Can Hypothermia cause seizures?

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Both of the tonic clonic seizures I had recently came within 5-10 minutes of taking an outside shower after swimming in 58-60 water without a wetsuit. Once I started using the wetsuit again, no seizures. Yes I raised my meds from 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 400 mg Lamictal/day to 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 500 mg Lamictal/day. But I can't believe the cold water and the seizures are not related. Has anyone else ever had this happen?
 
I haven't had it happen. But I do believe there are thousands of potential seizure triggers, and hypothermia is one of them. Everybody is different and their bodies react differently to different things.
 
I think a number of CWE members have reported seizures due to temperature change. So it might have been the cold, or it might have been the transition from the cold. It could also have been the combination of the temperature with other minor triggers -- were you well-slept? had you eaten breakfast?
 
I think a number of CWE members have reported seizures due to temperature change. So it might have been the cold, or it might have been the transition from the cold. It could also have been the combination of the temperature with other minor triggers -- were you well-slept? had you eaten breakfast?

They tested me in the ER. My Tegretol level was normal, my blood sugar was normal, and my electrolytes were normal.
 
Both of the tonic clonic seizures I had recently came within 5-10 minutes of taking an outside shower after swimming in 58-60 water without a wetsuit. Once I started using the wetsuit again, no seizures. Yes I raised my meds from 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 400 mg Lamictal/day to 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 500 mg Lamictal/day. But I can't believe the cold water and the seizures are not related. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

I had another one today. Once again, while taking a shower right after swimming in the ocean. The water was at least 68 this time if not 70 though. For 15+ years I have always swam in the ocean without a wetsuit as long as the water was 64 or more. This is just weird. It's not going to be fun explaining this to work. Once again I will lose my licence because the Lifeguards keep calling an Ambulance which inevitably takes me to the ER. The ER is required by law to call the DMV to report my seizures. I am too out of it when these seizures happen to tell the Medics I don't need to go to the ER. Next time I will have my friends tell them not to take me. I honestly thought the increase in both Tegretol XR and Lamictal would keep this from happening again.
 
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I think that its not hypothermia or hyperthermia that triggers a seizure, it is the stress that triggers it, if the brain feels stressed with low temperature........... there is a seizure and if it gets stressed due to high temperature, there may be a seizure. Meaning thereby, that one single can have a seizure in both the conditions........hyper or hypo. Dear forward be carefull, if u are having seizures again and again, why u are going for swimming? Do not play with ur body, anything bad can happen. Give some time, may be u can enjoy swimming later!
 
I was stressed that day from trying to book a flight to my friend's wedding at the last minute, but it was only that day I was stressed. I haven't been stressed at work because I took a month off waiting to get my license back. I also know my synthroid (Thyroid) was slightly low lately so I even took a little extra the night after the seizure had happened earlier.

The bottom like is all of these are happenening 5-10 minutes after having taking a shower after swimming in the ocean. That cannot be a "random seizure". There have been 3-4 of these but not all of them were Tonic Clonics, so some of them the public didn't even notice. Eariler I had thought they were a lower med dose but I had since raised the dose of both the meds I am on. I litterally swam Alcatraz two weekends ago but was wearing a wetsuit and did NOT get to take a shower immediatly afterwards. There was NO SEIZURE. I have swam in the Great Lakes and the ocean for 20+years and NEVER had a seizure after swimming. I have been swimming at the beach I swim at for 15 years and always took a shower afterwards. I even swam at the same place the day before and took a shower afterwards and did not have a seizure. I never had a seizure after taking a shower after swimming until this year.
 
My daughter used to have seizures when she went from being in a hot place to a cool place (ie if outside she went from being in a hot pool to being outside). It's almost like her body doesn't have a temperature regulator. She also has a hard time when it's very hot outside.
 
I have a feeling my Dr is going to change my med coctail. He said last time I saw him before this seizure he didn't totally trust my meds anymore.
 
Hypothermia doesn't cause seizures in people who don't normally have seizures, but I agree that the temperature change, probably more so than the cold itself, could definitely be a trigger for some people with epilepsy.
 
Perhaps your seizures are moisture-related, rather than temperature-related? Several of my seizures (complex partials) occured when at least part of me was immersed in water...several while I was in the shower and one while I was in the middle of my OCD-handwashing. A lot of them also occurred when I was sweating heavily, though these drenching sweats may have even been simple partials in disguise that spread into complex partials. I just wonder if anybody out there has an answer as to how I'm to determine if these 'sweat attacks' are simple partials in disguise?

I wonder, too, if your seizures might be related to solar/geomagnetic activity? And doesn't salt water 'conduct'? Two of the websites in the following thread can be searched backwards and compared to your seizure diary.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/seizures-solar-geomagnetic-activity-11768/

Salt must have something to do with seizures though because I swear I read that low sodium can trigger them?...and sweats often occur for days prior to my own seizures, so my body must be trying to get rid of the sodium for some reason?
 
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Elizzza, you're totally right. A lot of the anti seizure medications act on sodium ion channels to reduce the excitability of neurons in your brain. Anyone low on sodium or other electrolytes can have seizures, a condition called hyponatremia. At least one game show contestant has died doing something like the gallon challenge where they're goaded to drink a ton of water in a short period of time without replacing electrolytes.

I've seen it happen to a little boy on a hot summer day. It was hot, so he wasn't hungry, didn't get enough salts in him, and he didn't feel well, so his mother was pushing fluids. Sure enough the kid started crashing until we recognized what was going on and got him to eat some crackers and gatorade.
 
A runner in the Boston marathon died that way too -- she was over-hydrating with plain water, rather than with something (like Gatorade) that would replace her electrolytes.
 
Perhaps your seizures are moisture-related, rather than temperature-related? Several of my seizures (complex partials) occured when at least part of me was immersed in water...several while I was in the shower and one while I was in the middle of my OCD-handwashing. A lot of them also occurred when I was sweating heavily, though these drenching sweats may have even been simple partials in disguise that spread into complex partials. I just wonder if anybody out there has an answer as to how I'm to determine if these 'sweat attacks' are simple partials in disguise?

I wonder, too, if your seizures might be related to solar/geomagnetic activity? And doesn't salt water 'conduct'? Two of the websites in the following thread can be searched backwards and compared to your seizure diary.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/seizures-solar-geomagnetic-activity-11768/

Salt must have something to do with seizures though because I swear I read that low sodium can trigger them?...and sweats often occur for days prior to my own seizures, so my body must be trying to get rid of the sodium for some reason?

Here's a website with more info on low sodium. It even mentions seizures as a symptom. It also mentions that low sodium causes the cells to swell including in the brain. Inflamation in the brain is never a good thing for Epilepsy.

http://www.medicinenet.com/hyponatremia/article.htm
 
How Cold Temperature Causes Seizures

Both of the tonic clonic seizures I had recently came within 5-10 minutes of taking an outside shower after swimming in 58-60 water without a wetsuit. Once I started using the wetsuit again, no seizures. Yes I raised my meds from 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 400 mg Lamictal/day to 1200 mg Tegretol XR/day and 500 mg Lamictal/day. But I can't believe the cold water and the seizures are not related. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

Over past 5 years, there has been increased research showing seizures occur only when the blood brain barrier is weakened (thereby, allowing increased entry of glutamate etc into the brain cell network). The blood brain barrier is the gate that prevents entry of toxic molecules into the brain, however, it has been shown to be weakened by mercury, aluminum, the pesticide ingredient MCPA, microwaves, etc. As more research is done, I'm sure they will find that many more petroleum based chemicals are contributing to blood brain barrier compromise as well. When you google this, you'll also see that low body temperature can decrease blood brain barrier function - hence, increasing seizure likelihood. Our friend had a seizure this past weekend in Jacksonville Beach, FL and was in the 63 degree water for an extended time without a wetsuit.
 
Over the past 5 years, there has been increased research showing seizures occur only when the blood brain barrier is weakened (thereby, allowing increased entry of glutamate and other compounds into the brain cell network). The blood brain barrier is the gate that prevents entry of toxic molecules into the brain, however, it has been shown to be weakened by mercury, aluminum, the pesticide ingredient MCPA, microwaves, chlorinated sugars and more (While much of this is online in medical journals, I had a very interesting conversation with University of Southern Californian, Blood Brain Barrier researcher, William Partridge, a number of years ago. As more research is done, I'm sure it will confirm many more petroleum based compounds are contributing to blood brain barrier weakening as well. When you google this, you'll also see that low body temperature also can decrease blood brain barrier function - hence, increasing seizure likelihood. Our friend had a seizure this past weekend in Jacksonville Beach, FL and was in the 63 degree water for an extended time without a wetsuit. The medical documentation clearly supports that this was not a coincidence.
 
Heat can be a seizure trigger for me. I've had seizures being very hot, to the point that I'm extremely sweating.

There have been times when I go from a rapid change in the weather hot to cold or cold to hot, like going outside when it's very cold from a heated house, I've had simple partials that aren't bad and only last a minute or two. This seems to usually only happen when I go from hot to cold though.
 
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