Has anyone ever succeeded in stopping an imminent seizure from coming on?

[TeeTees]

I would like to take this in a different direction. Is there anyone who can deliberately cause a seizure by sheer will power? I know this is not what one would normally do, but I'm thinking in terms of what if experimenters wanted to observe your EEG while you were having a seizure - or you wanted to demonstrate to the Social Secuiry Board you indeed have a problem (so you can get SSDI).

I have a hunch if one can learn to CAUSE a seizure, this would also enable one to STOP a seizure. Might be an interesting experiment.

Hi John.....almost ashamed to admit it, but I have in the past deliberately brought on seizures - when I was a kid who didn't wanna go to school that day. I still feel I have this 'power ?', if I can call it that, inside me now.....although I do avoid experimenting with it, as I just want it gone for good.

I too feel the same hunch that if I can bring it on, I should be able to send it away too.

[stringbean]

I wanted to add that when one starts I can't stand the sound of anything music, the tv and such all is turned off. For some reason the noise seems to just make the seizure worse. I know before my surgery, I had to turn it off because what I would hear was something totally different than what was being said or sang then when seizure over couldn't remember either of what.
Now I don't know for sure if that is the reason, if so I don't remember that, I just know they have to be turned off.

[John-Forrest]

Speber,

I see where you're going with that. You're right, it could be a dangerous experiment. I'm just thinking that if one can learn to induce a very mild seizure, one could simultaneously learn to do otherwise.

Actually, the simplest thing to do would be simply cease to take my meds, or miss a dose or two. Or drink ten expressos in a row! But what I'm talking about is doing it by sheer will power.

I have this weird hunch that if I can accept the seizure it may no longer be so much of a problem. It's like this other part of myself I am in conflict with; the conflict causes the brainstorm. Perhaps something would change if I became friends with it.

[RobinN]

I suggest you read Epilepsy: a new approach if you are serious and want to turn it around.

[RobinN]

I was also reading up on Wayne Dyer. Having read some of his books, I purchased a book by Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life Wayne Dyer is in the CD that accompanied the book. They both have some very interesting beliefs:

Dyer: It's been proven that the thoughts we choose have everything to do with our emotions. I can tell you that a commitment to feeling good can take away a stomach ache, fear, depression, sadness, anxiety—you name it. Any stress signal is a way of alerting you to say the five magic words: I want to feel good. This is your intention to be tranquil and stress free—and it's a way of connecting to spirit.
***

Dyer: Choosing to be kind is also a choice to make the Power of Intention active in your life. The beneficial effects of kindness on the immune system and the increased production of serotonin have been proven. Conversely, unkindness weakens the body and puts us into a state of dissonance. So extend acts of kindness; ask for nothing in return.

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/articles/seven_secrets.php

Louise Hay suggests a daily affirmation for Epilepsy to be:

I choose to see life as eternal and joyous. I am eternal and joyous and at peace.

I figure believing the above, and saying it to yourself every day, is not such a bad idea.

[John-Forrest]

Robin,

This is very true. I find that if I get stressed and pissed off at people, I am far more apt to open myself to a seizure. If I am feeling calm and connected, this is less so. I have been doing meditation exercises (while watching a GSR) to see what kinds of thoughts put myself in what kinds of head spaces.

Today, I discovered I have a profound fear of rejection, which makes me cut myself off from people. I managed to look at that fear with a certain detachment, then put myself in a state of "energetic tranquility" or "calm tension".

Compassionate thoughts and actions are very good medicine for the brain.

[Bernard]

... Today, I discovered I have a profound fear of rejection, ...

Understanding a problem is sometimes more than half the battle in fixing it.

[RobinN]

Interesting John.
I didn't include something else that Louise mentions in her book. I thought many would think it was too "out there". However since you brought it up...

She says to look up the physical problem in her book Heal Your Body, and then look at the mental cause. So I look up Epilepsy and this is what it says:

Sense of persecution. Rejection of life. A feeling of great struggle. Self-violence

She suggests to see if this could be true for you. If not, sit quietly and ask yourself,

"What could be the thoughts in me that created this?"
2. Repeat to yourself, "I am willing to release the pattern in my consciousness that has created this condition."
3. Repeat the new thought pattern to yourself several times.
4. Assume that you are already in the process of healing
Whenever you think of the condition, repeat the steps.

I am sure this is far fetched for some. However, it costs nothing to believe that it is possible to think yourself well.
If you can think yourself sick, the opposite must be true.
Perhaps easier said than done, since all negative aspects of ones life would most liely need to be removed.
Certainly would make for a more enlightened journey.

[John-Forrest]

Sounds like a good idea. I find meditating on the statement "I AM WHOLE" is helpful.

Prior to the first obvious seizures I had (early 30's), in my 20's I used to feed profoundly disconnected, a sense of going crazy, two brief stays in mental hospitals, bordering on a kind of paranoia schizophrenia. I felt like some creative genius who nobody understood. I find it revealing that my first seizures happened when I was prescribed dilantin. After awhile, I quit, then a few days later, found myself lying on a sidewalk knocked out.

Do our thoughts create our condition - or does our condition create our thoughts?

[epileric]

I think to some degree we can control our seizures by regulating our physical, emotional mental & spiritual selves but I've had people tell me that my E was my fault because it was "a matter of mind over matter" & my mind wasn't trying hard enough. I feel we have to be aware of ourselves without condemnation for not being able to control them as much as we'd like to.

[homemom360]

the last two yrs i started having awake seizures and even more recently last 6-8 mnths as they have become more reoccurring. i have managed to notice the difference between a simple partial and when it is leading to a full on grand mal. if a can catch it quick enough and "distract" or "redirect" my thoughts away from the seizure and concentrate and busy myself with lots of movement i can 95% of the time fight off the seizure. the weird thing is i told my new (in june) neurologist about this ability and now he wants to do a video taped eeg and take me off my meds so he can see if he can catch this happening.

[Zoe]

Hi Angela,
Distraction is a very good technique for warding off a seizure or stopping one when you feel it is coming on. This is what shouting or a strong odor can do as well.
I'd be very wary of doing the EEG video and this is why. If the neurologist takes you off of drugs all at once you will be having withdrawals which will make it more difficult for you to stop a seizure. If you have one while you are in withdrawals and on video, it will look like proof that you can't control them and could undermine any confidence you are gaining in your own ability to manage your seizures.
At the time we go into a seizure our breathing changes, and our heart rate and brain metabolism with it. When you distract yourself, or use any of the other techniques such as you read in the book, you are changing your respiration, heart rate, and your brain metabolism. You have a wonderful sensitivity to your own body and are intuitively responding to seizures as they start so you can stop them. You are learning as you go along and as you wrote, getting better over time. 95% is pretty good!
Over time, by reacting to a seizure by stopping it before it becomes full blown, is to condition your own nervous system. This is exactly what you would learn to do if you were doing behavior therapy -you'd learn techniques to abort the seizures. People with all kinds of seizures can learn techniques to prevent or abort them.
I learned a to do slow breathing and a self-hypnosis technique to stop mine. Progressive relaxation techniques are another method that has been researched and found helpful. Below is an abstract on one of the studies. Keep up your good work and don't let anyone undermine your success or confidence in yourself!
Zoe
---


Epilepsia. 1992 Jul-Aug;33(4):675-80.Links
Controlled examination of effects of progressive relaxation training on seizure reduction.Puskarich CA, Whitman S, Dell J, Hughes JR, Rosen AJ, Hermann BP.
Epidemiology Program, Chicago Department of Health, Illinois.

We determined the efficacy of progressive muscle relaxation in reducing seizure frequency. Subjects were 24 people with epilepsy attending an urban neurology clinic. The experimental design consisted of an 8-week baseline period, a treatment period of six sessions of progressive relaxation training (PRT, n = 13) or quiet sitting (QS, n = 11) and an 8-week follow up. In the PRT group, 11 subjects reported a decrease in seizure frequency (p less than 0.01), and in the QS group, 7 reported a decrease (p greater than 0.05). The mean decrease in seizure frequency was 29% for the PRT group (p less than 0.01) but only 3% for the QS group (p greater than 0.05). This is the fifth recent report of a controlled study documenting the success of progressive relaxation therapy in seizure reduction. PRT is inexpensive and noninvasive and facilitates patient participation. Such a technique should be incorporated into clinical practice.

PMID: 1628583 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[homemom360]

thanks for the vote of confidence and i have yet to decide on the video eeg mainly because one i can't find alot of info on it, and two my seizures sary the crap out of me and having to voliteer to do this to my self might take alittle more curage than i have.

[Zoe]

It isn't a question of having or not having courage, Angela. It is about doing what's best for yourself. Sounds like you are being intimidated into getting the test whether you need it or not. You already know you have seizures, so what's the point in getting the video, since going off the drugs suddenly could increase your risk of having a seizure?

[haird18]

Angela and everyone
I've been able to control and stop several seizures when I was younger. I had some seizures to where I could grab my left side and and focus my energy on the seizure in my left side and it would stop jerking and convulsing! So yes some of us can control our seizure episodes.
It depends how long you've had epilepsy and what types also.
David

[homemom360]

what is weird is when i can do it it's almost like i'm casting a magic spell i rub my hands together rapidly and focus repeating not now, not now and if the muscles in my face won't stop twitching then i slap myself which i don't like doing because it alerts my husband to the fact that i'm having an impending seizure. if i can focus though and stay calm, which isn't easy in a paniced mind, then they stay away. i know i've lost the battle though when i loose the ability to talk, usually when i'm in the process of getting my husbands attention, and can no longer move enough to rub my hands together.
recalling this though also baffles my neurologist though, because i have such i problem with holding on to and recalling must everything else that is short term. the thing is though that i have found that if i can hold onto the though long enough to get to long term, usually 48hrs to 72hrs, then i can hold onto it pretty good. things like the seizures though i do like i use to with dreams and write what happened and what i can recall as soon as i am able.

[John-Forrest]

I've discovered I can stop a petit mal seizure by slapping myself on the back of the head on the right side and yelling at it: "Stop that! Shut up! Just quit!" My right temporal lobe is the focal point of where my seizures start so maybe this stops it in its tracks somehow. (This is a bit embarrassing in public - but having a major seizure is far more embarrassing.) A little like hitting a TV or radio if your reception is off.

My theory is sending a burst of neurological energy elsewhere at the outset keeps it from gravitating towards the focal point. The main thing is not to get "hypnotized" by it; it will get you for sure that way.

I've cut back on my meds just short of what I'm supposed to take (2 dils a day, instead of 3). That way, I can watch what's happening and try things out. I'm not sure how much my meds work; they are merely a strait jacket and my brain is going to do it whether I'm taking them or not.

For sure, try things out. I suppose different things will work for different people.

[homemom360]

I've discovered I can stop a petit mal seizure by slapping myself on the back of the head on the right side and yelling at it: "Stop that! Shut up! Just quit!" My right temporal lobe is the focal point of where my seizures start so maybe this stops it in its tracks somehow. (This is a bit embarrassing in public - but having a major seizure is far more embarrassing.) A little like hitting a TV or radio if your reception is off.

i completly understand, and i would much rather have a hand full of people stare at me for a moment than the whole store gather as the emts arrive. haha. plus my husband has learned to watch for the face slapping and makes sure that i am safe.

[saleen]

I wanted to add that when one starts I can't stand the sound of anything music, the tv and such all is turned off. For some reason the noise seems to just make the seizure worse. I know before my surgery, I had to turn it off because what I would hear was something totally different than what was being said or sang then when seizure over couldn't remember either of what.
Now I don't know for sure if that is the reason, if so I don't remember that, I just know they have to be turned off.[/quote]

I have partial seizures, and I too, cannot stand the sound of music, TV or people talking...seems to make my seizures more intense.

[Eyes_herself]

Yes, but it was ridiculously painful. I think my threshold for pain just became amped up a few notches. I was off of medication for video observation and was on a no-sleep order. It was probably the worst night of my life, but I was able to suppress my pain and ultimately a seizure. But, soon after another one would come, and it would be twice as bad.

I really don't suggest it unless you are in a situation like driving. Hold it as much as you can until you can safely pull over. For me, once I have a seizure, I really won't have one for quite some time. Sometimes it is just worth getting it over with.

::EDIT::

I forgot to say how I did it!! I basically bared down and actually pushed all of my energy into the one spot in my cheek where it starts, to the point where I couldn't hear anything around me. I could feel the overwhelming sensation of the seizure building up, but it was as if we were locked in a fight. Kind of imagine fire versus water pressing against each other. Eventually the mental power would take push it down, but I would be exhausted and numb. A few minutes later it was as if my seizure gained another batch of soldiers to finish off the job after it's retreat. HORRIBLE. My exhausted puddle of water just turned into vapor, leaving nothing to protect me. LAME.