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Generalized seizure without losing consciousness possible?

Forgive if this is a repeat post, but I'm not sure if my first one went through. There was a case (granted about 9 years ago, but it's going to be bugging me until I figure out what happened) Is there such a thing does anyone know, as someone freezing up and not being able to move as an after effect of a seizure -whether it progresses to unconsciousness or not? Even after 9 years I'm of course hesitant to mention it to an M.D.: I was driving along when I started to get light headed, I pulled over in a parking lot and started having a small seizure (an aura without losing consciousness). After it stopped and I felt better, I started home (yes, I know what everyone is thinking, but I've done it many times before. I always wait 'til I feel 100% again, which with me only takes a few minutes. I've had these since I was a month old, so I know how they tick.) Suddenly I just couldn't move. I KNOW I was NOT having another seizure (to make a long explaination short), but I just couldn't steer or brake or anything, but I could see hear and feel everything perfectly fine, just as I am right now. There apparently was a brief few seconds where I can't to this day for the life of me remember (momentary amnesia?) because the report said I "drove through the backyards of houses and in between 2 houses to get back on the road". I then like the flip of a light switch remember going back the other way down the road still unable to move at all, but still seeing and hearing everything just like now until.....well, I was screaming in fear as I seen a tree coming towards me but still couldn't understand why I couldn't just hit the brake or turn the wheel. After a seizure I'm like total confused and afraid of everything around me until I am fully back into it. It takes me awhile to be able to form words again and to balance again -NONE of which happened afterwards, so again I KNOW I didn't have another seizure. But this has been bugging me ever since....has anyone else ever experienced either of these? This kind of thing NEVER happened before and NEVER since. Does it make sense that I could have a new kind of seizure out of the blue after 30 years and then never have it again?
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Avatar universal
Yes, you can have a seizure and NOT lose consciousness or even awareness of where you are and what you are doing.  It is called partial complex epilepsy, and yes, it can progress to grand mal.

A lot of people think that because they don't lose consciousness or do the classic epilepsy thing it can't be a seizure.  Karen Armstrong in her book "The Spiral Staircase" has an excellent description of what living with this type of epilepsy is like.  Neither she nor the nuns around her (she was in a convent) considered the possibility that her strange spells could have a neurological origin.  It was not until years later after she had left the convent that she went to a neurologist and was diagnosed.

I mention this because my first reaction when I started reading "The Spiral Staircase" was--girl, go to a neurologist.  I have temporal lobe epilepsy which now appears to be under control as I haven't had a seizure for years, and my symptoms were very much like the ones she described.  I would go into a dreamy, fuzzy state in which I also felt like I was being pulled out of my body.  At the same time I was perfectly capable of carrying on normal conversations and tasks.  If anyone noticed anything odd, they didn't say.  I found that I was able to stop the pulling out process by focusing intently on my surroundings and saying to myself, No, this is not going to happen.  Like Karen Armstrong, I was in denial/ignorance of what was going on in my brain, and it was not until I wound up in the emergency ward after a major grand mal seizure that I was diagnosed and put on Dilantin.

So yes, I concur, you should get this checked out.
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1098760 tn?1266447897

You were having a seizure.

If Ive Learned Anything about The nature of seizures its that they can Suddenly Change. They are in essence Unpredictable. Mine went one way, then another that happened only once, then yet another direction, and a few occasions where there was No Aura, No Warning... all in the last 7yrs.

By your letter Im Not sure if you know that seizures can happen and you be totally coherent most of the time. or even to an isolated side or part of the body...?  that they can even be someone seeming to be staring off into space so to speak.

Ive had ones where I cut my self with scissors but cant remember How, and ending up with a persons license plate in my face and didnt know how I fell. Just a second or 3 of 'missing time'. That nearly cost me my life, I felt so bad for that driver that it was a long time before Id cross the street alone again... I was j-walking and so it was Completely my fault even tho I didnt set out for it to happen.

I know you feel comfortable driving, but how would you feel if you hit and killed someone one day or maimed them? the question Should be if you could live with the damage done to someone else-not 'but Ive done it before, so its perfectly safe'... And what would Your family do Without You? Would they think it was Their Fault if something happened?

Im screwed up because a drunk man had done it a million times before... Now I too have seizures due to the head injury.

Im Not trying to seem Or be rude, Truely Im Not, Im Only saying please consider that possibility and be very very careful.... The lucky ones get to die...the rest of us pay for their mistake every day the rest of ours...

And its Soooo Important you mention Any Changes to your Doctor. Maybe it will save Your life. What if it happened in a bathtub out of the blue? you could drown. or cooking and you got burned...  Im Sure you have people that Love The World out of You and would be totally Devastated if something happened to you. I hope you tell your loved ones that thats happened b4 so they could be extra careful to check on you...
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