I Don't Know How To Describe It, But Sometimes I Have 'mini-seizures.'

[Tei-Saji]

Like when I'm re-experiencing an event, I feel like part of my brain is pulsating. And it's like only a part of my brain that's pulsating, not all of it. I've been having these for a while, and I'm curious as to what this could mean. I haven't told anyone, because I didn't think anyone would be able to relate. I still kind of don't.

 

[Chava]

Sometimes I feel a really strong pulse in my head, especially behind my ears, when I'm way stressed...not sure if it's the same thing you experience. I don't think I'd call mine a sort of seizure though, just really strong pulse or feeling of fluid.

 

[desiderata310]

when I am stressed and about to dissociate it feels like the front of my brain feels like it is being squeezed.

 

[Seasounds]

Me, to; so glad you put it into words!
I've always attributed it to a trigger being activated-thinking that it increases the blood flow to the 'flight, freeze, or flight" parts of the brain (amygdala, etc.) It seems to calm down after the impact of the trigger has worn off.

 

[Friday]

I have to remind myself on a fairly regular basis that the brain has no pain receptors (brain surgery doesn't use anesthesia. Patients are kept awake and talking! Just locals for the scalp & skull. Brain itself feels nada).

I have to remind myself because it feels like
- I'm having an aneurysm
- One hemisphere is being melted by acid
- Throbbing & pulsing
- Stabbed through my eye / skull.

This all started happening after my skull picked up an extra crack in it / a pretty wicked concussion (lost all my numbers, not just math but numbers, and all my mental maps. Had to relearn both). S'alright, though. My next concussion I lost my ability to speak. That's a major pain.

There are a whole lotta nerves that run through the skull (5 facial, 3 trigeminal, hundreds of insertion points, and then round the back of your neck are ganglia where they get together in a TubeMap kind of SNAFU before joining up with the spinal cord). Especially if you include the base of the skull (spinal cord), and sensory input from the face (vision, hearing, taste).

One thingIve noticed, is that when I feel pulsing "in my brain" during a panic attack... If I go look in the mirror,.. It's usually my pupils dilating and contracting. For whatever reason, I'm feeling that movement... Just in the wrong place.

 

[Tei-Saji]

@FridayJones

I'm very, very sorry that you had to go through all of that.

 

[Friday]

@Tei-Saji

No worries! I don't know if it's the same pulsing you experience... But one thing I've learned (apart from having a hard head) is that while I used to get kind of lost in panic attack... Microfocusing on various things (like what my head, HR, breath rate, pupillary action, etc. are doing) has helped me maybe not have fewer flashbacks, but to climb out of them and into reality faster / better.

I've wondered if that's part of what the pain &/or sensations are: my brain (or mind) healing. Throwing in something that doesn't jive with the panic attack or memory or flash... To kind of interrupt it.

 

[joeylittle]

The smaller seizures I've had (simple partials) were more a feeling of unplugging, or calmness. I've only had a few bigger ones, and all I remember is being in a kind of hallucinatory state, very intense experience of running very hard.

You are probably experiencing increased blood pressure - that can make you feel all kinds of pulses. Next time it happens, if you can, do what @FridayJones mentioned and check out your pupils in a mirror. Also, see if you can take your pulse (count the beats for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6); see how accelerated it is.