<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

9) I hope I can help. I highly recommend that your sister go on the web
to the Epilepsy Foundation's website, I think it is
www.epilepsyfoundation.org, which should help answer some of her
questions. She could also go to the library and get a good book,
Epilepsy, Patient and Family Guide, by Orrin Devinsky. But it sounds to
me as if she may be having a combination of several kinds of
seizures--drop seizures, simple partials and possibly complex partials
if she is losing consciousness.

Here is what happened to me and maybe she can see if anything is
similar. At first, one time in the early morning I woke up and felt
slightly confused, like I couldn't remember what day it was or if I had
my kids that day (I am divorced & switch custody w/my ex) but it passed
in only about 10 seconds. Then nothing else happened for 6months that I
knew about. Then one early morning as I got in the shower, I just
dropped like a rock. My husband heard me hit & found me right away--I
wasn't seizing (the traditional type) but I was confused and nauseous. I
was hospitalized and they did many tests but nothing was conclusive. I
had language symptoms such as word retrieval difficulties, memory loss
and attention problems and trouble gathering my thoughts together to
formulate language--higher level language that is. They discharged me
after 4 or 5 days w/ a diagnosis of "transient global amnesia". As I
recovered over the next 2 months I didn't notice any other seizure-like
symptoms. Then again, in the early morning, I woke up confused and my
husband re-oriented me--he thought I would be ok & he left to go
somewhere. When he got back I was lying on the bathroom floor with a
broken foot, bitten tongue, bruises everywhere, unconscious.& naked! as
if I was getting ready to get into the shower again. Again, 5 days in
the hospital & all the neurological tests did not show anything
definitive. They discharged me with a diagnosis of "neurocardiogenic
syncope" which is a fluctuation in blood pressure & heart rate which
causes you to pass out in the early morning. Two days later I was
getting ready for the day & reading as I was drying my hair when all of
a sudden I didn't understand what I was reading, but luckily I noticed
it & told my husband. He came over to talk to me and then all of a
sudden I just stopped talking and stared & didn't respond. So he took me
to the hospital and the nurse witnessed the seizure (that is called a
complex partial when you are unconscious) so finally I was diagnosed
with epilepsy.

The seizures can take many forms. I also had simple partials, which are
essentially "auras", which for me consist of an unpleasant smell,
nausea, a feeling of deja vu and a weird feeling in my head and
sometimes strange visual feelings. After I have a simple partial I feel
sick for about 1-2 hours. These can progress to complex partials if
uncontrolled by medication (to unconsciousness or to tonic-clonic
seizures which we know as grand mal--which I guess happened with the
first and second big ones). Neon lights and other flickering lights bug
me now but since I am on the medication my seizures are under good
control since May. I had lost my license for 7 mos. but got it back this
August to my great relief.

10) I have had experiences with neon-flashing lights and bright lights
stimulating attacks of blindness, partial paralysis, speech problems
etc. w and w/o vertigo and nausea when I was in my 20's (currently age
56). At that time they were diagnosed (wrongly) as MS. Then migraines
started and these strange attacks disappeared.

More recently I've had attacks of what are now diagnosed as 'basilar
migraine' - which may occur w or w/o headache and involve severe vertigo
for anywhere from 1-4 days when I'm unable to stand or walk and,
needless to say, am unable to go to work. In other people they cause
additional neurological symptoms. (see link--)

I've attached a link which you might find interesting and, I hope,
useful. There are treatments, if you find this might be the cause of
your sister's problems.

I take Neurontin (an anti-seizure med. though these are not actual
seizures, I'm told) but there are other medications also effective. I
was just not able to take the others (they precipitated attacks of DH.)
We spent quite awhile finding the appropriate medicine -- AFTER I spent
months (years?) looking for a doctor who could diagnose and then help
this condition. My current doctor is a neurologist who specializes in
migraines/headaches. But basilar migraine is not always accompanied by
headache. It is a new classification of migraine however

11) I'm diagnosed Celiac and also have some of the same symptoms as your
sister. I'm working with a neurologist to sort out what might be
migraine and what might be from seizures.

The flashes sound like migraine aura (usually a warning sign, not always
painful), but could be a warning that a seizure is coming. The twitching
and jerking symptoms sound similar to a myclonic seizure. Celiacs can
get seizures from, doctors theorize, calcium deposits or "white
leisions" in the brain. My mom has the white spots on her brain X-ray.
We're not sure about me yet, but I see blue flashes and get nasty
attacks of jerking muscles and sudden mood swings especially when I'm
over tired or under lots of stress.

Could I have seizures? Maybe. I'll see my neurologist in early December.
Your sister might want to check our "seizures" at celiac.com. There are
several articles about it there. If any of that information looks
familiar, she might print it off and bring it with her to her
neurologist appointment.

12) I would suggest that she see a cardiologist. Perhaps the
lightheadedness is from an irregular heart rate which then causes an
inadequate blood supply to her muscles and eyes. If a cardiologist can't
solve the problem, then I would try a neurologist to determine if she
has nerve damage which is common in celiacs.

13) migraine website:

http://www.neurologychannel.com/migraine/index.shtml

14) Sounds like migraine to me. You can have migraine headaches and
neurological impairment without pain, with pain, etc. There is something
called migraine associated vertigo that affects balance, and you can
have it without even having migraines. The visual issues sound like they
could be migraine related.

Nausea is common in these also....I know it sounds odd but migraines can
be so hard to diagnose as someone can have really odd symptoms that are
not even headache related. I would urge her to check into the migraine
theory...and see someone who knows about this stuff..a good neurologist
....mention it.

15) I really don't know but remember some children having seizure like
symptoms from having watched some child's movie,,, it was on T.V. on the
news a few years back... I believe it was in Japan... ask around maybe
someone else will have better info. 16) When I go into large department
stores that have florescent lights I get real dizzy and off balance, I
really don't know why, thought that because those lights are flickering
off and on at great speeds that perhaps my brain sees it like strobe
lights or something. Needless to say I do not spend a lot of time in
them. I really don't know but remember some children having seizure like
symptoms from having watched some child's movie,,, it was on T.V. on the
news a few years back... I believe it was in Japan... ask around maybe
someone else will have better info. 17) I have been gluten free for
about a year and I have had these episodes you describe. The first one
was about a year before going GF, and happened in a shopping mall. They
have happened probably a dozen or so times since then but I haven't as
yet followed it up a with a doctor. Same type of feeling, flashing in
one eye in the peripheral vision and usually a nauseous feeling at the
same time. it helps to lay down with my eyes closed and let it pass.
Usually about 20-30mins? I have found that the longer GF, the less
frequently it happens.

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *