My partner had a weird seizure type thing!

May 8, 2006 3:01 AM

My partner suffered a collapse yesterday, perhaps someone can enlighten us as to what she experienced.

Firstly, my partner is a 30 year old woman with multiple sclerosis (although fortunately it doesn't affect her a great deal).

This has happened twice now, though this time was more worrying. She called me up, angry, and argued strongly with me over something very trivial. This is very unlike her, as she normally only gets mad when it's justifiable, and never gets that angry.

Call me an asshole but I hung up - it was a really trivial matter, and I thought she was being silly about it. Talking to her didn't help over the phone, and I didn't want to get riled up (I also dislike arguing). I figured she would work it out, and I would talk to her when I got home a couple of hour later and smooth it out in person.

Soon after I got an SMS saying `I'm not OK . help' I called and just got incoherent sobbing. I dropped what I was doing and raced home, to find her on the floor next to the phone. She was kind of crying, not breathing too well.

She later described it as losing control over her muscles. I managed to get her sitting up, talked to her, got her to breath more calmly. She could respond but not clearly.

She didn't want an ambulance, and within 20 minutes I had her on the couch where she regained the ability to talk properly, use of limbs etc. An hour later she was okay, but feeling `hollow', lacking energy.

This happened once before where she became angry out of proportion to what was going on, and far more than she normally would. She then lay on the couch for about half an hour before I realised she was in a weird state, and I talked to her and sat her up.

That time, as with this time, she was not really aware of the passage of time.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? We don't know if the outburst of anger is the cause or a symptom. Could it be related to the MS? Could it be a pseudoseizure or `hysterical fit'? Any answers appreciated.

Since I won't be replying, I'll just say that we plan on checking this out with a doctor.

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (9 comments total)

Don't know if it's helpful or not, but I was reminded of this recent question.
posted by teleskiving at 4:40 AM on May 8, 2006

It is very likely related to the MS. Doctor.

It does not resemble a panic attack, imo, in that there is no original source of distress but rather an overblown reaction to begin with.
posted by mek at 4:48 AM on May 8, 2006

Sorry if these references may have been ones you've already looked into, but here, and here to start.
From what I've just read, this should not be considered a seizure on the face of it. I have epilepsy, and that's a long diagnostic journey in itself which should only be undertaken when other factors are removed. IANAD of course, but the little bit of reading tells me that sudden anger, confusion and anxiety are concident with MS in some cases. In a state of anger and confusion that comes from nowhere, your partner might have been overcome with a severe anxiety reaction (not making much sense, crying, irregular breathing), which could account for the confusion or loss of time awareness.
I wish you both the best.
posted by nj_subgenius at 4:55 AM on May 8, 2006

With MS, you don't know what parts of the brain are being affected at the moment. Sometimes it presents as optical problems, sometimes as general muscle control issues, sometimes as quick death.

MRI might help to find out where the lesions are presenting, and maybe explain why she's behaving the way that she is. However, even the strongest magnets don't have as much resolution as neurologists would like, and lesions presenting on MRI might not be the ones causing the active symptoms.

That said, a disease in which your body's defence mechanisms are attacking your own brain is pretty freaky, and if I were diagnosed with it, I'd probably have serious emotional outbursts too.

I'm not a doctor - what I'm writing here is only based on the information I've heard from the MS oriented neurologists my company supports.
posted by tomierna at 4:56 AM on May 8, 2006

A long time ago, I had a friend with MS who would lose control over her muscles during periods of stress. She would hide when that happened, so I don't know if she had sudden attacks or more of a progressive loss of motor control. After consulting with her doctors, she wound up quitting school and moving out to the country to try to reduce the stress in her life, since it seemed to be a reliable trigger for the attacks.
posted by fuzz at 5:19 AM on May 8, 2006

Speaking to the doctor's the best thing you can do although it sounds very similar to the last serious relapse that I had.

Remember that MS is progressive and that even those of us who have a very mild, benign form can be hit without warning and to varying degrees. Unfortunately, if you haven't had any symptoms for a while then it can be terrifying when something does happen.

More than once I've lost control over my muscles but I just accept that I've got what I've got and live my life to the full, including long runs, rock climbing and rafting. It's not what the doctor ordered (they lecture me to take it easy), but I refuse to let my MS rule my life.

Hope your partner's okay and best wishes.
posted by Nugget at 6:50 AM on May 8, 2006

Speaking as an ER doctor, this sounds like some sort of hysterical conversion. In other words, she was upset about something, you made yourself inaccessible, and she had some secondary gain from a display of fabricated symptoms--i.e. you called her and reassumed a caretaker role.

I know this sounds dismissive, and I dont want to discount the burden of her suffering from MS, but this doesn't sound like an MS flare to me, especially if she's "all better" now.
posted by mert at 7:37 AM on May 8, 2006

I am an epilepsy specialist, and board certified in general neurology, and I would like to point out that the questions you are asking are extremely difficult to answer correctly. My feeling is that the answers you will receive here should not be expected to be more reliable than, say, flipping a coin to determine the answer.

My suggestion is that you let a competent neurologist try to sort this out. Since your girlfriend has MS, she probably already knows one. That person is going to be better equipped to sort this out than you are. Let her (or him) do it. Meanwhile, be supportive without being overbearing - if you can manage that, you've done more than most partners are able to.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:20 PM on May 8, 2006

I think that she being nervous for something is what triggered the breakdown, but there is no other relation to that.

I had a friend who also had MS and it was kind of freaky and sad to be talking just to come to a halt when she couldn't manage to speak clearly, or just seeing her stop on the middle of a stroll because she couldn't move her legs well. Just happened a few times over some years, but it could very easy make some people frightened of it.

What i tried to do in this kind of events was to be helpful, but not compassive. Be patient and try to make it seem that everything else can wait until she feels 100% fine again, but otherwise, treat her like you'd do with any other person. Just don't feel guilty about what happened.

PS: I'm only talking about how to react to MS related 'seizures'. If she's overanxious or stressed, that'd be a different thing, to be treated on a different way.
posted by ArchEnemy at 3:00 AM on May 10, 2006