My Support Forums - View Single Post - Similarities between seemingly unrelated disorders

fern46 · Jul 22, 2019 at 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

I've done a bit of research in the past about dissociative symptoms, migraines, bipolar disorder, seizure disorders and pseudo seizures, and even fibromyalgia. There are an uncanny number of associations/similarities between them in some peoples' experiences. Some (not all necessarily common to all) are as follows:

Many are sometimes treated with anticonvulsants (i.e. Depakote, Tegretol, Lamictal, Neurontin aka gabapentin, etc.)
Many sometimes include "aura-like" beginnings before "episodes" begin
The "Kindling Effect" is relevant to many of these conditions
"Out of body experiences" may be had as part of many of these
Various types of hallucinations may be experienced as part of many of these (i.e. visual, auditory, space-time distortions, deja vu, oflactory, musical, etc.)
Types of amnesia (like en block or fragmentary blackouts) or memory issues, as part of many, for some
Many have similar stressors/triggers (i.e. light, types of stress, hormonal changes, others)
Anxiety and/or depression may occur as part of, or as a result of many of the mentioned
Sleep disturbances (insomnia, hypersomnia) may play a role in many of these
In some cases, stuttering? Or rapid repetition of words/phrases.
In some of these cases, people with one (or more) of the above-mentioned conditions, also frequently have a higher percent chance of having another, than the general public (for example, people with bipolar disorder have a higher incidence of migraines)

The brain is a very interesting organ!

I created this list a while ago. I didn't save a list of resources. If anyone wants some, let me know or feel free to google associations on your own. Obviously experiences may vary, and some bulleted items may only pertain to a couple or a few disorders, but most could pertain to all.

As a final note, once I went to a psychiatrist that also specialized in neurology. She told me that some in the fields even theorize that bipolar episodes may actually be types of seizures. Seizures do indeed present in various ways. I do not know if that theory could be correct. I don't mean to be promoting the idea.

Hey BirdDancer. Interesting list. I experienced almost all of the items above. I was treated with Depakote before they landed on Risperdal. I was seeing auras and had strange experiences with color during my episode. I had out of body experiences where I was watching myself like one does in a dream. I blacked out for large periods of time. I was quite anxious and agitated. I was unable to sleep. I repeated phrases over and over in an almost hypnotic way. I also yelled phrases and whispered intermittently. It was like my brain was stuck on repeat and my husband would have to disrupt me for it to stop. This all happened right before my cycle began one month, so my body was in a hormonal shift.

The same exact things happened to my mother when she had her episode except she was in the beginning of menopause.

I believe my brain was experiencing seizures during my episode. I had a feeling of pressure at the nape of my neck for days before my episode. I felt the pressure give way and I went completely insane. My brain felt like it was on fire. My mother described the same feeling. Her doctor told me that brain scans of people experiencing mania like we suffered look like thos who have epilepsy.

I had a number of triggers including PTSD. I know a number of people here suffer from that specifically, so I also think it is related to the cause of symptoms like these. Its basically like the brain has electrical overload and then finally shorts out. I definitely feel like it takes a toll. I'm not quite as sharp as I was before all of this happened. Perhaps the meds are to blame, but I feel like my brain was damaged as well.