Re: dizzy, weak, abdominal sensations

Posted By CCF Neurosurgery MD/gm on May 10, 1998 at 22:50:50:

In Reply to: dizzy, weak, abdominal sensations posted by Victoria on May 09, 1998 at 22:05:22:






  Every month for the past few years, I've been awakening a couple times
a month with a strange sensation in my upper abdomen/epigastric region.
It's a strange quivering and sometimes a sinking sensation that makes me
feel very strange/nervous and I feel slightly short of breath; however,
just recently my symptoms have progressed to something much worse and
are happening almost nightly.  
  
  I now awaken soaked in cold sweats, nauseated like I've never been
nauseated in my life, and when I try to stand to go to the restroom, I feel so dizzy that I actually crawl to the bathroom, where I feel as though I need to vomit; however, I never vomit and the symptoms go away after a couple of minutes.  Also, the other night, I awakened with that sinking feeling, it felt so weird that I screamed and when my roommate got to my bedroom, I was jerking uncontrollably, like I'd lost all muscle control, on my bed; however, I never lost conciousness.  
  
  I called an ambulance and went to the ER, my blood pressure was elevated; it's normally very low 100/70, 90/60, etc., but it was
135/105, but all other tests were normal, EKG and labs, and my BP was down by the time I left the ER.  I kept thinking these episodes of awakening had something to do with my heart, but now I'm thinking maybe I'm having seizures.  Also, the other day when I was with my friends, I started getting that crazy feeling in my stomach, and then I felt so weak and nauseated that I was doing everything in slow motion, felt like I just wanted to lie in the floor and die, and my friends said my eyes were glassy and I looked quite pale and sickly.  I felt like my whole face was drooping and too sick to even move.  It finally passed and then I went to sleep.  Can someone tell me if this sounds like some kind of seizure?  
  Thank you,
  Victoria

Dear Victoria:
What you describe could certainly be seizure activity and would be known
as partial complex seizure activity. The abdominal sensations that you are
having as well as some of the other symptoms can be associated with this.
There could be other causes to your problems but at this point I would
recommend that you see a neurologist for your problem. You will most
likely need to undergo an MRI and an EEG to define this problem better.
Good Luck!