I knew that I would get a déjà vu. It's like you are in a dream and you have been in this exact same place same time same moment, just really strange! Then I would get very nauseous and a bit disoriented. I remember a time that I was like 11 or so and was biking on the bike path next to a busy street and I felt this totally unexpected déjà vu coming up and it made me so nauseous that I vomited while biking. These déjà vu attacks always happen very unexpected and like the most here are very hard and kind of weird to describe. I haven't had any for the last 15 years or so and I'm so happy with it. I always thought that I was the only one with this, but it seems to be apparently common.