Suggest Treatment For Depression And Chronic Back Pain

Posted on Mon, 23 Jan 2017

Question: Hello. I'm not a smoker or drug user. I suffer from depression and chronic pain in my back. I haven't slept in about 36 hours and although i was trying, I just got off my computer, went to lay down in bed and turned lights off. No alcohol either. Just have a little bit of insomnia. As I laid down to sleep, within a minute my body all of a sudden had a convulsion that i couldn't control and it lasted very short time ( i think) it was like a full body twitch and I couldn't do anything in that moment. Immediately following, being in the dark as I was in bed, I saw three bright light grey colored floating blobs in my vision with my eyes shut. I opened my eyes and turned the light on and they were still floating. I want to say it was in my right eye as I have a little headache on that side. First time ever this has happened. 5'5''/ 160lbs / fairly healthy other than listed info. Any idea?

Answered by Dr. Santosh Desai (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Probably you did not have a seizure. You need to consult a psychiatrist for Insomnia and depression

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing at health care magic.

I understand your concern.

To explain you what has happened I would like to first tell you what constitutes a seizure
A seizure is an abnormal jerky movement of body which is consists of preictal, ictal and postictal phase.
1) Seizure starts with preictal phase where there can be flashes of light, nausea, vomiting etc
Followed by
2) Ictal phase where there is abnormal jerky movements that may be tonic or clonic or both
Followed by
3) Post ictal phase where there is usually loss of consciousness and confusion
To be certain the episode is rarely remembered by the patient. So i am pretty sure that it was not a seizure

Now coming to your symptoms

You had no sleep for almost 36 hours that causes exhaustion of the Brain Neurons so during a 5 minutes nap as well you directly go the stage of rapid eye movement sleep (rem) ( that is the stage of sleep where you usually have dreams). So when you had this twitching like sensation you were in rem sleep and had this floaters in front of eye.Which sustained when you opened your eyes...
This is all related to your lack of sleep (insomnia).

I would also like to know
1) What sort of depression you are suffering from?
2) Do you enjoy in company of friends or relatives?
3) Had you ever had suicidal tendency?
4) Since how many days are you depressed?
5) Exact site of backache?
6) Severity of backaches, duration and history of similar episode in past?

I would also like to suggest that you consult a psychiatrist regarding the problem of insomnia and depression..

I would like to hear about the above mentioned queries from you.. so that i can help you better..
Hope i answered some part of your query. Thank you

Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad