I suffered panic attacks after my break-up - but they were actually a sign of ... trends now
A young mother diagnosed with depression after a break-up was shocked to learn epilepsy was actually to blame for her panic attacks.
Madeleine Dippnall was left 'hysterically' crying and gripped by paranoia following the end of her two-year 'traumatic' relationship, which saw the 29-year-old move back in with her parents in Cornwall.
As well as depression, doctors diagnosed her with anxiety and PTSD.
Ms Dippnall, aged 22 at the time and living in an affluent part of north west London before packing her belongings up, also lost nearly 6st and was constantly vomiting, prompting doctors to diagnose her with anorexia.
Medication she was given only helped with a fraction of the catalogue of issues she was diagnosed with, leaving her confused as to whether something else was afoot.
Madeleine Dippnall, 29, was told by doctors her panic attacks were caused by depression and PTSD which she put down to the end of a traumatic relationship
After suffering a seizure out of the blue six years later, which saw her wake up on the bathroom floor, Ms Dippnall was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy.
The graphic designer's symptoms 'literally washed away' overnight thanks to seizure-beating drugs.
Recalling her diagnosis, Ms Dippnall said: 'I felt relief that I wasn't crazy. Now I know what's going on.'
Around one in 100 people in the UK have epilepsy.
Temporal lobe epilepsy — one particular type — causes seizures which start in the areas of the brain with the same name.
They are responsible for memory, hearing, and understanding language, according to the charity Epilepsy Action.
Seizures which start in this area of the brain can can make you feel frightened, get deja vu, hear things that aren't there, experience an unpleasant taste or smell and cause fidgeting — Partly explaining Ms Dippnall's symptoms.
The graphic designer from Cornwall, was diagnosed with epilepsy after suffering a seizure out of the blue
After suffering panic attacks she went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with PTSD, anxiety, depression and anorexia, which saw her weight plunge to less than six stone
Recalling her decision to move back to Cornwall, Ms Dippnall said: 'I needed to be by the sea.
'We had to get away. It was horrible.'
She said of her symptoms: 'You have the adrenaline equivalent to being on a roller-coaster.
'Everything sweats. I'd go to the toilet to be sick. I'd be hysterically crying. You have this fear of God in you that something awful is going to happen.
'My mum used to put my head under a cold water sink.
'Sometimes I'd get catatonic. I couldn't move. I'd go within myself.
'But if you were looking at me you wouldn't really know what was going on.'
