u/elhazelenby

I posted not long ago asking for advice on visiting a Mandir for the first time since I was a child, coming from an English non religious background. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and information. I've been reading the Bhagavad-Gita and watching a lot of videos about Hinduism. I have found quite a lot of Hindu philosophy very valuable from what I've learned so far.

I visited the local Mandir yesterday morning and I was immediately welcomed. Everyone was very friendly. When going inside I observed everything inside the main prayer hall. The left corner had a "Shivling" Section where I saw Devotees pour water to. There was a loop of traditional music playing in the background. There were many pictures and depictions of who I believe is Shiva with his Trident. It was a very beautiful sight.

At one point I sat down and I was looking at the statues of the different Gods. I was dizzy and I went into this kind of trance and I went into a few absence seizures (essentially it looks like I am staring at something but I cannot respond and my mind is almost switched off). During one of these seizures, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder, which isn't something I've ever felt during a seizure I've had before. It was very surreal. It didn't feel feel uncomfortable, it felt almost like it was reassuring me during a hard time. Maybe it was Shiva, or some other God? Not sure. I stayed for lunch in the kitchen which was very delicious and reasonably priced as well.

I should stress here that I have already been having seizures for around a year so I'm not saying that this experience made me start to have seizures. I am diagnosed with Non Epileptic attack disorder. I generally have this feeling of dizziness a lot of the time that triggers them. I'm so glad I didn't have any of my tonic clonic seizures while I was there because often my seizures can make people panic a lot despite them not usually being life-threatening.

I am writing this to get the story off of my chest as it's something that I can't quite express to other people and maybe someone here will find it of value or interest. I'm still not 100% sure what to make of it. It's not something I've ever experienced visiting other religious temples before. It makes me think of when I've talked to reborn Christians who found faith in Jesus Christ after not believing through a peculiar supernatural/spiritual out of body experience. I would love to go back soon, perhaps experience a prasadh, Aarti or puja.

I am 25M. I can hear and I can talk most of the time but I have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) so I mishear often or miss things due to childhood ear issues. The Audiologists who specialise in APD I see say I have a hearing disability so I've put HOH. I attend a Deaf group and have been attending the same group for over 5 or so years so I know everyone there. I've been learning/practising BSL for roughly the same amount of time.

Essentially there's a very nice elderly woman who comes with her husband who are both born profoundly Deaf (The group is majority born profoundly Deaf with BSL as their first language, mostly aged 50+, I am the youngest there) and she had tapped my behind a couple of times during the group today. I didn't know what to say. I didn't think it was malicious at all. No one else reacted to it or noticed it.

This is already a difficult topic for me as I experienced a lot of sexual harassment and also sexual assault from people since childhood but I often struggle with speaking up when I'm uncomfortable when something happens without my consent. I tend to just freeze or just lose my words.

It's a bit awkward because of the language barrier and my previous trauma from this stuff makes it hard to talk about for me. I rarely talk to people about my sexual assault from my ex boyfriend.

My level of BSL is ok and I can hold a conversation but I am not fluent so I'm not always good at expressing things as well as in English especially on more complex subjects, plus I have special needs.

The person who leads the group (also Deaf) often comes with an interpreter in training (she's done all her exams but now she is training in situ) who is also a CODA. She will interpret what people will say for the hearing members of the group such as for bingo.

First of all, this isn't something I personally believe. I don't see myself as either hateful of Sikhs or jews. This is something that a friend of mine believes. He is not religious and he is not ethnically Jewish but he has a lot of Jewish friends, including one or two from Israel, and he believes this. I am guessing this is what they have said to him. I am from the UK & he is from the UK & Ireland.

I understand that this isn't really true as the Kirpan is basically meant to signify justice and protecting others. It's not used in a violent way in a similar way that I carry a Swiss army knife and don't use it for violence. I've known/met a lot of Sikh people, as they are common where I live. I also was taught about it at school when I was 10 since I grew up in a very diverse part of South East England.

Is there some anti Sikh sentiment from Israeli or Jewish communities? Have any of you experienced this for yourself?

First of all, this isn't something I personally believe. I don't see myself as either hateful of Sikhs or jews. This is something that a friend of mine believes. He is not religious and he is not ethnically Jewish but he has a lot of Jewish friends, including one or two from Israel, and he believes this. I am guessing this is what they have said to him. We are both from the UK.

I understand that this isn't really true as the Kirpan is basically meant to signify justice and protecting others. It's not used in a violent way in a similar way that I carry a Swiss army knife and don't use it for violence. I've known/met a lot of Sikh people, as they are common where I live. I also was taught about it at school when I was 10 since I grew up in a very diverse part of South East England.

Is there some anti Sikh sentiment from Israeli or Jewish communities? Have any of you experienced this for yourself?

I'm a 25 year old man in the UK. I would describe myself as a spiritual atheist. I believe in karma, reincarnation and I believe in spirits, all sorts. My beliefs have shifted in the past few years, as my beliefs around souls and spirits became stronger, hence the "spiritual" moniker.

I grew up in a non religious English family. But I have been recently looking into different religions. Partly out of curiousity and partly to find some kind of new purpose or understanding or community. I also would like to interact with people who have these beliefs to understand their perspectives, as I find it interesting.

When I was 10 or 11 I visited a local Mandir on a school trip and I learned about Hinduism at school but it was a while ago. Also I now live in a different area but I've found a Mandir not too far away. There are a lot of Indian people where I live but I think a lot of them are Sikh so I don't meet a lot of Hindus nowadays.

I was watching a video about the basics of Hinduism yesterday and it dawned on me that actually I have a bit more belief in common with Hinduism than I thought.

Thanks

I am 25. My GP says there really is no one else I can see for any other causes of dizziness and I've seen everyone already for testing. I am seeing the seizure clinic again in September and neurology for my migraines later this month and he thinks it's likely functional dizziness or some part of FND.

I mentioned maybe testing for POTs but he said there isn't really a reliable way to test it and I mentioned a tilt table test but he didn't think that was worth doing I guess?

I'm not asking for a diagnosis. I'm just very confused as to what's going on and it's been over a year since this all started. I'm only asking if there's any other condition or type of condition that could be causing dizziness that could be being missed.

I've been having chronic dizziness (both vertigo and lightheadedness) that can last for up to hours and I get it every day. Often it's this constant thing in the background and then it gets worse. This has been happening ever since I started taking Duloxetine for migraines in February 2025, which I then stopped taking 2 weeks after starting it because I ended up being so dizzy I fell. I've been off for a while and I'm the same if not worse. I have fallen many times and my balance has declined. I have to use crutches to walk for my balance when I'm outside.

Symptoms I have are:

Confusion

Fatigue

Brain fog

Palpitations (my ecgs and blood pressure standing and sitting have been fine)

Worsening migraine symptoms (visual distortions, blurry vision, worse headache)

Leg tremors when walking

Rapid blinking

Difficulty speaking

Feeling drunk

Legs feel heavy to move when walking

Vacant periods although I think these could be absent seizures.

Increased tinnitus (multiple times a week versus maybe once or twice a month)

Multiple ear infections and blockages since it started (stopped early childhood).

Non Epileptic Seizures since August 2025 (Diagnosed with NEAD).

Triggers:

Changes of light

Changes of temperature

Cold

Bright light

Walking too much or too quickly

Stress

Sensory overload

Getting up/sitting down too suddenly

Often Random

Not helped by diet (even binging or eating normally it happens)

Not helped by sleep (sleep is usually fine)

Not helped by better mood (currently on antidepressants, getting mh support, using CBD)

I don't drink heavily or do any hard substances.

Multiple anti vertigo medications have not worked (prochloperazine, betahistine, cyclizine, cinnarizine). I am currently taking Topiramate 25mg and I am going to be increasing later this week.

I've seen a stroke consultant, no stroke. Had 5 head CTs and an MRI, normal. My eye prescription is up to date. Cardiologist saw no issues. Bloods are normal, ECG is normal. EEG is normal. Neurological exams are normal. ENT said there were no ENT issues that could cause this. I recently had some balance tests done with audiology and nothing detected there. I did mention this to neurology when I saw them for migraines and they didn't seem too sure it was vestibular migraine. I've had dizziness spells with migraine but they were very brief and they were nothing this disabling. The feeling was not anywhere near the same.

I also have autism, ADHD, recent urinary issues (it takes longer for me to urinate and I've had a catheter put in me because I couldn't go at all last month), chronic migraine and multiple mental health problems (anxiety, depression, disordered eating, trauma). My balance and coordination has always been a bit worse than average. I went to occupational therapy until I was 9 for what I now know are dyspraxic difficulties but I didn't experience much issues with my balance before this. I could ride a bike just fine since I was 13. I was also very physically active and walking around 15,000-20,000 steps a day with little issues.

When I look online for other causes of dizziness, none of them match up very much. For example cervicogenic dizziness doesn't match because I've not had a neck or head injury in the past year and also apparently it rarely makes you feel like you're spinning which is something that I actually feel very often.

I have been having non epileptic seizures since at least August 2025 and since February this year they have been pretty frequent. I say "at least since August 2025" because I may have started having absent seizures a bit before that but that's besides the point.

I think I have a combo of what look like tonic clonic seizures and absent/focal seizures from what I understand and from what I've read/been told by doctors and read on my medical records. It's often brought on by chronic dizziness I've had for over a year and exacerbated by stress and sensory overload.

I have been so far diagnosed with non epileptic attack disorder (NEAD) by my local hospital and have been for a few months and multiple people have said this is a seizure but not epileptic but for whatever reason multiple doctors, nurses, paramedics act like I'm either faking it or I'm trying to piss them off somehow.

I've already seen an epilepsy nurse and they said that they don't believe I have epilepsy but instead I am having "functional dissociative events" (which is often way of saying I am having non epileptic seizures) from my descriptions. I am seeing the neurologist again in September and had an EEG done which was normal.

Most recently I had some seizures in public and an ambulance was called on me. The paramedics kept insisting I was "ignoring" them when I was having what I believe are absence seizures where I can't respond and it looks like I'm just staring and very vacant from 30 seconds to a minute or 2 usually, my mind basically goes blank.

I said I had absent seizures and the guy was like in a very rude way "I've been doing this for years, you don't suddenly become vacant and then not"...yes you can? Different seizures exist?

Also after having MULTIPLE seizures, it's very hard for me to concentrate and put words together sometimes. Sometimes I even forget when I was born and where I am and what is going on even though I am not unconscious during them. Then I can get scared and that makes me even less likely to talk.

Plus I have autism (diagnosed since age 4) which the people on the phone (strangers) did say to the dispatchers which makes talking difficult for me including not being able to talk at all at times when I'm overwhelmed, they said that I was nonverbal on the phone.

I wear a medical alert bracelet that says my medical conditions and I carry a couple of alert cards on me as well. I've had multiple people be like this with me about my autism when I can't talk as well, even when they know about it.

I've also had a doctor to tell me to stop seizing "because you're fine", like I can control it.

I've had many seizures where I struggle breathe and been in very dangerous situations because of them such as when I had seizures in the middle of a road while cars were driving and I had to be pulled out of the road. It's not fun and I've actually attempted suicide because of it many times. I've had to take sleeping medication just to go to sleep because I could not stop seizing at night at times.

Those paramedics who said I was "ignoring" them also had the nerve to say I was "wasting their resources" when 1. I didn't make the call, I don't want to go in an ambulance or to the hospital and 2. I still needed medical attention even if it was just to make sure I was ok because I have a medical condition I can't control.

It's not even like I'm trying to make it out that I have epilepsy when I don't think I do. I tell everyone I have NES/NEAD. I'm not interested in faking or exaggerating my disabilities. I feel like there's an ageism problem in the NHS towards young people with disabilities they can't control.

I've been taking 120mg a day for a little while and then earlier this week I started taking 180mg (60mg 3x a day) after I binge and purged (I have eating issues).

I've noticed since taking 180mg a day I'm waking up during the night multiple times and I'm getting itchy and feeling like bugs are crawling under my skin (which I've experienced before on this).

Also doctors have warned it can worsen my pre-existing chronic dizziness and frequent non epileptic seizures. I saw my GP on Friday and he was very non judgemental about it but he advised me to stop it and I was like to myself "I'm going to stop taking it". Then the next day I ended up taking 60mg. I still feel like I need the control over my intake and my ADHD because it helps calm me down.

I still feel the feeling in my arms that something is under it inside me and I overheat easily but my sleep improved last night, I didn't wake up much during the night.