Hi folks. I was hoping to see if anyone else has gone through what I did a few days ago. I was in my office and went to send an email and couldn’t figure out how to even log in. This is something I do all the time, yet in that moment I couldn’t process any thought. It was terrifying. It lasted a while and when that fog lifted it was like nothing happened. I decided to go he seen afterwards as Dr. Oro had told me to always get new things checked out. I had decompress surgery about 8 years ago and have minor complications since. I was told I had an absence seizure and I’m not allowed to drive now until they do further tests. I’m just curious if there’s a possible link to my chiari malformation or if this is a new issue. Thanks for any details you might share.
Hey Jeff,
In all honesty Jeff, it could be either (or neither) or a combination of both.
I had a craniotomy and I have 2 shunts (Drain tubes) in my brain. My last major surgery (No.6) was back in 2013. Neuro scar tissue is known to disrupt signals and in some cases ‘can’ lead to an epilepsy trigger. I was told my ‘lapses’ maybe epilepsy related too. They had me wired up for tests, but the tests and monitoring all came back negative. They trialled me on antiepileptic meds, but they had no benefit. It was decided that in basic terms I just ‘fazed out’ from time to time. But I was not given a diagnosis of epilepsy.
To drive I had to get a neuro to sign off in the first instance and each year I now need to get my PCP to sign off and update my permissions. This is registered against my licence. I’m in Australia and each year I get an automatically sent out form to complete.
Hope it helps
Merl from the Modsupport Team
I had a similar situation where I walked out of the bathroom and there was a blank one in front of me and for at least a minute I felt like I just gotten off an elevator and wasn’t sure which way to go. I saw my neurologist as I was also experiencing some fatigue and was tested for Lyme disease and found out I had Lyme was treated with antibiotics and recovered.
I still experience brain fog but never is bad as the above episode it is very scary.
Hi Jeff,
I am brand new to the group, and just starting to get care for my symptoms, but I have been having episodes that may siezures and they sound a lot like what you are describing. I had an MRI because of the siezures and the Chiari is the only thing the neurologist found, though he quickly said it was minimal and not worth looking at.
I’m starting to wonder if it could be a factor in my symptoms. My siezures and the headaches that follow are debilitating. I hope you have found some answers and relief.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. They would need to run an EEG on you and that still might not show anything because you would have to have seizure activity at that moment.
The other possibility that I’m wondering about is whether it could be migraine related. Migraines can cause some pretty weird neurological symptoms. The fact that you’re aware that you couldn’t think and it was followed by a headache makes me wonder if it could be migraine
Sharon
Thank you. My father had migraines, so that’s entirely possible.
I’ve had this happen to me a couple of times where I was in a store and when the cashier told me the amount I needed to pay I looked in my wallet and my brain seemed to go totally blank. The last time it happened I had to ask the cashier three times what the amount was and I was just looking in my wallet at the change and the cash but my brain was not functioning. I was so embarrassed. I just about gave my wallet to her and tell her to get the money out. I don’t know if this is from the Chiari or am I getting dementia?
They did and yeah it didn’t catch anything.
Quick update, I had an EEG done but it didn’t catch anything. I have however had numerous more ‘seizures’ or episodes and have been put on seizure meds. Fingers crossed.