I am having crazy symptoms and am very scared. First a little background medical info that may be related to my issue. I have severe sleep apnea and use a cpap machine, although I am very claustrophobic and rarely wear it more than two hours/night. In 2005 I had my gallbladder removed. The surgeon ruptured my intestines and I woke up in ICU days later. Since 2006 I have had more than 30 intestinal obstructions due to scar tissue and several lysis of adhesion surgeries. I ve also had numerous pseudo obstructions - there is no blockage, but my stomach and intestines just stop functioning. My GI dr says this is due to nerve damage from the surgeries I ve had. When I do get an obstruction OR a pseudo-obstruction, the pain is always in the very same spot right in the center of my abdomen. I occasionally lose consciousness during an obstruction. My gi dr says that is because there is pressure on the vagus nerve. So...a few weeks ago I started having blackouts while driving and while at work. I ll suddenly wake up and several seconds to minutes have passed. I m not falling asleep - it s more like just losing a period of time. One moment I m fine, and suddenly I m opening my eyes and lifting my head. This will happen over and over for sometimes an hour. If I try to function during that hour, doing something like writing something down, all I can do is scribble. It s impossible to decipher what I have written, but I don t realize this until I try to read it when the episode is over. It happened at work again on Tuesday. My fiance picked me up and took me to the ER. CT scan was normal so they ordered an EEG. I had no problems with the EEG until they turned on the strobe light. With the first pulse of the light, I felt a tugging in my abdomen in the exact same spot that always hurts when I have an obstruction. With each pulse of the light, the sensation was stronger. Every time, it started in this spot in my stomach and traveled up my body to my head. It wasn t painful, but it actually was making my body lift involuntarily off the table. By the time the strobe was going at its fastest level, I was practically having convulsions. I tried to tell the tech to turn it off, but I couldn t speak. When it was over, I was so exhausted - I just felt drained. I remembered everything. I asked the tech if I had a seizure, and he said he wasn t sure what happened, but I obviously had an issue with the light. We waited for the dr to come in and tell me I was being admitted, because we were sure I d had a seizure. Oh, and immediately after the EEG my blood pressure was 185/110. It was normal before the test. Anyway, the nurse comes in and says Ok. I have your discharge paperwork ready. We were stunned. I told the nurse I needed the dr to come talk to me because of what happened in the EEG. She said my EEG was normal and the tech had already told him how I reacted to the light. I said and you re sending me home?! She said the test was normal so there was no reason to keep me. She gave me a patient information handout on the dr s diagnosis: Dizziness. I had never even complained of dizziness!! SO, I was sent home terrified, knowing I had just had convulsions, and no answer whatsoever to my blackouts or any referral to a dr who might be able to help me. My blood pressure was also still 175/105 when I walked out of the ER. I saw my GI surgeon today and told him what had happened. He is referring me to a neurologist, but they haven t called me with the appointment yet. I am very scared. Does it sound like I am having seizures? Could this be abdominal epilepsy or a problem with the vagus nerve?