What is a PTSD seizure?

PNES and PTSD

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are a form of attack that looks like an epileptic seizure but is not caused by unusual electrical patterns in the brain. Instead, PNES has a psychological cause. People with PNES cannot control their behavior and it may cause them to shake, jerk or black out.

Can PTSD cause seizures?

Those with PTSD who have a seizure are experiencing what is called a pseudoseizure. These types of seizures are usually the result of other mental health conditions, such as PTSD. Symptoms of a pseudoseizure may include: Involuntary muscle stiffening, convulsing and jerking.

Can PTSD look like a seizure?

“For some patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, the seizures are a manifestation of trauma, which is also known as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What is a trauma seizure?

Post-traumatic seizures (PTS) are seizures that result from traumatic brain injury (TBI), brain damage caused by physical trauma.

Can seizures be caused by emotional trauma?

Yes, trauma can lead to non-epileptic seizures. In this case, the seizure is rooted in a psychological disturbance, rather than chronic issues related to disruptions in the electrical activity of the brain.

The CODES trial for dissociative seizures

What does a dissociative seizure look like?

Someone having a dissociative seizure may fall to the floor and have shaking or jerking movements, bite their tongue and lose control of their bladder. Other people may go blank and stare, and not be able to respond to people around them.

What does a psychogenic seizure look like?

PNES may look like epileptic seizures. But epileptic seizures usually follow the same pattern every time. With PNES, each episode may be different. During a PNES episode, you may have jerky movements, tingling skin, or problems with coordination.

What group is most likely to have a post-traumatic seizure?

Most studies indicate that the incidence of post-traumatic seizures is substantially higher in children than in adults. Risk factors associated with post-traumatic epilepsy include younger age and increasing injury severity.

How do I know if I just had a seizure?

Seizure signs and symptoms may include: Temporary confusion. A staring spell. Uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs.

What happens to your body after a seizure?

During the postictal period, you may be sleepy. You may have problems with vision or speech, and may have a bad headache, fatigue, or body aches. Not all of these phases occur in everyone with this type of seizure.

Are pseudoseizures real seizures?

Medical professionals previously referred to PNES as “pseudoseizures.” This term is outdated and not generally preferred by neurologists. “Pseudo” is a Latin word meaning false. However, nonepileptic seizures are as real as epileptic seizures and are not consciously or purposefully produced.

What do you feel like before a seizure?

Some patients may have a feeling of having lived a certain experience in the past, known as “déjà vu.” Other warning signs preceding seizures include daydreaming, jerking movements of an arm, leg, or body, feeling fuzzy or confused, having periods of forgetfulness, feeling tingling or numbness in a part of the body, ...

Can severe anxiety cause seizures?

If you have already been diagnosed with epilepsy then yes, anxiety can cause seizures. Severe stress is a very common seizure trigger, and those with severe anxiety often experience severe stress. However, it should be noted that this is far more common with those who already have epilepsy.

What does a seizure feel like?

Some seizures cause the body to jerk and shake (a "fit"), while others cause problems like loss of awareness or unusual sensations. They typically pass in a few seconds or minutes. Seizures can occur when you're awake or asleep. Sometimes they can be triggered by something, such as feeling very tired.

Can PTSD cause temporal lobe seizures?

In this regard, PTSD induced alteration of limbic-frontal connectivity might facilitate seizure spread from mesial temporal to frontal and anterior insular brain regions.

Should I go to hospital after a seizure?

Most seizures last between 30 seconds and two minutes and will not require any emergency medical attention. However, if someone is experiencing a seizure that lasts longer than two minutes, or they lose consciousness and it does not come back right after the seizure, you should call 911 right away.

Can a doctor tell if you've had a seizure?

Electroencephalogram (EEG) – Using electrodes attached to your head, your doctors can measure the electrical activity in your brain. This helps to look for patterns to determine if and when another seizure might occur, and it can also help them rule out other possibilities.

What does a seizure feel like in your head?

You're not likely to lose consciousness, but you might feel sweaty or nauseated. Complex focal seizures: These usually happen in the part of your brain that controls emotion and memory. You may lose consciousness but still look like you're awake, or you may do things like gag, smack your lips, laugh, or cry.

How long can a seizure last before brain damage?

A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than 1 seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes is called status epilepticus. This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.

Can hitting head cause seizures?

About 10% of people who've suffered from head trauma severe enough to be hospitalized, end up having a seizure. Most of the time, if someone is at risk of seizure after TBI it happens within the first few days or weeks after the accident.

How is post-traumatic epilepsy diagnosed?

With severe TBI, some patients have posttraumatic stress disorder, which can contribute to pseudoseizures. Therefore, in intractable epilepsy patients, the diagnosis should be verified by video-EEG monitoring, which shows that the nature of the seizures is psychogenic rather than epileptic.

How can you tell the difference between seizures and pseudoseizures?

During an attack, findings such as asynchronous or side-to-side movements, crying, and eye closure suggest pseudoseizures, whereas occurrence during sleep indicates a true seizure.

How do you stop a stress seizure?

Lifestyle changes like getting enough sleep, maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise, and meditation, can all help control stress and may reduce seizure frequency.

Can a seizure be faked?

We now understand that there is nothing false or insincere about most non-epileptic seizures. It is quite rare to find someone who is deliberately faking a seizure just as it is rare to find people who fake having other medical conditions.

What triggers a dissociative seizure?

It is thought that dissociative seizures are caused by the brain dealing with overwhelming stress by 'shutting down'. You can find out more about non-epileptic attacks on: the Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD) website. the Epilepsy Action website.