first time here

[renee97]

I am on my way to a dental appointment, but I just wanted to say hi and ---- who in their 50's expects to get Epilepsy??

[RobinN]

Hi Renee -

I am not sure from your post if you have recently been diagnosed with E.
I did read last week that those over 50 are the largest group of people being diagnosed.
I think I read it in the news link here at CWE, but I can't find that page right now. I will do some searching to uncover it.

Take care... hope the dental appt went well. That is something I need to do. Think I will call right now for an appt. Thanks for the reminder.

[Bernard]

Hi Renee, welcome to the forum.

There are several members here who have been diagnosed in their 40s or 50s.

[POSITIVEPERSON]

Hi Renee: Sorry to hear about your diagnosis at any age. But glad you found this site.

Hope all went well at the dentist

Looking forward to getting to know you !!!!!!!

Riva

[renee97]

Robin,
If you say that:
I did read last week that those over 50 are the largest group of people being diagnosed.
That indicates to me that stress is the trigger.
I know it was for me.
Laid off from three jobs between June 2003 and October 2004, and the job I took in December 2004 was a total mismatch-Collections. Terminated over the phone from that in November 05 & five days later my first tonic / clonic and spent ten hours in the county medical center.
So here I am almost two years later having not had a job for two years, and no income for 16 months. Anyone know how I could win the lottery? Just kidding.
(Lisa Renee)
Minneapolis MN

[POSITIVEPERSON]

Renee do you exercise? Do yoga? I have been doing that since I was 24 yrs old and let me tell you starting the day with yoga and 80 block walk keeps me balanced. I have swam, cycled , hiked but I always do something .Why Because I feel the difference when I don't exericse. Its worth the effort start slow and build up. My accupuncturist in Montreal always told me she couldn't go to one of those gyms to exericse, she had to do what she liked ,for example tai chi or belly dancing .
You will see the difference once you start .
Good Luck !!!!!!!
Riva

[RobinN]

Robin,
If you say that:
I did read last week that those over 50 are the largest group of people being diagnosed.
That indicates to me that stress is the trigger.
I know it was for me.
Laid off from three jobs between June 2003 and October 2004, and the job I took in December 2004 was a total mismatch-Collections. Terminated over the phone from that in November 05 & five days later my first tonic / clonic and spent ten hours in the county medical center.
So here I am almost two years later having not had a job for two years, and no income for 16 months. Anyone know how I could win the lottery? Just kidding.
(Lisa Renee)
Minneapolis MN

I don't want to downplay any of the stress related factors for anyone. I know we all have our burdens. But couldn't it also be due to an accumulation of bad dietary choices? Toxins in the system too? ...chemical buildup, both by choice and not, ...and stress?

[renee97]

Considering that as short a time ago as 2003-04, both my primary care physician and ob/gyn considered me a very healthy person, and were well aware of my healthy eating habits (a friend called me a "rational vegetarian"). I do no alcohol, tobacco or firearms; just model trains, photography, practice piano and compose music.
Yes, this does sound defensive. I admit it.
I have my own website: www.lisaragsdale.com
and that is where you can see one of my photos, listen to some of my music, and read some of what I had published in the mid 1990's.
I have worked very hard to maintain a healthy life considering that after my mother died in 1995 from congestive heart failure, I have been completely on my own. I moved from St. Louis MO to Minneapolis MN in 1999 having no contacts here at all.
OK, it's off the soapbox. Oops, one more thing: I am a post-op male to female transsexual. What was that about stress?
Lisa

[Nancy]

Hi renee -- I'm glad you found us and have such a good place to talk.

But I'm going to feel free to say that, in my opinion, stress does not cause epilepsy.

OK, OK, OK .... I'm no expert and I have no education, BUT ................
epilepsy is not caused by stress. It's caused by many dozen things and stress makes it much WORSE but it doesn't CAUSE it, right?

Now I'll go away and be quiet...............

[POSITIVEPERSON]

Nancy is right, its head injury , scar, fever, heritary. But the exercise helps keep the stress under control . Which enables you to deal with everything and anything.

Wishing you a seizure free life
Riva

[Bernard]

Stress lowers the seizure threshold, so it can be a seizure trigger in those whose threshold is normally low (ie. those with epilepsy).

I still wonder if extreme, traumatic stress can be a causative factor in permanently lowering the seizure threshold (or "causing" epilepsy). It's pure speculation, but extreme stress can cause physiological changes including vitamin/mineral imbalances, depressed immune systems (increased vulnerability to virii and environmental threats), etc. See emotional trauma stored in the body for more on the subject.

[speber]

I would be willing to go along with that theory...I mean, I can imagine some pretty horrific circumstances that might cause the body and mind to 'react' in ways we just can't really foresee. For example, I wonder if many documented 'post-traumatic-stress-suffering' war vets had developed epilepsy due to events from battle? The mechanics of having to 'think' about all those events (or trying to block them out) may somehow 'overload the circuit'? Man, I'm gonna have nightmares tonight.


out with the bad feelings..........
in with the good feelings...........

...wife, kids, music, vacations, ......
there we go....zzzzzzz

[RobinN]

Stress lowers the seizure threshold, so it can be a seizure trigger in those whose threshold is normally low (ie. those with epilepsy).

I still wonder if extreme, traumatic stress can be a causative factor in permanently lowering the seizure threshold (or "causing" epilepsy). It's pure speculation, but extreme stress can cause physiological changes including vitamin/mineral imbalances, depressed immune systems (increased vulnerability to virii and environmental threats), etc. See emotional trauma stored in the body for more on the subject.

Okay to follow along with this... could this level be higher or lower in different people. Perhaps the barrel is deeper for some than others. Perhaps what is considered trauma for one would be a piece of cake for another. Of course trauma is what someone makes it out to be. Some are just stronger than others.

[Bernard]

I would think so. I also think your age at the time the trauma is experienced plays a huge role. Older people have more mature coping mechanisms than toddlers for instance.

[renee97]

after my inexcusable rant, i do feel like a toddler, indeed. and i don't know if anything i can say will make things any better.
It might be that the difficulties I have had acquiring employment over the last several years and having worked in totally hostile work environments may have played a little contribution to all this.
Lisa Renee

[RobinN]

...rant?
I didn't see a rant here... Bernard, did you catch a rant?

[Bernard]

No, but my Fall allergies are killing me right now.

Lisa Renee, no worries.

[renee97]

I saw the lead / reference from the epilepsy.com website about CBT and dropped everything and came to this site. That is what is of greatest interest to me.
I think I have seen something about this before in reference to epilepsy. OK so where do I go from here? Thanks. As I am a very creative and yet very logical person, I am always looking for ways to solve problems without drugs!!
Lisa Renee

[brain]

I have a better idea for all of us...

Let's abandon this website and head
to ARUBA!

[Bernard]

I saw the lead / reference from the epilepsy.com website about CBT and dropped everything and came to this site. That is what is of greatest interest to me.... OK so where do I go from here?

You could contact Dr. Donna Andrews of the Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program or get yourself a copy of the Epilepsy - A New Approach: What medicine can do, what you can do for yourself book.