Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

I'm going to have an epileptic fit.

Page: 1 2(3)

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:45 / 24.07.02

The odd thing about it was that when you described it coming on, it was an almost perfect description of the "halo" effect I have before a migraine headache. I haven't researched it much, and for the most part since we have found the food allegy that triggers it, my doctor never once did more than "Here's some Tylenol #3....now run away with you."

I wonder if they could be related or just have similar symptoms.

06:24 / 24.07.02

When I get a migrane the halo effect is really shortlived. For me, its less a halo more like prismatic threads gradually decreasing my vision. Then I can only see half of everything, half a face, half a door, I know the rest of its there I just don't register it somehow. Then the colour fades and the pain kicks in. Like someone putting a knife in the gap between my eyeball and my brow.

12 hours of dull pain, up to 2 weeks of residue pain.

07:04 / 24.07.02

I've never had a seizure, or a migrane, but I did once experience something very like that halo effect- it was toward the end of a very long-term magical working. Vision gradually filling with light and colour, everything seeming to emit a radiant glow, and a sense of euphoria, like I could almost absolve myself of obeying the laws of time and gravity if I could just ...tweak it... a little.

17:47 / 24.07.02

why don't I spend more time in conversation?! fabulous fabulous thread. and I'm mystified about barbelith closing--looking around, not finding clear answers. could someone pm me with link to the low down? thanks all, and thanks MC, especially.

17:55 / 24.07.02

the low down got deleted. lets hope any ideas about ridding the internet of barbelith went with it

18:19 / 24.07.02

MC, that was really interesting. Thanks. Hope your elbow feels better.

Zoom.

18:59 / 24.07.02

My mother is epileptic, and it's always been damn near impossible for me to have any significant relationship with those particular experiences of hers, considering the fact that her auras involve irrational fear, and (as was mentioned) the seizures affect her memory significantly.
It is illuminating to read what you had to say about the goings on in your brain, solely for the fact that I've never had the opportunity to hear such from my mother (not that the two are bound to be even similar, but that fact doesn't seem to be hindering my satiation).

Are you on medications for your epilepsy?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:00 / 24.07.02

I get migraines- only as of the last five years or so. I never get the pain- just the weird silvery shit around the edge of vision, and feeling ill. Which kind of freaked me out the first time it happened, cos one of my last memories of my dad was him describing the symptoms of his brain tumour as "like circuitry round the periphery of your vision".

I thought I was going blind for a while... couldn't (obviously) find the eye hospital so I went home and lay down instead. On seeing the doctor the next day... "oh, it's migraine. You're lucky you didn't get the headache most people do."

I wish I'd known that before!

11:12 / 25.07.02

Both migraines and seizures - particularly in their more 'visual' aspects - are reckoned to be the origin of various accounts of divine/holy visitation over the centuries...

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

17:32 / 11.06.04

I know this thread has been over for ages, but I just wanted to toss a bit in. I suffer from migraines as well. They are usually preceded by visual disturbance and a feeling of detachment. Very similar to the described aura, although slower and less concentrated.

The visual disturbance usually takes the form of tunnel vision in one or both of my eyes, the diameter of the tunnel is inversely proportional to the severity of the headache. On occasion, I won't get tunnels, but one or the other of my eyes will appear (to me) to have half of the visual field blocked. These seem to be the most severe.

The last one I got had the latter type of visual disturbance accompanied by various parts of my body going numb in turn (right leg, right hand, right buttock, my face, etc.) That was odd because it has never happened before, it was followed by a headache that was less intense than usual.

In the pre-pain stage, my concentration and comprehension is off. I cannot stay focused on any one thing for very long, much like a mellow acid trip.

22:56 / 11.06.04

Um, wow. I saw my doctor today about my migraines. I go blind in advance, too, which is good, I guess, because when that happens, I usually know enough to go home from wherever I am and prepare to ride it out. Unfortunately, sometimes I get really sluggish mentally beforehand, and don't put two and two together and associate the blindness and with an impending headache. The numbness does not sound good, and I have to ask, have you seen a doctor about this? Because I'd hate for you to have a stroke or something. I've had some tingling in my face before, but never numb limbs.

23:38 / 11.06.04

I guess I may throw in my experiences with migranes as well. I have a trigger for my migranes which is heat and/or certain food. (Bad chocolate and cheetos being some, so I guess dairy products with the right amount of heat will do it.)

I don't go blind, as colors still show, but my vision becomes horribly pixelated. (But I think other people may have the same experience when they say "blind" or "sivlery shit", and I guess I'm interpeting it differently) It starts from the sides of my left eye, and gradually takes over my vision. It goes from a dot into a scar-like shape into like moon-like shape and finally it just takes over. The whole process takes at least an hour. I'm not sure what happens next, but I know I'm able to see fine at least 30 seconds after, not that it matters as the GIANT, THROBBING pain in my head takes it place. And then I need to barf.

It's quite annoying because I tend to be paranoid so I'll mistake the fdots you get from exposure to bright light (camera, sunlight reflection) to be a sign of headache.

On a lighter note, I sometimes I get headaches that are cured by a nice healthy burp.

01:30 / 12.06.04

One particularly memorable halo I had before a migraine had my vision going incredibly fuzzy around the edges. Grainy like purple nightvision, with bright specks exploding across it. The bright specks were similar to the afterimage you get from staring at the sun.

Interestingly I had the same visuals on shrooms.

As the halo came on I was talking to my flatmate in the hall and I remember him suddenly seeming distant and muted. At which point I thought dully "huh, I should take some paracetamol." It was quite a weird migraine though because I remember being so out of it that I became strangely calm and eventually fell asleep.

On the topic of epilepsy, I used to attend a youth group with two people who had epileptic fits. As a result something I had never heard of before started happening- one would fit and the other would be induced into some kind of sympathetic fit from watching it. Very odd.

One of these people became my friend and she would have grand mal frequently, her fits were very intrusive on her life. I became used to watching for that slack expression on her face as the halo descended. She was ambidextrous and would write college notes in mirror writing because she read it better, really fascinating neurological stuff going on.

One time, a really brash friend of mine told her this joke-
"What do you do if an epileptic has a fit in the bath?
Put in your laundry."
To which she delivered this deadpan line-
"I find that really offensive."
Shamed expressions from my friend
"Friend of mine died in a bath."
Horrified expressions from my friend
"He choked on a sock."

One of the best comebacks I've ever witnessed

02:43 / 16.07.04

I think I must get a deluxe migraine then.

At first the vision in my right eye starts getting blurry, then my halo flares up and blinds me, right in the eye! with twinkling prism. Then the numbness sets in, oh the numbness. All down my right side, making me look like a total gimp if I try and move about. One thing that's lessened with time is that my speech centers drop off the map. It gets all slurred and words I know, that I KNOW I know cease to exist.

To relate, the first time I had a migraine I came downstairs, alone in the house. On the wall there was this commemorative plaque/picture type thing for beer with a spunky stallion underneath the main header. I looked up and I was thinking, I know what that fucking thing is, it's a *****, but I couldn't say what it's called. It was like playing charades with a retarded Bulgarian. I spent the next five minutes going 'it's a... a ... houuahhh.... a hoaaaahhhh'. Nasty stuff. Unable to use the phone [because I couldn't see, read or dial the numbers]. I defaulted to human survival technique 4A, find a nice, warm, safe place to hide and ride it out. IE, my bed.

Seemed so bizarre/dreamlike when I woke up 12 hours later.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

23:24 / 16.07.04

Wow - I've been a 'lither for almost two years now and have only just read this thread for the first time. Extremely cool thread.

And I started getting worried about the talk of Barbelith shutting down. Until I noticed the dates, that is. Phew!

Page: 1 2(3)