Heart beat and seizures

[Loopy Lou]

Someone actually mentioned this in Angie's thread but i didn't want to hijack it. I was wondering if it's connected to seizures, or if it's a common theme which people experience before/during a partial?

When i was having my EEG, my heart thumped really loudly for about 3-4 beats before i "zoned out", and i've felt this quite often.

I suppose i'm a curious sort...

[epileric]

I know that seizures cause both increased heart rate & hyperventilation. As well well I know that hyperventilation can trigger a seizure but I don't know if it does that because it increases heartbeat or if increased heartbeat is a symptom of hyperventilation

[Loopy Lou]

Hmmm... i know that i sort of zoned out when i had my eeg, and it was during the time where they got me to hyperventilate. Mind you, it's only speculation as my neurologist is not giving me much useful information at all. I seemed to "lose" a lot of time there, and would suddenly realise that i wasn't breathing hard like i was supposed to be.

I also get the heart beating when i'm at home just pottering around the house or whatever, normally accompanied by a partial although my parents and colleagues say that most of the time i don't even notice if i'm having an absence or whatever.

[Crystal11]

The sound of your heartbeat might be a raise in blood pressure that you're able to hear. Have you asked your neurologist?

I have a condition called Tachycardia and PVCs. I take medication PRN/as needed when my heart goes too fast. We don't know what causes it. I don't know if its ever connected to my Epilepsy. My cardiologist and neurologist have never mentioned any sort of connection between the two. I noticed that I dont breath well during Complex partials.

Take care
Crystal

[Nakamova]

Rapid heart beat is a fairly common symptom with certain kinds of epilepsy, especially Simple Partials and temporal lobe epilepsy. It can depend on the area in the brain that's being overstimulated.

[drarvindr]

The question is , when you hear you heart beating , do you feel a beat being skipped or is it regular thumping ? regular thumping is usually due to transient increase in blood pressure. do you smoke ? some of my smoker patients have mentioned a similar complaint. If you feel a beat being skipped , you should consider a cardiology opinion. constant irregular beats need workup. do you have fainting spells , when you fall down after a dizzy spell? (NOT a seizure). You need to get it checked out if you experience this.

as for PVCs and seizures , i'm not sure about a connection , although i know having low magnesium levels sets off PVCs and some people get seizures with hypomagnesemia , so i guess there is a roundabout connection , although you can't prove things in medicine this way ( if a does x and b does x , a and b are not necessarily related).