Aa
Help!
I was diognosed with MS in Nov.of 08. I have been having "seizures" for years. I am married with 2 children & 3 grandchildren.Every time I have a seizure, my husband gets mad & if I wind up in the hospital, he surely gets mad.He thinks just because when I went to ER a few time & they called them phsudo seizures, that I'm not having them. My nuerologist at Shepherd told him I could be having seizures & them coming fom my brain & it not show up on the MRI. He still don't believe me.I had an eeg done on my brain at Emory & it showed up plain as day. When it got to the flashing lights, My eyes started rolling back in my head & my tounge was coming out of my mouth & all these weird things happening & he could see the machine & said it was going wild. Yet they said it was negative. I stayed in the hospital for almost a week recently & the Dr. said I was having a seizure.Still he don't believe.he says I'm putting on to get attention. WHY in the world would anyone fake a seizure. I don't know how that would be possible.Why would I want to act like that in public, much less at church or anywhere. I need help.I'm exauhsted. Can anyone help!
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COMMUNITY LEADER
continued......
I think the main issue could be stemming from a common misconception with conversion events, the assumption is that the person is doing it for attention and that they have the control to stop if they wanted to. Its not actually true, there is no 'faking it for attention' whats so ever, its outside of concious thought so just like an epileptic seizure, there is no control!
If a person is 'faking it for attention' then thats not Convertion but Munchausen syndrome and its a totally different mental health condition. see provided links to understand the difference, (CD is from medscape)
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287464-overview
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/factitious_disorders/hic_munchausen_syndrome.aspx
People who have the diagnostic evidence to be dx with a neurological condition like you have with the dx of MS, dont usually 'also' get dx with a mental health condition that specifically mimics neurological conditions ('psuedo seizures' falls under the Convertion Disorder diagnostic label), I understood that CD can only be dx in the 'absence' of a neurological condition.
So even putting aside the misdiagnostic rate of CD, if you already have a clinically diagnosed neurological condition where seizures are related to the condition, which is the case with MS, then clarrification of whats going on is (imho) very important because the treatment plans are totally different for a start but I also think it will go a long way to help with your husbands understanding too.
Once you get that backing, if it were me, i'd sit my husband down and have a heart to heart and resetting boundaries!
Good luck..........JJ
I think the main issue could be stemming from a common misconception with conversion events, the assumption is that the person is doing it for attention and that they have the control to stop if they wanted to. Its not actually true, there is no 'faking it for attention' whats so ever, its outside of concious thought so just like an epileptic seizure, there is no control!
If a person is 'faking it for attention' then thats not Convertion but Munchausen syndrome and its a totally different mental health condition. see provided links to understand the difference, (CD is from medscape)
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287464-overview
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/factitious_disorders/hic_munchausen_syndrome.aspx
People who have the diagnostic evidence to be dx with a neurological condition like you have with the dx of MS, dont usually 'also' get dx with a mental health condition that specifically mimics neurological conditions ('psuedo seizures' falls under the Convertion Disorder diagnostic label), I understood that CD can only be dx in the 'absence' of a neurological condition.
So even putting aside the misdiagnostic rate of CD, if you already have a clinically diagnosed neurological condition where seizures are related to the condition, which is the case with MS, then clarrification of whats going on is (imho) very important because the treatment plans are totally different for a start but I also think it will go a long way to help with your husbands understanding too.
Once you get that backing, if it were me, i'd sit my husband down and have a heart to heart and resetting boundaries!
Good luck..........JJ
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi and welcome to our little MS community,
I'm really sorry this is happening to you, it can be really hard to cope with things at the best of times, but harder when your partner doesn't understand and makes 'frustrated' comments that hurt.
I'll have to admit to being confused, I understand why seizure activity or the lesion/damage causing the seizures, may not show up an MRI but I thought "pseudo seizures" were distinguishable from epileptic seizures with the EEG. So if you were seizing whilst having an EEG the results should be abnormal if causation is from abnormal brain activity, and normal if its not. Absent seizure and psuedo seizure may sound or seem the same but technically and visually they are very different, absent seizures just like epileptic seizures, usually generate the telling spike and wave pattern on the EEG.
I really believe the first thing you need to do, is get the 'type' of seizures your having confirmed and in writing, backed up by definitive diagnostic evidence, hard evidence and if possible backed up with the profesional opinion by your neurologist that your MS is causing them.
[I have to continue in another post, the glitch is stopping my full response from getting up on the forum]
I'm really sorry this is happening to you, it can be really hard to cope with things at the best of times, but harder when your partner doesn't understand and makes 'frustrated' comments that hurt.
I'll have to admit to being confused, I understand why seizure activity or the lesion/damage causing the seizures, may not show up an MRI but I thought "pseudo seizures" were distinguishable from epileptic seizures with the EEG. So if you were seizing whilst having an EEG the results should be abnormal if causation is from abnormal brain activity, and normal if its not. Absent seizure and psuedo seizure may sound or seem the same but technically and visually they are very different, absent seizures just like epileptic seizures, usually generate the telling spike and wave pattern on the EEG.
I really believe the first thing you need to do, is get the 'type' of seizures your having confirmed and in writing, backed up by definitive diagnostic evidence, hard evidence and if possible backed up with the profesional opinion by your neurologist that your MS is causing them.
[I have to continue in another post, the glitch is stopping my full response from getting up on the forum]
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We are all just MS patients helping each other but I can't figure how to help you. Your problem appears to be with your spouse.
pseudo seizures and absent seizures (I have absent seizures) are VERY real. Perhaps he's very scared, as much as you might be, just exhibiting it in a different way. can you talk with him without "winding him up"?
Is there someone from church, your pastor perhaps, who can help you with this very delicate problem?
I hope you find a way to deal with this and you are most welcome to vent here anytime you want, just remember posts can be googled from anyone with web access...........hint......change your city and state on your profile!!