Can thoughts trigger seizures?

[Cinnabar]

Sometimes certain thought patterns make me feel odd. Like I better stop thinking about it right away. Example: this morning I was telling my daughter about a weird dream I had last night, and when I got to a certain part, I felt bad, kinda weird at the pit of my stomach. Not an aura, but like maybe the premonition of an aura. It's hard to explain, but I felt like I better change the subject right away. My seizures have been under control with the Trileptal, so nothing beyond that happened.

I remember before I knew that my episodes were simple partial seizures, I was talking to a classmate before class. He was, at the time, taking a class that I has already taken, and we were talking about the test that he had just had. As we were talking, I had a seizure (simple partial, no loss of consciousness, lasted maybe a minute). After it was over, I had the distinct feeling that it was the subject matter of what we were talking about that caused it.

Has anyone else had a similar experience of thoughts triggering seizures?

I'm writing my memoir and fear that the subject matter of living with an otherworldy disfucntional familiy could induce a seizure. Even my therapist suggests that I put it aside for awhile and write "happy" short stories but I need to stay on track and anyways my writing is never simply "happy". So far no episodes...if I begin to feel a "big uneasy" I put it down for a few hours to a day. So my writing is/are "thoughts/discusions" and very intense ones when I'm not injecting humor throughout the writing. I guess the best thing to do is walk away from whatever is causing these seizure like feelings just to be sure. When you can't walk away - maybe imagine a large umbrella protecting you from the ligh rain of a seizure-like feeling. I find that if I breath too deeply when having a discussion, I'm prone to an episode. My first seizure was partly a result of hyperventilating. So don't take a deep breath when discussing anything. Lightly pace your breathing and don't forget that umbrella! Always - Laurie

[Molly97]

Laurie,
I suffered the first 50 years of my life with DID(old term multiple personalities). It took six very intensive years of therapy to put me back together again. What is interesting to me is that there was a main "part" of me that had seizures, and 2 other main parts that did not. Depending on which part was presenting during my therapy sessions, I would have seizures during that hour. I can really relate to what you're saying about dysfunctional families since that's what led to my DID to begin with.
Now that I'm nicely put back together again, I have seizures frequently. From several a day to several a month, all different kinds.
I understand the need to write it all out. I did that for the 6 years of therapy. Now, I no longer write at all. Things are truly settled in the past. Now if only the seizures would be. Although, as I think about it, the research I've done indicates that many times seizures go along with DID.

[Nenne]

If i feel like im having a sezure i just think about happy things, sometimes it works sometimes not, but i know for a fact that the second i get frightened and stressed about the fit, i cant stop it. If i instead thing about kittens for exampel and focus on remembering how soft and cuddly they are i relax and the fit either goes away or at least gets better. Even thou i still cry after it and feel lousy but i guess that a normal reaction.

So im just advising everybody to think about what they like the most, Ice-cream, kittens, music whatever and really really focus on those thoughts and maybe u will forget that ur scared and the fit might be slightly easier!

[Molly97]

You know, I never really thought about being able to stave off a seizure by thinking calm, soothing thoughts. I do have auras sometimes; they would give me the chance to try this. I understand what you mean about not being able to stop a seizure once you're frightened or stressed about it. For me, I just get plain mad about the fact that I've sensed a seizure coming on. Mad because these seizures have changed my life so much; mad because they seem to dictate my life events. Maybe if I quit being mad about sensing one, as Nenne says, it may not go away, but it may be better.
Thanks.

[BuckeyeFan]

I went through a period where I was becoming very angry at the onset of an aura. Angry at the E, not anyone around me. This actually "seemed" like it fought off the auras, but that may have simply been my perception. It did worry me though as I feared I might lash out at someone during or after a seizure.

The ideas above of certain thoughts being triggers sounds VERY logical based on the area of the brain triggering the seizure and the focal area of different types of emotions and thoughts.

Though I despise my E, what I am learning about the amazing functions of the brain is really interesting to me. I am one of those nuts for the history channel, discovery channel, national geographic, etc... Learning for the just the sake of learning is one of my favorite things.

[Nenne]

I was bullied in Junior High, so of course i was not very happy in school and some of the lessons was of course worse then others, so i learnt how to "trigger" my own fits, Of course its not very smart but when ur 13-14 u dont really think about that, but because of this i also learnt how to make them go away when i felt that one was on the way.
Today i dont think i could trigger one to come, was to long ago i wanted to have one But i still know how to stop them,

I was wondering about the auras, i get a pre warning also but it does not include any colors, i just feel really hot and nauseous. Is that an aura? If i let go far enough yeah i see spots but that just before i go into the fog

[RobinN]

Sounds like an aura to me. How great that you have learned how to stop them.
I wish Rebecca could. She can remember anything leading up to the event.

[Nenne]

Hey,

How long has Rebecca had E?

I had mine sense i 7 and it took my 6-7 years before i learn to recognize the signs! Even thou i was just a kid before so im guessing she will learn it much quicker then what i did.

[RobinN]

Rebecca had her first tonic clonic at the age of 14 - June of 2006
She is now 16. Hers are very recognizable. On the ground convulsions.
Problem is, she loses her memory. She can blank out the whole morning prior to the event. Not fun when they happen at school. So I have to get my information from those around her and try to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. We then talk about what might be a pre warning aura, and how she might take that info an use it to her advantage the next time.

[BuckeyeFan]

I was wondering about the auras, i get a pre warning also but it does not include any colors, i just feel really hot and nauseous. Is that an aura? If i let go far enough yeah i see spots but that just before i go into the fog

The signs/symptoms of auras can vary widely. I have heard of every sense of the body being involved, plus some who have out of body experiences. My own are very visual with weird depth perception. I had very light ones a couple of weeks ago and the shape of my office was different than normal. Didn't get much work done that day.

[Nenne]

Yeah i thought so to but everybody seem to be talking about the colors so i got a bit confused, i did hear about somebody that felt the smell of oranges before he had his fit! I cant remember where iv heard it but that has to be a bit irritating!

[Molly97]

I've had auditory auras(a whirring sound), nausea, a strange surreal look to the environment. I've never seen colors.
Something I don't know if it's an aura-I just feel "off" and a sense of impending doom. I think I read somewhere that that is an aura too.

[Cinnabar]

I've had auditory auras(a whirring sound), nausea, a strange surreal look to the environment. I've never seen colors.
Something I don't know if it's an aura-I just feel "off" and a sense of impending doom. I think I read somewhere that that is an aura too.

I think any auditory activity is scary! Somehow, I've become accustom to voice blurps. I have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and understand it not that uncommon. How to stop them? I've yet to discover. Always - Laurie

[RobinN]

Understanding Strange Experiences
from Epilepsy: A New Approach

Perhaps the most disturbing espisodes of all are those of having visions, hearing voices, or having extended spontaneous reveries. These can be creative and enhancing, but they are often negative or even suicidal. You may be left shaken and confused. The voices may deliver ultimatums or instructions that raise the question of whether they should be followed. Because thee experiences carry an authority, as if from a power outside yourself, they can be deeply disturbing.

I am often asked in my workshops what to do about the instructions delivered by vision or voices or in extended reveries. If you are frightened and worried, you should report the episodes to your neurologist. Some change in medication may eliminate these episodes entirely. If you find them disturbing but interesting and perhaps of value to your life, then you can addres them in a variety of ways. A psychotherapist who is fluent in dream imagery and symbols will be immensely helpful.

First, ask yourself if teh instructions indicate a course of action that in the cool light of reason you want to take. Then, look at teh instructions not so much literally as metaphorically. For example, if you feel suicidal during an extended reverie, ask yourself if there is something in your life you want to be free of. Treat suicide as a metaphor, not as an imperative.

Not every voice speaks from fear and negativity.

***

Behavioral neurologist tend to reduce these experiences to their neurological basis in the temporal loves and the limbic areas of the brain. Initially they called such experiences psychomotor and temporal lobe epilepsy and now call them complex partial seizures Because thesse seizures lie in the borderland between epilepsy and mental illness they are now being called temporal limbic syndrome or TLS. It is difficult for people trained in scientific, materialist modern medicine to deal positively with these varieties of epileptic experience.

My own view is to value the experience, to treat it as a dream for its symbolic and metaphorical meaning and posible personal direction, and divest it of fear and anxiety. Often when this kind of experience is addressed, it does not recur.

***
Although the strange experiences discussed here are commonly part of certain types of seizures, they are not exclusively the province of epilepsy. Othere people have them, too, even though they do not have seizures. They do not prove that you are crazy, nor are they necessarily undesirable events, even though they are beyond our society's usual bouncaries. An appropriate openness to and examination of these experiences can lead to a real enhancement of your self-concept. You may be able to discover and alleviate deeply entrenced fears that have limited your growth and mental outlook.

[hawke86]

That's a good and interested question. Can thoughts trigger a seizure? I think some thoughts can.

[Cinnabar]

Understanding Strange Experiences
from Epilepsy: A New Approach

RobinN, you state "lie in between the boarderline between epilepsy and mental illness...now being called Temporal Lobe Limbic Syndrome of TLS. I have been reading about how Epilepsy is linked to mental disorders such as Bi-Polar and Dissociative Conditions, both of which I have. The latter, I refuse to call a disorder because it is really a creative coping mechanizim self designed from going insane. But, here, with this condition, I experience inner lighthearted voices. Innocuous. Since, my grand mal seizure and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy I hear occasional voices, though this time I]outside[/I] myself. They only come from a particular area of a room and while only a few syllables are discerned they are very loud and incomprehesible but hell bent on terrifiying me. Now, I've become accustomed to them knowing they are temporal lobe epilepsy systematic. Epilepsy is complexly linked to forms of mental illness. I've read articles relating to this kind or "overlaping" and will continue to be a student with many questions. I've yet to become accustomed to the didatic jargon but will get it down so I can be more expertly informed. To John Q Public, Epilepsy is not just a matter of falling, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth! Many well known and creative people in history have been known to have Epilepsy and it branches out so. I'll be wearing my "Coping with Epilepsy" T-shirt out soon so people can see that a classy-like lady is not a monster or witch to be burned at the stake, like they used to do!
Always - Laurie
PS Thanks, RobinN. I will be looking up TLS.

[Nenne]

Hey,

Where i come from we have this very famous "saint" she is called the Holy Birgitta. She was talking to God and angels and all of that. A couple of years ago when we had in my county the "birgitta year" my doc did some testing on her skull and stuff and i have no idea how she came yup with result but she found out that Holy Birgitta had temporal lobe EP witch of course does explain the visions she had!

Funny thing is when i was a kid i visited Jerusalem with my family and when we where in one of churches (i dunno which one thou) i had a vision and the priest actually wrote it up and stuff and it was a big fuss. Of course this si not something i tell people does not seem like a very smart thing to go around talking about Not that i remember this at all But i did tell my bestfriend (she is studying to be a doc) and now she cant stop calling me "holy Nenne"

Aja i just thought it was a funny story