Meth Seizures relating to or caused by meth? Please read even if you dont do meth but do get seizures please?

[unapologeticmistake]

I want to preface this with: I have seen and plan on seeing again a doctor relating to this. Nothing said will be interpreted or used as.a replacement for medical advice. However, my doctor is a family doctor who works for a community clinic so if I have information he is quite often wanting to hear it since it's rather difficult to hold the entire current state of medical knowledge in rhe front of your brain.

Does anyone experience seizures relating to meth? Or actually maybe I should describe what I'm experiencing since it might not be a seizure. It certainly isn't a stereotypical gran mal, clonic, clonic-tonic, or even standard temporal lobe seizure as it's described online or in literature.

It's a sensation of like...it almost feels like being punched in the face in a way. What I mean is that it's brief, instantaneous actually, and it's sorta like the "seeing stars" experience. It's not painful. It is however sorta uncomfortable. It comes alongside tinnitus and a pressure feeling in the head which both can outlast the "acute" phase. Physically I move my head when it happens but this is more a response to the discomfort and disorientation and is technically voluntary since, if I try, I can keep myself from doing it, like when I'm driving. And yes I've had it while driving. As I do not lose voluntary control it hasn't worried me too much although recently it came on while someone was getting out of their car on tje freeway an it worried me since it was a "low margin for error" sort of situation where even a few feet could realistically kill the pedestrian, or could kill me(oncoming cars) and someone else. But it doesn't seem to impact driving significantly. The reason I am at this point convinced it is a.seizure and not just like normal tinnitus is that it apparently comes with auras now. Like I know when they are coming on. Almost like the feeling you get when you know you're gonna sneeze in a way, without that physical itch in your nose. I don't see how this could happen with tinnitus. I am also aware that depending on the part of the brain or the severity a seizure can be as subtle as a weird taste in the mouth or an emotion. But I've only read this experienced by people who otherwise have epilepsy and otherwise experience those gran mals.

To be clear I do get these sober sometimes. However, they are most frequent and intense while coming off meth, and second most frequent and common when on meth. My doctor did express concern that meth might be triggering them by increasing pressure in my brain. I recently had an MRI and it showed nothing pathological relating to seizures(it did possibly show why I get very bad and intense headaches and migraines randomly.. Curse you cerebrospinal fluid and curse you ventricles for not having the right amount of it). But I read online that for rhe majority of people who experience seizures, no organic or physiological cause can be confirmed. When I got the MRI results I basically said "well.maybe it's just psychological or psychosomatic" and sorta wrote it off since I do have various mental health disorders which I figured might be a more likely horse to be causing the hoofbeats than some exotic zebra that is invisible to MRIs.

Lately I have been getting more of them and worse tho. So now I'm thinking again maybe there's some zebras around. Either way I'm curious if any of this sounds familiar to anyone else whether they do meth or own any zebras or horses or are epileptic or anything. Because my doctor was bewildered as my symptoms are not typical seizure symptoms. I just lack any better way to describe this. It's not like a seizure I've heard of, but it's less like literally anything else I've ever heard of than a seizure. I guess I could ask him for s tentative, short term script of an anticonvulsant to see if it does anything to them. I am taking Ativan and I haven't noticed any reduction but my Ativan is not an every day med and it is the lowest dose allowed since obviously my doctor has concerns about my substance use(although props for responding to my honesty and transparency by trusting me when I say it's not something I wanna abuse or become dependent on and props for giving me less than 30 doses to cover a 30 day period).

I hate my brain sometimes. I'd write a hate song for it but AJJ beat me to it. Good song though. Bet he'd write great seizure songs if he were epileptic.

 

[sometimesiexisthere]

So, I made an account just to respond to this.

A couple things. Look up "brain zaps". My husband used to get them when he was withdrawing from SSRIs (paxil, specifically) and I don't know what exactly they're like but something similar...ish, maybe? My husband calls it "an electrical current mixed with a bolt of anxiety". Which sounds awful. I get something... else, that kind of sounds similar in a way, that I don't think I experienced before my meth use, if I'm recalling correctly. It's not really a punch in the face (well, maybe, I've never been punched in the face so ....I suck), just like this odd sensation that comes usually from a specific trigger, like a thought or a sight or a sound, usually something related to my past or something nostalgic or "nice family doing nice things" related. But anyway, the sensation is almost like fading out for a few seconds, like you're going to pass out. You can feel it coming, for sure and I can catch it when it's just starting or a bit before I can kind of pull myself back a bit, but it's almost like just the initial feeling of "it's coming" lowers the threshold and they happen more often. It blurs my vision, auras, pressure/odd swimming or dizzy feeling in the head, sounds kinda just blur out for me, it only lasts a few seconds and then its like coming up out of the deep end.

Very odd... weird, feeling. It's uncomfortable but wouldn't necessarily call it unpleasant. Like being WAY TOO SUPER DRUNK that first time, right before you crack your head on the ground. Or a whippit, your first one. Just randomly thrown into my days sometimes. I've never been smart enough to track when they happen, but i'll start now. Also never knew how to describe them at all so never bothered to look online for any information. Doing that now. It's been a minute since you've posted this, have you seen your doctor? Never thought it could be seizures. I also used to be on SSRIs but haven't taken any meds in many years, aside from the 1/1 heroin + meth shots and cigarettes. Don't drink. Recently lost my father and sister in a super short time period and am definitely not super healthy... doesn't feel to me like a seizure thing, but who fucking knows. Maybe it's a "brain zap". Maybe it's a release of some hormone or neurotransmitter in response to... stress? Positive or negative? idfk. Anyway. I definitely have that too.

 

[unapologeticmistake]

So, I made an account just to respond to this.

A couple things. Look up "brain zaps". My husband used to get them when he was withdrawing from SSRIs (paxil, specifically) and I don't know what exactly they're like but something similar...ish, maybe? My husband calls it "an electrical current mixed with a bolt of anxiety". Which sounds awful. I get something... else, that kind of sounds similar in a way, that I don't think I experienced before my meth use, if I'm recalling correctly. It's not really a punch in the face (well, maybe, I've never been punched in the face so ....I suck), just like this odd sensation that comes usually from a specific trigger, like a thought or a sight or a sound, usually something related to my past or something nostalgic or "nice family doing nice things" related. But anyway, the sensation is almost like fading out for a few seconds, like you're going to pass out. You can feel it coming, for sure and I can catch it when it's just starting or a bit before I can kind of pull myself back a bit, but it's almost like just the initial feeling of "it's coming" lowers the threshold and they happen more often. It blurs my vision, auras, pressure/odd swimming or dizzy feeling in the head, sounds kinda just blur out for me, it only lasts a few seconds and then its like coming up out of the deep end.

Very odd... weird, feeling. It's uncomfortable but wouldn't necessarily call it unpleasant. Like being WAY TOO SUPER DRUNK that first time, right before you crack your head on the ground. Or a whippit, your first one. Just randomly thrown into my days sometimes. I've never been smart enough to track when they happen, but i'll start now. Also never knew how to describe them at all so never bothered to look online for any information. Doing that now. It's been a minute since you've posted this, have you seen your doctor? Never thought it could be seizures. I also used to be on SSRIs but haven't taken any meds in many years, aside from the 1/1 heroin + meth shots and cigarettes. Don't drink. Recently lost my father and sister in a super short time period and am definitely not super healthy... doesn't feel to me like a seizure thing, but who fucking knows. Maybe it's a "brain zap". Maybe it's a release of some hormone or neurotransmitter in response to... stress? Positive or negative? idfk. Anyway. I definitely have that too.

That actually sounds really similar. Especially the part about it coming on related to certain thoughts. There are certain things I think of that cause them for me too. I'll look that up. Thank you