BLOG No. TWENTY FIVE

Welcome back to my 25th blog on anxiety and depression. I want to discuss an interesting topic, namely pseudoseizures. Now most people know what seizures are, whether they have a friend or family member who suffers with them. But I want to introduce the topic of pseudoseizures—or false seizures.

Pseudoseizures can look just like seizures, but they originate out of deep anxiety. Seizures are waves of electrical activity that spread through the brain, and if not stopped can damage the neurons. But pseudoseizures do not have waves of electrical activity, so therefore, an EEG—a test to diagnose seizures, is always normal.

Pseudoseizures can look and act just like seizures, with involuntary movements and shaking.

But they are not caused by the same thing seizures are caused by.

Pseudoseizures occur in people with extreme, uncontrolled anxiety. I remember a case a few years back, one which highlights pseudoseizures very well. A middle-aged female I will call Gina, had a follow-up appointment with me after a hospital stay. She had suffered a “seizure” at work—she was a bill collector for large company—and was taken to a local hospital. When all of the testing was complete, no seizure disorder was found, so the hospital released her.

I was already treating her anxiety and thought it to be controlled. But her work had installed various tracking devices on her and her co-worker’s computers, actually tracking how long she was on the phone with customers and how many potty breaks she took. And if being a bill collector was not enough, the constant watchful eye of “Big Brother” made the anxiety even worse. Towards the end of her shift one day, her brain had taken all of could take. Thus, the stress had triggered a pseudoseizure.

Some people, and even some medical professionals, believe that pseudoseizures are fake. Though they are not true epilepsy, they are not fake. My way to describe it is that the brain is so vexed from its stressors, that it “checks out” so to speak. And what neurochemicals might you think might underlie this extreme anxiety?

If you said serotonin after reading the first 24 blogs, I would stop voting right away.

But if you said D2 dopamine, you would be correct. Gina was already on a D2 lowering drug called Risperdal. Once I raised the does from 3 mg to 6 mg she immediately stopped having the pseudoseizures.

Well, I can see that my wineglass is once again empty. And yes, it is the French Sancerre that I opened yesterday. I just Sancerre-ly love it! Until next time when I have no freaking clue what I will be discussing, this is Dr. G say keep the faith.