# depersonalisation and epileptic activity in the brain dr sierra



## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

hi all,

I have learned that i have mini seizures in my brain without having really seizures or epileptic attakcs, this in the temporal lobes

this might cause the dp-dr and the depression says a psychiatrist

anyone have the same problem? or also has epileptic activity in the brain? and dp-dr?

went to see dr Sierra and told me that my dp-dr is organic not psychological, so it might be from the mini-seizures, probably.

he made me do an sleep apnea test to see if i had that because he had patients who had dp did the test had sleep apnea got something for it and dp went away...so if any of you snort a lot and sometimes grasp for air when you sleep it might be worth checking out...

i did not have it unfortunately because might have been a way out!

any thoughts?


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## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

hi Eviltam,

I think it does, is the same what i have i have slow temporal lobe activity due to a lesion or something else...but the mri scan showed no lesion so don t know what it is...

are you also depressed?

I take Lamotrigine which helped me to get rid of the suicidal thoughts but dp-dr still here and also a lot of fatigue and minus 20 libido and depressed...

are you on any meds?

what did they tell you when they told you about the eeg scan and the activity? did they so you could do something about it?


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## carlos071471 (Mar 26, 2013)

I had a stroke in the right temporal lobe a year and a half ago and a month later I was already dealing with symptoms of high level of anxiety (derealization) and depression. I was put on medication (Xanax and Zoloft) so my depression got better but continued to have the horrible derealization feelings. Five months ago, I suffered a partial seizure...according to my neurologist the seizure happened due to scar tissue in the temporal lobe caused by the stroke. Right after I had the seizure (stayed in the hospital overnight) my derealization symptoms disappeared immediately ( hard to believe). then 3-5 days later my derealization came back. Bottom line is I think that derealization is not only a psychological problem but physiological as well (irregular activity in the temporal lobe due to head trauma, stroke, scar tissue, etc.).


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2013)

I'm definitely with Dr. Sierra. This theory of some form of seizure activity makes a lot of sense to me, especially in chronic cases. I had an EEG 30+ years ago that showed nothing unusual -- but it was a baseline -- so there was nothing to compare it against. My sense is that the instruments were not sensitive enough.

I also find it quite amazing that the two drugs that have helped me the most are Klonopin and Lamictal. They serve many purposes, but they are the only drugs that ever made me feel remotely better. I do not take the Klonopn as needed. I take 2mg three times a day.

When I took other benzos at high doses I had no change in the DP/DR, and I could take very large quatities (prescribed) that did NOTHING for my anxiety.

Carlos, sorry to hear about the stroke, but I always reference a great book, "My Stroke of Insight" by a neuroscientist who had a major stroke. While it was occuring she had severe DP/DR -- describes it perfectly -- but that seemed to pass during that morning of the stroke. Jill Bolte Taylor. She is now perfectly fine. She had no anxiety/depression, etc. before the stroke. The DP/DR went away as she got better -- she had to relearn many things -- movement, speech, etc.


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## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

thanks for replying Dreamer,

do you take the klonopin for anxiety or also as an anti convulsant because that it is also right?

I haered of people saying it is a dreadful medicine and very addictive, how is it for you?

how do you cope with fatigue and depression or doesn t that apply to you? i think you take citalopram no? I took four different anti depressants but did not help...

i think it s the mini seizures causing all of this

i saw a pathologist in the usa, am myself from belgium and he did about thirty tests fecal blood urine and it shows that i have a mercury and lead poisoning in my body which could explain the mini seizures and hopefully by getting the poison out the mini seizures will go away...and thus the dp dr

what helped me against the depression and suicidal thoughts is the brain recovery program www.crossroadsinstitute.org , dr Curtis Cripe worked for the NASA and now specialises in the brain...he s also sure the mini seizures cause the dp dr...what i don t understand is how they got there, i went on a skiing holiday and drank alcohol after skiing for ten days and two days later had dp dr...

what helps me against dp is Fluanxol an anti psychotic and in low dose, like i take it an anti depressant but doesn t help against the depression...

any thoughts would be welcome...


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2013)

timzie said:


> thanks for replying Dreamer,
> 
> do you take the klonopin for anxiety or also as an anti convulsant because that it is also right?
> 
> ...


Well, the Klonopin story is interesting. I am 54 and have had DP/DR since I can recall, at first episodic then chronic. I was ready to "check out" when I was 30. I was in psychoanalysis in the 1980s, in LA, being treated by a founding member of the ISSMPD at the time, now the ISST-D or the other way around, lol.

Psychoanalysis was going nowhere. My psychiatrist went out of town and ANOTHER founding member of the ISS.... who was going to work at Sheppard Pratt (dissociative disorders/inpatient, etc.) ... said "We've been having some success with Klonopn -- not any other benzo -- at Pratt"

I said I'd go for it. That was in 1987 .... yes, I've been on it for 25 years.

Long story short, we slowly pushed it to 8mg .... I got sleepy ... but astoundingly not a lot! After a few months, I felt a significant decrease in the DP/DR, enough so that I did not want to die. We pulled back to see what would happen. Above 6mg -- too sleepy, below 6mg DP/DR started coming back,

Now, this doctor, an expert in dissociation was specifically targeting the DP/DR. And it worked, but has never been a cureall. I also tolerate medications very well, even an anti-cancer med I'm on. I feel I need the Klonopin. It helped the DP/DR more than anxiety ironically. Later adding Lamictal made a change in my "fear" of DP. It's impossible to explain. It "calmed someting down in my brain." I just can't explain it.

My diagnosis is Depersonalization Disorder, GAD, and clinical depression. This diagnosis has stood since 1975 when I was 16.

The anti-depressant was to perhaps "boost" the efficacy of the K and L. I don't think it does that much, however, I had cancer in 2010. THAT made me miserable, and also many women who have the hormonal treatment I'm on, actually become serously depressed from the med. My oncologist thought I should stay on the Celexa for that reason though I was planning to SLOWLY taper off.

I would say other benzos such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, etc. are more addicting. I had to take some Xanax when I had the cancer. I would be tempted to take more to calm anxiety. NEVER have I abused my Klonopin. I have been told, and figure by experience, that it is a MAINTENANCE medication.

Whether I have DP/DR comorbid with depression and anxiety, or if it is more a really messed up family/abuse, or if the DP/DR is a form of "bad circuitry in the brain" well, I have no answer. For me now therapy, CBT, meds, and a wonderful depression group AND a wonderful Cancer support group have kept me going.

As far as mercury and lead poisoning ... I know little about that. It could certainly play a factor.

If you want more info, check out my pretty comprehensive website http://www.dreamchild.net ... look at the different sections re: medication/therapy/coping skills, etc. The site is endlessly out of date. My life-story though is obviously unchaged.

Taking an anticonvulsant, doesn't necessarily mean I have seizures. I noticed some stabilizing of my mood on the Lamictal -- it is used for bipolar and a lot of other things I don't have. The change in my mood was so striking my husband noticed it before I did. The subtle changes in the severity of DP/DR came gradually.

Take Care,

S


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2013)

PS, I tried a variety of anticonvulsants before Lamictal. Nothing worked. Neurontin, Depakote, ... it's on my site. HOWEVER, I have a friend who is 63. He has had DP/DR on and off his entire life. He's been on Neurontin for .... 20 years? His DP/DR is GONE. He isn't "afraid" of it. He says he has fleeting moments of it in his dreams very infrequently.

He feels NORMAL that way. However, he is still an anxious person, and has depression. But he has had a successful life, children, career, etc.

We'll all unique. My mantra


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## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

hi Dreamer,

thanks for your extensive response!

I saw your cool website before and read it, thanks for sharing all that information with us!

I am also on Lamotrigine for me it helped takin away the suicidal thoughts that in combination with the brain recovery program, which still stunnes me by doing simple exercises to train the brain it makes your brain stronger and less depressed...it s him that proposed me to see the pathologist to do all these tests...i leave the 19th of april to go for two months to phoenix to do chelation therpay, iv s to take the metals out of the body and tissues...I turst my brain doc so i hope it will help because i am spending enough money on it, but I have to try it...i read that mercury can cause mini seizures and thus dp-dr...

when I saw Dr Sierra a couple of weeks ago he said I would be the first and he would love to publish if it were the case, so iHOPE i am the first...he was really cool, he said not to worry we ll get the DP-DR out of you...said to try upping the Lamotrigine to 400, Klonopin he did not recommend because I am not anxious...if that doesn t work Naltrexone and if that doesn t work Wellbutrin...

If the poisoning story doesn t work i will try the Wellbutrin because I have a lot of fatigue and it should be like amfetamine but not addictive that could get me perhaps working again...

I think I can live with the dp-dr, it s just the depression and fatigue that makes it difficult to function...

We also did a meeting in Holland some weeks ago with people with dp-dr from the site www.depersonalisatie.nl was interesting and it was very much like you said WE ARE ALL UNIQUE, every story was different although most of them got it through smoking weed...

Sometimes I consider the Klonopin just to make life easier because I think it makes you more relaxed so easier to cope but i am the contrary of you I am very sensitive to medication and an alcoholic addict but going to meetings of NA and AA and sober for more then a year and it is no option anymore because all this happened after drinking alcohol which I still find strange because what I ve read it s mostly weed, xtc and Ketamine...

talking about Ketamine, as you probably know they are investigating the fact that Ketamine takes away depression within 24 hours untill seven days...and there s a company developping a medicine based upon ketamine but without the side effects looks extremely promising but still away for a coule of years will be in 2016

www.naurex.com or google restoring brain connections and there is a presentation at Yale about this Ketamine research...it would be great to get a medicine which helps you with depression within a day or something like that, but off course we have to be diligent with new medication but i will play the guinee pig!

will keep you updated in two months with the poisoning story...

do you have dP-DR meetings overthere? weekly or so? that would be great to have that here, we have the forum i told you about but not very much happenng overthere...

kind regards

Tim

p.s.Dr Sierra said also that rTMS helps people in 50 percent of the cases, also rTDCS looks promising...the rTMS i cannot do because of the mini seizures...


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## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

by the way dreamer good to hear that you have fought and won against your cancer!


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## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

*Here is a good link to an explanation of a temporal lobe seizure: http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/temporal-lobe-seizure/overview.html*

*"Under the right conditions, such as exposure to certain drugs, high fever, or electrical stimulation, anyone can have a seizure. The temporal lobe of the brain is one area that is particularly likely to have a seizure."*

*Despite it's reputation as an anti-epileptic drug, cannabis is listed as a drug that can cause seizure by the national institute of mental health.*


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## timzie (Sep 28, 2012)

thanks for the link


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## Robin (Sep 8, 2012)

Hi Timzie!

After reading the article about the temporal lobe seizure, it makes me wonder if it maybe applies to me as well. Many years ago, I had some periods where I used to smoke weed on a regular basis. 4 years ago, after/during a severe flew with high fever I suddenly got DP/DR and I still suffer from it 24/7. So something has happened there what triggered my DP, it might be some kind of seizure. Especially because since then, there's a difference between my pupils. I had an EEG appr 2 years ago to determine whether my DP might be caused by weed, but this was not visible. The only thing what came out of the EEG is that I showed some 'dreamy behavior', well that sounds familiar. I'm wondering now what other tests I can focus on to show what is going on in my head. I never had an mri or ct.

Best regards,

Robin


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