Panic attack vs focal aware seizures: how do you tell the difference?
Posting in another community but wanted to post here incase someone can help me.
I have experienced both panic attacks and focal aware seizures in the past. The last time I was having frequent seizures was during a unrelated psychiatric hospitalization. This was a side effect to a medication and the seizures stopped once I stopped taking the medication. Never confirmed through testing, just what my psychiatrist suspected. This was three years ago. A lot of the symptoms overlap (obviously).
I've been having these "episodes" recently and everyone in my life is telling me they're panic attacks because of my long history with anxiety, and I made an appointment with neurology but the next appointment was 5 months from now.
This is what happens (usually): I'm abruptly woken up by an extreme wave of nausea and confusion. I feel strong impending doom like something is "off" or I feel "weird" but I can't really make sense of it, where I am, or what's going on. I get so hot from the inside out, a CT with contrast is the best I can describe the feeling. Another odd symptom I get is my limbs feel small or I can't really tell how large/small my body is. Whether or not this is started by anxiety or not, it obviously triggers a panic attack. I feel like my brain is short-circuiting, I don't know how else to describe it. I can talk, ask for things like food and water but the words are fleeting and hard to catch. And then, after doing something to try and calm down, gather my thoughts, I can typically fall back asleep, but most of the time I will need to take Ativan.
These feel worse than panic attacks I've had in the past, namely the confusion and inability to control my thoughts but I've read that's also a symptom of panic attacks.
Does anyone who has experience with panic attacks have any input? Thank you so much.