prolonged weirdness from strobe lights?

[morgan86]

so my husband and i went to a haunted house over the weekend. they had strobes.. i get very disoriented when im in strobes. i dont go straight into seizures but it feels like the nasty prelude and my husband covered my eyes because we discussed ahead of time what to do when we got in the rooms with the strobes.. everything went good. didnt have a seizure... but for the past few days i feel like im withdrawling off my meds.. im very sore and dizzy.. almost like the strobes prolonged the after siezure feeling which is strange because i didnt have one. i was even able to drive home.. but now i wonder, feeling as i do now, whether i should drive today.. im also getting these weird shocks.. like every few mins its like i got a static shock or a slight muscle spasm or something. very minute but very noticeable at the same time. anybody else has this happen???? i've been taking my meds like clockwork so it isnt a missed dosage so why do i feel like i missed one? if thats even the feeling im having.
or is it all just prolonged from the strobes from saturday night??????????????

[Rae1889]

Hmmm, maybe there is some underlying, unrelated cause. but like someone one here noted taht a seizure can start *begin to produce* anywhere from 24 to 72 hours in advance. so maybe there is one coming due to the strob lights but its taking a while to build up?

[matchu]

I have those shocks all the time! I mean all the time. I never knew how to describe tho, calling them shocks is a great description. I lose muscle control or jerk, it happens in a flash. It is noticeable and very irritating.

[Billyboyboo]

Hi,

I get a sensation in my head when looking at strobe lights, not really zaps, but a weird feeling like I'm going to fall. This is also with flashes and sometimes flashes on movies. I know what you're talking about, the zaps.

Billy.

[Nakamova]

Maybe the recent exposure to strobe lights has made you more sensitive to other lights as a kind of after-effect. Try wearing tinted glasses for the next few days to see if that helps.

[morgan86]

hey rae1889 who was it that said that about 24/72hrs in advance seizure warnings? if im allowed to ask.. or where did u read it?

[Rae1889]

I have read it on here a few times, as this is about the first and usually only place i will look now for first hand information. Let me look it up and get back to you

[Shelley]

I get those zaps too. Sometimes, I get the feeling like some one is pushing me, or the back of my knees, but I never fall.
I found that magnesium has helped a little.

[Rae1889]

I have a feeling it was Meetz, but only cuz I get responses from her quite often. But i could be mistaken. I'm trying to do the keyword search and i keep coming back here.

[skillefer]

Hi Morgan! I'm one of the people here that's photosensitive and react to strobe lights and other fast flashing lights. Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't drive today. Call your neurologist and let him know how you are feeling. It may be that you are photosensitive, and the off feeling is auras. Your neurologist may have you increase your med amount for the next 24 hours to see what happens, or may have you come in this week, or say it's nothing at all. The thing is, talk to your doc and let them know.

[morgan86]

i've got an appointment but not until next week. hes booked until then can anyone please explain auras to me? i think i get them but i've nvr been sure and i've never had a neurologist elaborate

[morgan86]

thanx rae1889!!

[Nakamova]

I believe I'm the one that has mentioned the pre-seizure changes in brainwave activity potentially starting 24 hours before the actual seizure. It's not "warnings", because the changes in brainwaves are unnoticed by the individual. But it's useful to know this when you're looking for seizure triggers -- it might be something that happened yesterday, as opposed to right before the seizure starts.

Auras, on the other hand, ARE seizure warnings. For some people, the auras ARE the seizures, at other times, or for other people, the auras progress to become complex partial or generalized seizures. Auras can take many forms, usually different perceptual disruptions. I posted a list of kinds of auras elsewhere, I'll see if I can pull that up and re-post it.

[Nakamova]

Here's the info on auras:

An aura is a sensory disruption brought on when the brain starts to misfire. Migraine sufferers often get them before they have a migraine headache. Some people with epilepsy get auras before a seizure, or as the seizure itself. An aura can take many forms. Sometimes it relates to the part of the brain where it originates. Here are some types of auras:

Vision: Bright lights, shimmering, pulsating patches, tunnel vision, blind spots
Hearing: Hearing voices or sounds that do not exist, hearing modulated sounds -- buzzing, tremolo, louder, softer, etc.
Strange smells
Sensations of numbness or tingling on one side of the face or body.
Out of body sensations
Anxiety or fear
Nausea
Weakness, unsteadiness
Drooling
Being unable to understand or comprehend spoken words
Being unable to speak properly

Auras can last from several seconds to several minutes and can sometimes end with feeling very tired or weak, sweaty, overheated, etc.

[darcness]

Perhaps the strobes did cause a mild seizure that you didn't realize happened. My wife had a very different type of seizure (partial) when she started on Keppra last week. It was very mild, only causing a couple of sentences to be "off" and then she was extremely tired, but back to at least making sense while she was talking.

If it was a partial that didn't have a chance to generalize that would make sense with all the post-ictal feelings you're having today.

[Rae1889]

LOlL i was thinking it was you Nakamova, but because you didnt answer with an agreeance i figured it must be me thinking wrong again. lol cuz i do that too often.

[Rhea]

I know that anytime I'm near a strobe- immediately I get nauseated and my head spins and I get a headache that lasts for a couple days. I even once asked the guy in Spencer's to turn off the strobe because it could cause a seizure. Amazingly- he did.

[morgan86]

off topic but i hate those strobes. thats a good point. maybe i'll suggest it at the local spencers i go in