Pseudoseizures

I was diagnosed with Tourettes when I was 16 or 18yrs. I'm 30yrs now. But I recently have been diagnosed with pseudoseizures at an ER. But I'm not quite sure if it's tics or pseudoseizures, and if it's pseudoseizures, are they the same as PNES? In my seizures or tic episodes, my arms and legs stiffen like a spasm and my feet move back and forth. My eyes sometimes close and my pupils some times goes pin point. I am fully aware of everything around me and what people say, but I am not able to respond during the episode/seizure. It can happen for seconds and sometimes hours. And after I am exhausted as if I ran a marathon.I have seen some videos of pseudoseizures and they are similar to mine but not like mine. I have done extensive research on each, but I don't know what fits. What do I have? And how can I get properly diagnosed?

I get it... little kids scream when they are playing. It's just what they do. However, slowly but surely my ears are starting to build pressure which means a pseudoseizure is coming. Can I say anything to the neighbors though? Nope... Because they are little kids and that's just what kids do. I am getting more and more frustrated. I keep yelling out loud shut up to literally no one in particular so I can release some of this frustration. Being told to stop because people can hear me doesn't help. I just want to sit my living room and watch TV in peace. #AuditoryProcessingDisorder #Pseudoseizures #frustrated

Hello, I have been trying to research and figure out my seizures... We (boyfriend and I) are leaning more towards epilepsy but PNES has been thrown around because I used to have bad anxiety. However I would like to compare your stories to mine. I just want to figure this out so I can live my life again. Thank you #PNES #nonepilepticseizures #Seizure #SeizureDisorders #Pseudoseizures

I’m permanently disabled. In the workforce that means I can’t do anything and am unpredictable and undependable. So I was “let go” from my last job and no one will touch me. This is because I have a gang buster tear down of a combo. I have Fibromyalgia really severe. I have pseudo seizures where I become a two year old or just am absent, and it can last an hour or a couple days. They are unpredictable, no clear trigger to truly avoid and am told there is no way to correct it. And now I have herniated disk because my muscles are so knotted in pain that they pushed my disk out. I’m severely depressed and feel absolutely useless and a burden. But I have people who love me and work with me. So I’m still here and just struggling through every day.

I am new to the diagnosis of pseudoseizures - so please bare with me. This poem is about my reaction to the diagnosis.

Sitting the your office – listening to you explain what’s happening to me

My heart is breaking inside – can’t you just took look at my face and see?

My ears are ringing but I hear the words I have never wanted to hear

Hearing “you are having pseudo-seizures” crushes my body and brings me to tears

“You have conversion disorder’ you continue to say – but how would you know?

You dismiss the fact that these “seizures” are worsening and continuing to grow

How can the face someone with pseudo-seizures go from ashen white to ocean blue?

How could you say these episodes are strictly psychological – how do you know it to be true?

You have never seen me convulsing on the floor and being unable to breathe

How can you just look at some test result – a piece of paper - and immediately judge me?

I try my hardest to remain calm when I really just want to get up and leave the exam room

My mind keeps wildly racing – thinking that the word “pseudo” immediately causes impending doom

I try to fight back tears and try and keep a calm straight face – no matter how hard I try

Knowing that this is going to be in my medical files makes me want to curl up and cry

How can you judge me for these “episodes’ that are getting worse and taking over my life?

Now that all too familiar feeling as if I am causing my family grief and strife

I am scared for my future with this – almost like I have a label on my chest

How can sitting in a chair at the infusion center cause a pseudo-seizure caused by stress?

“I have pseudo-seizures – please do not disturb” is what I will be branded with forever

I feel that every doctor is going to see it in my cart and immediately prejudge me forever and ever

I already have multiple psych diagnoses – what’s another one being add to the list?

But refusing to listen to me explain and blame everything on “pseudo-seizures” really makes me pissed

I am boiling with anger for being dismissed yet am crying due to the shock of the news

I feel as if with each appointment I just seem to continue to lose and lose

What will happen to me with the new label on my chest – a new diagnosis in my chart?

Can’t you see that with each seizure is just continuing to break my shattered heart?

Aside from medical ailments – how is walking down the hallway “stressful’?

I find being told these seizures are psychological to be much more distressful

He said that I can’t control these seizures but didn’t place a treatment plan

I know he means well – but I am finding it very difficult to try and understand

I went into that exam room with hope of finding a miracle - but instead I was brought to my knees

I desperately wanted to find a cure – a treatment plan – maybe a hidden golden key

But instead all I found was fear, anger, confusion, and a monster inside of me