sensory overload sensory seizures - HELP
15 Oct 2020, 1:37 am
hi
anyone have sensory seizures
i need ways to cope if you have any advice
i am at a breaking point tonight
this is a 24/7 problem
my senses are messed up
i can barely handle going outside. i feel EVERYTHING. i dont think i am feeling things objectively but i can feel EVERYTHING. i feel different if there is one new person in the room. if two more people are in the room. if different people are in the room. if the architecture is different. if there's music. if there's light here or there. i feel the shadows on advertisements. i feel the different shapes of buildings. i feel the different energy of different neighborhoods - whether it's depressing or more positive. i feel like i can feel every particle and it makes me really really disturbed and sick and pain.
idk what my brain is doing
i don't even know if this is connected to autism
i do have epilepsy
my neurologist is confused since she is not an epileptologist and i don't see an epileptologist until later if they accept my case
help ?
15 Oct 2020, 8:26 am
One of the reasons we stim is to provide a sort of neurological anchor point.
When faced with uncertainty or strangeness, anxiety can rapidly increase. To reduce the anxiety repetitive actions can be taken that help bolster a sense of control. Since smoking is unhealthy and out of fashion, using something like Greek "worry" beads might not attract too much attention.
Since anxiety can trigger a seizure, it become even more important to have strategies that have been proven to be effective in reducing anxiety. I would suggest various stim techniques or even mental or breathing exercises to see what may prove effective for you.
15 Oct 2020, 9:32 am
I can "Sense" different feelings in different areas (Locations) depending on where I am and some of this is on thw spiritual level. I am wondering if some of what you describe may be the same thing?
I maybe completely wrong. I thought I would mention it anyway.
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15 Oct 2020, 9:59 am
I do not have seizures in the day due to sensory issues but do have seizure-type experiences at night after sleep paralysis, which may be a reaction to sensory stress in the day, these are hallucinatory experiences rather than sensory. My reaction to sensory issues for a while has been more on the baseline of: avoidance of the stimuli, avoiding social contact because my sensory issues elevate in social situations to a point (in the past): of catatonia and anxiety, transient phycosis rather than the opposite: seizures.
Meditation, art, reading, music, nature are what helps relax me. I was a very hyper-active child as I was reacting to severe light, sound, smell sensory processing/issues and didn't know I existed.
I don't disagree with the NT saying: "there's light at the end of the tunnel."
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15 Oct 2020, 10:19 am
love2connect,
Something to consider is that your sensitivities are empathic to the point that you could be considered an Empath. Sights, sounds, smells, trees, plants, animals, insects, even rocks, and especially people's energy is deeply felt. I have experienced sensory overload mainly in crowds causing panic attacks, but have not experienced seizures, sorry to hear that.
Over time my life has become a solitary existence by circumstances and choice, much preferred. It provides a protective barrier and allows me to take in only what I choose. I sincerely wish for you to find a path towards coping with your sensitivities.
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15 Oct 2020, 10:25 am
It almost sounds like you are experiencing a condition called "agoraphobia". Stress builds up within the body and unless vented properly can overflow and produce distress. One type of distress is agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which an individual fears and avoids places or situations that might cause them to panic and feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. They fear an actual or anticipated situation. These situations can include open spaces, public transit, shopping centers, being in a crowd, or simply being outside their home. The anxiety is caused by fear that there's no easy way to escape or get help if the anxiety intensifies. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to worry about having another attack and avoid the places where it may happen again. People with agoraphobia often have a hard time feeling safe in any public place, especially where crowds gather. They may feel that they need a companion, such as a relative or friend, to go with them to public places. The fear can be so overwhelming that they may feel unable to even leave their home.
I would characterize agoraphobia as fear of having another panic attack. Entering a state of “tonic immobility” can be very traumatic for an individual. They experience a frozen state where their body physically shuts down; they even lose their ability to speak. It is a state of total and utter helplessness and it is extremely scary. The ghost of this event lingers within them and a repeat of this event must be avoided at all cost.
An Aspie was confronted by an aggressive co-worker and describes his panic attack as follows:
...the person talking starts to get aggressive and pushy and I end up shutting down completely. To them I look like I have a learning disability or attention issue, but in reality, time slows down and I try to process the bright red of their turtleneck, the numbers on their tag, the smell of their aroma, characteristic details of their face, flies that are about to land on someone's meal, the weird canyon-shape in the lamp shade, the wood grainy texture of the chair I'm sitting on, that weird piece of hair sticking up, that really ugly shape on the wall paper, how the location of the microwave has moved a foot from last week, where it was last under the portrait of my boss and to the right of a filing cabinet which is no longer there, why tiles are white and black on the floor, etc. etc. I end up memorizing lots of that information like a photograph.
In a sense, his mind is searching for all patterns related to triggering the shutdown and storing these away in memory so that they can be avoided at all cost in the future.
...later when I come back I remember everything that happened before like I'm reliving it. I also get negative feelings associated with places where I'm stuck and can't leave while being overwhelmed.
Essentially that location is no longer safe. Agoraphobia is the mind trying to protect itself by avoiding the locations, persons or patterns associated with prior episodes of “tonic immobility”.
_________________
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A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
15 Oct 2020, 3:33 pm
When faced with uncertainty or strangeness, anxiety can rapidly increase. To reduce the anxiety repetitive actions can be taken that help bolster a sense of control. Since smoking is unhealthy and out of fashion, using something like Greek "worry" beads might not attract too much attention.
Since anxiety can trigger a seizure, it become even more important to have strategies that have been proven to be effective in reducing anxiety. I would suggest various stim techniques or even mental or breathing exercises to see what may prove effective for you.
So this is part of why I don't think I have ASD because I cannot stim the energy out of my body... there is no way for me to release my distress
15 Oct 2020, 3:34 pm
I maybe completely wrong. I thought I would mention it anyway.
Oh yes this is definitely a large part of it. I am relieved someone else experiences this. I have always experienced this but it seems to be getting harder and harder to deal with.
I definitely can feel the switch in energy between different cities even if they are like 10 minutes apart from each other. Some places feel really depressing
15 Oct 2020, 3:36 pm
Meditation, art, reading, music, nature are what helps relax me. I was a very hyper-active child as I was reacting to severe light, sound, smell sensory processing/issues and didn't know I existed.
I don't disagree with the NT saying: "there's light at the end of the tunnel."
Yes, this is what my psychiatrist tells me. She tells me to leave the situation if it gets too overwhelming for me. I used to just stay and try to be strong through it but it never gets better every single time.
15 Oct 2020, 3:38 pm
I maybe completely wrong. I thought I would mention it anyway.
Oh yes this is definitely a large part of it. I am relieved someone else experiences this. I have always experienced this but it seems to be getting harder and harder to deal with.
I definitely can feel the switch in energy between different cities even if they are like 10 minutes apart from each other. Some places feel really depressing
I know it sounds strange but can I PM you about this or better if you PM me incase I forget by the time you see this. Mention the feelings about different places to remind me.
_________________
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Last edited by Mountain Goat on 15 Oct 2020, 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
15 Oct 2020, 3:39 pm
Something to consider is that your sensitivities are empathic to the point that you could be considered an Empath. Sights, sounds, smells, trees, plants, animals, insects, even rocks, and especially people's energy is deeply felt. I have experienced sensory overload mainly in crowds causing panic attacks, but have not experienced seizures, sorry to hear that.
Over time my life has become a solitary existence by circumstances and choice, much preferred. It provides a protective barrier and allows me to take in only what I choose. I sincerely wish for you to find a path towards coping with your sensitivities.
Thank you. My friend from a while ago who has autism did tell me he thinks I am at the most upper tier when it comes to being empathic. But I feel like what I experience is beyond most people's conception of empathy, it causes me seizures so I do not understand. I don't think empathy should cause seizures.
I do fairly well if I am just in my room or somewhere really comfortable. Thankfully, I would rather read and research inside rather than do a lot of sensory stimulating activities.
15 Oct 2020, 3:40 pm
I maybe completely wrong. I thought I would mention it anyway.
Oh yes this is definitely a large part of it. I am relieved someone else experiences this. I have always experienced this but it seems to be getting harder and harder to deal with.
I definitely can feel the switch in energy between different cities even if they are like 10 minutes apart from each other. Some places feel really depressing
I know it sounds strange but can I PM you about this or better if you PM me incase I forget by the time you see this. Mention the feelings about different places to remind me.
Yes of course! I'll PM you now
15 Oct 2020, 3:42 pm
Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which an individual fears and avoids places or situations that might cause them to panic and feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. They fear an actual or anticipated situation. These situations can include open spaces, public transit, shopping centers, being in a crowd, or simply being outside their home. The anxiety is caused by fear that there's no easy way to escape or get help if the anxiety intensifies. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to worry about having another attack and avoid the places where it may happen again. People with agoraphobia often have a hard time feeling safe in any public place, especially where crowds gather. They may feel that they need a companion, such as a relative or friend, to go with them to public places. The fear can be so overwhelming that they may feel unable to even leave their home.
I would characterize agoraphobia as fear of having another panic attack. Entering a state of “tonic immobility” can be very traumatic for an individual. They experience a frozen state where their body physically shuts down; they even lose their ability to speak. It is a state of total and utter helplessness and it is extremely scary. The ghost of this event lingers within them and a repeat of this event must be avoided at all cost.
An Aspie was confronted by an aggressive co-worker and describes his panic attack as follows:
...the person talking starts to get aggressive and pushy and I end up shutting down completely. To them I look like I have a learning disability or attention issue, but in reality, time slows down and I try to process the bright red of their turtleneck, the numbers on their tag, the smell of their aroma, characteristic details of their face, flies that are about to land on someone's meal, the weird canyon-shape in the lamp shade, the wood grainy texture of the chair I'm sitting on, that weird piece of hair sticking up, that really ugly shape on the wall paper, how the location of the microwave has moved a foot from last week, where it was last under the portrait of my boss and to the right of a filing cabinet which is no longer there, why tiles are white and black on the floor, etc. etc. I end up memorizing lots of that information like a photograph.
In a sense, his mind is searching for all patterns related to triggering the shutdown and storing these away in memory so that they can be avoided at all cost in the future.
...later when I come back I remember everything that happened before like I'm reliving it. I also get negative feelings associated with places where I'm stuck and can't leave while being overwhelmed.
Essentially that location is no longer safe. Agoraphobia is the mind trying to protect itself by avoiding the locations, persons or patterns associated with prior episodes of “tonic immobility”.
Yes, how funny, I was looking up the term Agoraphobia a few days ago.
Most definitely my mind has deemed the outside world unsafe.
I have heard that the therapy for NTs is to just expose yourself more and more to the places you are afraid of?
I do not think that will work with me as I have tried to do that many times in the past actually
15 Oct 2020, 8:23 pm
Most definitely my mind has deemed the outside world unsafe.
I have heard that the therapy for NTs is to just expose yourself more and more to the places you are afraid of?
I do not think that will work with me as I have tried to do that many times in the past actually
One of the therapies to treat agoraphobia is called Systematic Desensitization Therapy (also known as Graduated Exposure Therapy)
A fear response can be “unlearned” by using systematic desensitization techniques. Generally this method involves three steps, which are: relaxation, constructing an anxiety hierarchy, and then pairing relaxation with the situations described in the anxiety hierarchy. As one individual relates:
* I helped my ex gf [ex-girlfriend] overcome her agoraphobia, when I met her she had not left her house in years. Within a month I helped get out and slowly overcome her anxiety using CBT systematic desensitization exposure therapy I had learned to treat my own anxiety (though I didn't have agoraphobia rather social anxiety).
* I worked with her to create a hierarchy of anxiety provoking situations having her rate them from least anxiety provoking to the most anxiety provoking. We started at the easiest situation and gradually worked our way up the list over the weeks. I would ask her to start with something as simple as walking by a window in her house (which should would even avoid). I asked her to rate her anxiety out of 10, and would ask her again at 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes.
* I would tell her that it is physiologically impossible to maintain the same amount of anxiety level indefinitely, that her anxiety would drop over time, even if only by a few points, but as it dropped I made sure she was aware of it and was mindful of the decrease in her anxiety levels over time. We would repeat the scenario again and again until that scenario no longer paralyzed her. Her anxiety levels never went to zero but that isn't the point.
* Eventually we moved to going outside when there was no one around, to going outside in the car to where there were a few people to walking around the neighborhood etc. etc. repeating the steps above. Anxiety is either improving because you are actively working on your anxiety by exposing yourself to anxiety provoking situations or it is getting worse because you are actively engaging in avoidance behavior. Each time you expose yourself to an anxiety provoking situation it gets a little bit easier the next time. Conversely each time you give into your anxiety and avoid that which makes you anxious, the next time you encounter the same situation, your anxiety will be a little worse.
Those experiencing anxiety often focus on cognitive distortions; such as all-or-nothing thinking/polarized thinking, overgeneralization, mental filter, disqualifying the positive, jumping to conclusions (mind reading), jumping to conclusions (fortune telling), magnification (catastrophizing) or minimization, emotional reasoning, “should” statements, labeling and mislabeling, personalization, control fallacies, fallacy of fairness, fallacy of change, always being right, and heaven’s reward fallacy. These distortions, while common and potentially extremely damaging, are not something we must simply resign ourselves to living with. For example, someone with panic disorder may engage in the distortion known as "catastrophizing", by predicting a negative outcome for an event that they don't yet know how it will turn out, this negative prediction can actually make it more likely that what you fear will happen. "If I go to the store I know I am going to have a panic attack". You don't know that. For any situation that you do not know what the outcome will be, there is always a positive, neutral and negative possible outcome. With mental illnesses, you tend to focus on only the negative possible outcome.
Once you learn the cognitive distortions, practice noticing when they show up in your thought processes and challenge them. This will help to make the systematic desensitization exposure therapy process easier by giving yourself the tools you need to work through it.
_________________
Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
15 Oct 2020, 8:33 pm
Agoraphobia is a product of stress. So another alternative treatment is to attack stress itself. Stress is physical in nature. It is caused by a release of a chain of hormones. Unless these chemicals are used up in dealing with the stressor, they are stored in the muscles and nervous system. They will build up over time unless they are vented. These stress chemicals are normally stored within 6 regions of the body: the core, the two arms, the two legs, and the neck. There are various types of therapies to deal with each of these areas.
In my humble opinion, in this particular case, I believe it is stress in the core.
David Berceli developed a form of exercise called “TRE - Trauma Releasing Exercises” that teaches individuals to generate “neurogenic tremors” to vent stored stress energy locked in the bodies core.
The following YouTube video will give you a glimpse of this process.
_________________
Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
