[biiv]

Hello,
im not sure if im posting this in the right place but i was wondering if anyone has ever heard of these and if maybe you could tell me a little about them or post a link please? i ve been looking online but a lot of the stuff ive been finding is very technical so its hard to understand it all.

thanks in advance for any help on this.

biiv

Hi biiv,

You might want to do a search using different terminology like...

Nonepileptic seizures, nonepileptic events, and psychogenic seizures or even just PNES.

What are pseudoseizures?
Pseudo-seizures are events that resemble seizures but are not caused, as a seizure is, by electrical abnormalities in the brain.

Pseudo-seizures may be a child's conscious imitations of a seizure, a way of coping with stress, or may be subconscious.

Pseudo-seizures often occur in persons who also have true seizures and may be difficult to differentiate from true seizures (Seizures and Epilepsy in Childhood: a Guide For Parents, by John M. Freeman, MD, Eileen P.G. Vining, MD).

Unlike epileptic seizures, PNES do not result from an abnormal electrical discharge from the brain; they are a physical manifestation of a psychological disturbance. They are a type of conversion disorder or, more broadly, a type of somatoform disorder, and they are usually involuntary.

READ MORE HERE

[biiv]

Hi Petunia,
Thanks so much. I will do that.

[Perna]

A psychiatric study was done: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/...tract/153/1/57 with these conclusions:

"Pseudoseizure subjects have high rates of the psychiatric disorders found in traumatized groups; they closely resemble patients with dissociative disorders. Reclassification of conversion seizures with the dissociative disorders should be considered. Pseudoseizures often appear to express distress related to abuse reports. Clinicians should screen pseudoseizure patients for adult and childhood trauma, dissociative disorders, depression, and PTSD."

[biiv]

Thanks Perna for this. I have to go to bed now but I will check out that link fully soon.

Pseudoseizures are seizures that don't seem to have a a neurological cause (like a loci in the brain due to scar tissue or something like that) but they are thought to have a psychological cause.

Sometimes you can tell on the basis of the seizure. Sometimes... You can't. It pays to have some kind of scan to be sure there isn't something neurologically wrong unless the seizure is clearly different from neurological seizures.

Sometimes people are considered to have pseudoseizures and then later a physical basis is found. That can happen.

If they are pseudoseizures then there should be psychological triggers for them such as them occuring when the person feels stressed and things like that.

Psychological treatment should help...

[obsids]

Are you having pseudoseizures, biiv?

I had those starting about 10 years ago. The neurologist told me that it was all in my head, and he sent me to see a psychiatrist. At the time, everyone treated me like I was crazy.

These days, i believe that it is a physical manifestation of stress disorder such as PTSD.

Pseudoseizures are real . But they are not epileptic, and they don't show up on the EEG, or whatever it was that they did to me.

SSRIs and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helped me a lot.

I don't know if this has been at all helpful. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.