Flashes of INTENSE focus that resemble absence seizures...

Post Reply New Topic

...but aren't, because I remain conscious when I have them and am always aware tat they have taken place.

I get VERY focused for about 45 seconds and my head stays in one place, I stop in the middle of everything I'm doing and I can't move because I'm thinking very intensely about something, but I'm not even sure what O____________O

It isn't even that something specific grabs my attention, it's like I've REALIZED something, and it consumes me completely, then it's gone. I return to what I was doing and I feel completely normal, no disorientation afterward.

I guess it's sensory overload but it's a strange way to experience it. Anyone else?

Hi MotownDangerPants,

are you taking Lamotrigine/Lamictal by any chance?

Nope, no meds or drugs at all.

My daughter has these to an extent that worried a neurologist. The neurologist gave her an EEG just to make sure they weren't actually seizures. But her EEG was normal and so the neurologist concluded she was just really, really focusing. So it is a recognized phenomenon.

Lol I have ones kind of like that. I fixate on something to the point of not hearing people if they talk to me..

Yes, that can definitely happen. If you're aware that you're thinking about something, it's probably not a seizure. If you're concerned, you can get an EEG done (as 30% of those with autism, including myself, have a seizure disorder).

~Kate

---

Can identify with about 25% with what you write.

Am ADHD Inattentive (not epilepsy).

In my case, it tends to resemble a kind of temporary enthusiasm for a certain idea or word which I may tend to view temporarily as being quite descriptive (a realization). It tends to last for perhaps a minute plus. During this time I can move if I choose and even redirect my attention if I choose. I can move my head at will. I do stay on topic; I do not wonder what I am thinking about since it is a clear, definite topic: idea or word. It certainly is a kind of flash of intense focus for me.

At the same time, I am aware today that it is simply, for me, another idea or word. I do not put any sort of extra value today on such an insight/realization at all.

For all I know, it could be a microscopic drop of dopamine in my brain being released in the nucleus accumbens (so called pleasure center in the brain).

There are many kinds of epilepsies likely including something very close to flashes of intense focus that resemble absence seizures.

http://www.ilae-epilepsy.org/

What you describe may be a kind of subtle seizure or it may be something else (which does not meet the definition of a seizure and for which an epilepsy medicine may not work at all).

Words

Subtle seizures
Pseudoseizures
Paroxysmal Dyskinesias

and so on.

Possible resources

Awakenings book by Oliver Sacks
Remarkable Medicine book by Jack Dreyfus
How To (understand) book about ADHD by C. Thomas Wild
Nerves In Collision book by Walter C. Alvarez, M.D.

Mine can last several minutes...
The worst part about them to me is that I absolutely do not think in words when I have these episodes. I often realize something profound (or at least something I think is profound) and would like to share with someone or at least write it down. The translation is always difficult and occasionally not possible for me.

I get this when I overload. If my husband is upset with me or if I'm upset and he asks a question, it appears like I am zoning out, when in reality, I am just thinking about the answer. I totally disconnect with my body and speech mechanism in order to formulate ideas, especially when I am stressed or pressured to respond.

Once or twice a day I'll be in a deep, hypnotic-like state where my mind is completely zoned out of everything and focused on what is sort of like a daydream. It is a very exciting and manic-like state. I don't know exactly what triggers it, but it's voluntary and I can indeed stop myself from entering it, so I choose to never enter it in public since I look very strange in it. I'm generally in it for a few minutes, and I can indeed leave it when I want, though I often don't realize I'm in it until I've been in it for a couple minutes. If I am feeling depressed then it's generally harder to reach the state. It is almost like a drug high or something, though I've taken next to no medication or drugs (including no alcohol) my entire life. I've never seen a professional about it and I have no idea what it is.

Motown,

I hear ya. I get 'em too. I even had a EEG and sleep studies done. The only difference is that occasionally I will experience disorientation, sometimes quite severely. For me, the EEG ruled out epilepsy and the sleep studies ruled out narcolepsy, but my neuropsychiatrist is still out on that one. We are still considering stimulant medication(to see if I am actually having microsleeps and for ADHD type issues) and I have been on seizure medication before with a crushed valium in a teaspoon next to my bed(as they happened more in the morning) after I completely cut my face up from falling on it in a car park. I just dropped unconscious while walking and my face took the full force of my fall. Everyone in Emergency was trying to work out hat happened. I did not faint apparently and I experienced an "aura" before it happened. The EEG picked up nothing.

Mics