Partial seizures or panic attacks?

[Adamj]

hello, I joined this group when I was told I could possibly have Chiari Malformation but after the neurosurgeon did a spine mri and looked at my brain mri she said I was very much borderline and no spinal fluid was blocked so she doesn’t even want to call it Chiari my tonsils are about 5mm down. But anyway back to the topic I have a question about how do I know if I’m having a seizure or a panic attack I don’t pass out or convulse but I do have some very weird tingly feelings I also zone out for like a minute or two it feels like my thoughts jumps all around the doctors keep saying that it’s just panic anxiety and stress. What is weird to me I’ve had panic attacks before and they never felt like this until after I had covid back in February and then left my job because of great stress two days after leaving that job i went for an interview at a job I had previously and as we were sitting there talking I had this weird like feeling come over me and then had a tingling sensation take on half my body I also felt lightheaded and my heart started racing had them call ems and they checked me out and they said it really looks like panic to them my bp was like 200/100 it was high but as we were sitting there the color and stuff all came back into me and bp came down but ever since I’ve been living in hell. Have had multiple blood works different heart tests all came back normal besides my vitamin d was extremely low still trying to bring that up. I don’t do well with SSRIS have also tried buspar with no avail. Xanax and Klonopin are the only things that have seemed to somewhat helped. I don’t know if any of you have any insight on it I’ve been told I’d definitely know if it was a seizure but like I’m so conflicted with this all especially when my body feels so off.

[Pennypeaches]

I’ve had panic attacks pretty bad years ago, so I do understand them. Your symptom with the tingling sensations and the zoning out reminds me of a problem my son started with in 7th grade. We didn’t know what was wrong with him. We were taking him to different drs. He had cold symptoms, lung issues, tingling sensations and couldn’t sleep and about 1 week later he had a grand mal seizure. Long story short, he was diagnosed with what the neurologist called silent seizures, he was on meds for a few years and he is okay now no more seizures. My question is did your neurologist do an EEG? The Dr said that an EEG was the only way to tell if he has had a seizure. Looking back I remember my son having the silent seizures right in from of me but didn’t realize at the time that’s what they were. He would zone out, quick blinking of the eyes and roll his eyes. My husband and I thought it was just a nervous habit. The emergency room doctor there did not even diagnose him as having a seizure right in front of her when she was asking him questions. But as a mother I know my son and I saw it happening right in front of me and realized this was not the real him. So I made an appointment later that day for him with a neurologist. The emergency room doctor wrote in her notes that he was being non compliant and thought he was on drugs. Sorry this is so long, just some food for thought. All I am saying is you know your body and how you feel so don’t give up if you think there’s something wrong.