Medical condition that causes...

MadAlice

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lost memory, lost consciousness, severe headaches/migraines at the end of the episode, possibly hallucinations?
I feel like maybe some kind of seizure disorder, so I'm looking at those, but if anyone has any other ideas on where to start?
It doesn't have to fit exactly, as this (whatever they diagnose her with) isn't actually what's wrong with my MC, but these are the outward symptoms she has, and both she and the doctor(s) will assume and diagnose..whatever...before she discovers what's really going on.
 

Maryn

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Yesterday I read the New Yorker article about Emelia Clarke's health issue while filming Game of Thrones. (She's Danaerys Targareon, or however you spell it.) In her early 20s, she had two brain aneurysms that caused symptoms like you described. She had two minimally invasive surgeries and one open-the-skull surgery. It's probably worth finding the article for a read to see if it matches up with what you need.
 

MadAlice

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Thanks for the suggestion guys! some information I may have forgotten to include: The problem does start (that she remembers) after/during an assault, and she has minor episodes occasionally over the next 5 years where she blacks out and then has the crazy brain-exploding type of headache, then the first time she (thinks she) hallucinates instead of blacking out is during another assault.

I will check out each of these suggestions!
 

neandermagnon

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Concussion symptoms can last for weeks after the initial concussion, albeit most people recover within a week or so. England Rugby's website has some excellent resources on concussion (google England Rugby don't be a headcase) - concussion symptoms that persist for more than 3 months after a head injury would be post-concussion syndrome which fits your bill to some extent, though some of what you're describing sounds more severe and I think doctors would consider other possibilities like a brain tumour if the symptoms are that bad, or some other disorder that's interacting with or been made worse by the concussion. I don't think they'd be able to make a diagnosis without doing all kinds of scans and tests first to rule out more severe things, e.g. brain tumours. So things like MRI scans and neurological assessments. But if all those things come back as clear and they don't find anything else then maybe post-concussion syndrome would be the diagnosis.

Probably best to ask this question of a doctor, preferably a neurologist. I'm not medically qualified. A doctor would know, based on symptoms, what all the possible causes could be and what tests to conduct to either find or rule out each one as the cause.

ETA: also PTSD might be considered as this can cause physical symptoms as well as symptoms like disassociation and flashbacks (re-experiencing the trauma - you didn't provide much detail about the hallucinations, e.g. if the hallucinations are basically reliving the trauma) - especially if symptoms worsen following the 2nd assault. But they'd have to rule out physical causes before diagnosing this and it's plausible you could have some interaction between PTSD and post-concussion syndrome. But again, I am not a doctor and it's still better to ask a doctor.
 
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KBooks

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TIA? transient ischaiemic attack (I'm spelling it wrong)
 

talktidy

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Yesterday I read the New Yorker article about Emelia Clarke's health issue while filming Game of Thrones. (She's Danaerys Targareon, or however you spell it.) In her early 20s, she had two brain aneurysms that caused symptoms like you described. She had two minimally invasive surgeries and one open-the-skull surgery. It's probably worth finding the article for a read to see if it matches up with what you need.

Ah, I was going to say sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and reference Emilia Clarke, but Maryn beat me to it. Ms Clarke is lucky to be alive.
 

ap123

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Complex-Partial Seizure disorder (epilepsy) can do it.
 

M.S. Wiggins

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Maybe side effects from certain meds; particularly, sleep disorder meds.
 

anaemic_mind

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My mother had a subarachnoid haemorrhage many years ago. No hallucinations. Just 'the worst headache ever' to quote her afterwards. She'd suffered with migraines for years before this and knew it was different and very wrong. (She was nurse herself).

That day in imprinted on my brain rather firmly. The medical stuff in the weeks after, not so much...but happy to wrack my brain that far back if you need some titbits.

Incidentally, Mum's surgeon was one of the pioneers of the keyhole technique mentioned by Emilia Clarke in her article.
 

WeaselFire

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Anything with a serious fever. From mumps to the flu, food poisoning to voodoo.

Jeff
 

shadowsminder

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What you appear to be asking for is a wrong diagnosis a doctor is likely to make. Is your character a woman in a current USA setting? It's plausible she would be prescribed an antidepressant and referred to a mental health specialist for psychosomatic symptoms without lab tests. Another option is that her doctor will determine all of her symptoms are migraine related then suggest a neurologist if she wants to try prescription migraine medication.
 

MadAlice

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Thanks again everyone!
aspririt, yes, she's a youngish woman in current USA and I am looking for a wrong diagnosis which is why all the symptoms don't have to fit. Having some experience with wrong diagnoses on "invisible" illnesses, I expect the doctors to be like "Well it seems a lot like *Complex-Partial Seizure disorder or whatever* except for X and Y, so idk, shrug, have some antidepressants and try to cut out your stress, maybe exercise more." Sorry, I have heard lines so similar from doctors, haha.
Does anyone know if there's a test for epilepsy? I'm sorry but I don't know a lot about it yet. I haven't decided yet if there may or may not be physical brain damage from these. I really need to go read a lot about epilepsy, but from what I've read so far that seems like a likely misdiagnosis in my MC's case.
p.s. I did read Emilia Clarke's story after it was mentioned above, and holy cow that poor girl when through a lot there.
 

ap123

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Thanks again everyone!
aspririt, yes, she's a youngish woman in current USA and I am looking for a wrong diagnosis which is why all the symptoms don't have to fit. Having some experience with wrong diagnoses on "invisible" illnesses, I expect the doctors to be like "Well it seems a lot like *Complex-Partial Seizure disorder or whatever* except for X and Y, so idk, shrug, have some antidepressants and try to cut out your stress, maybe exercise more." Sorry, I have heard lines so similar from doctors, haha.
Does anyone know if there's a test for epilepsy? I'm sorry but I don't know a lot about it yet. I haven't decided yet if there may or may not be physical brain damage from these. I really need to go read a lot about epilepsy, but from what I've read so far that seems like a likely misdiagnosis in my MC's case.
p.s. I did read Emilia Clarke's story after it was mentioned above, and holy cow that poor girl when through a lot there.

There's blood work that can show elevated prolactin levels post seizure--but I think that only shows if labs are taken within twenty minutes or so. Beyond that, EEG to look for epileptiform activity (specific brain wave patterns) that can be seen with certain epilepsies in between seizures. However, some people with epilepsy have normal EEGs in between seizures, especially if it's a short (20 minutes or so). Drs may order a short EEG, prolonged (1-2 hours), ambulatory (patient is hooked up and sent home for 1-3 days with a recording device connected to the electrodes placed on the scalp), or video EEG (admission to the hospital, hooked up with video monitoring along with the EEG tracings, this can be for 24 hours to many days, depending on the situation).

MRI might also be ordered, especially since there are repeated episodes.