Q. I am a 29 year old male who was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy approximately 1 year ago from today. I had been experiencing petite mal seizures for many years and just discredited them as odd sensations. I finally had a full blown grand-mal seizure around a year ago while at work and was taken to the emergency room. After my release I was referred to a neurologist where the diagnosis was based on an abnormal EEG and past experiences. Both C-Scan and MRI were normal.
Prior to this at the age of 17 I was diagnosed with ADD and led to believe that I was of a hypersensitive mindset.
As long as I can remember I have had sensations and emotions similar to the ones that have been described as symptoms of BPD. I was curious as to the degree that these issues relate to one another.
A. They relate very, very strongly.
I believe that BPD dysphoria and dissociation are seizures (brain cells firing inappropriately and out of control). Some call them "complex partial seizures," some "temporal lobe epilepsy." Sometimes they have abnormal EEG's, other times no - because the seizures are in deep brain structures, not at the surface.
ADD is incredibly related to the BPD. While there is no good research on this, I suspect half of untreated individuals with ADD go on to get the BPD - and then both are present in adulthood.