Skydiving and flying

[Rita68]

Hi there,
I was diagnosed with epilepsy last year. They have always been in my sleep. Bitten tongue etc.

I had convinced myself that I would never have another one now that I quit my super stressful job and I'm more aware of sleep and not sitting in front of the computer for extended periods plus taking meds...

Anyway...

I live in Australia and went to New Zealand last week for a holiday with family - cousins and their kids and my three year old son (single mother). I went skydiving with my cousin's husband. 15,000 feet with one minute freefall. I had a headache all day after and I have funny ears so my ears were weird for a few days after as well.

The day after flying home (very early flight and little sleep) I had three seizures in the morning at my mum's house. She called an ambulance and I ended up in hospital overnight. My mother is super conservative and she is giving me such a hard time for skydiving. She is blaming this on the seizures.

Do you know anyone who has been badly affected by skydiving?

Also I am supposed to be flying to Phuket (Thailand) in the morning with three girlfriends and their children for a week. I have been looking forward to it for months. Have had no travel adventures since before my son was born and happen to have organised two in a row. My mother is making me feel very bad for still wanting to go. She thinks that I am crazy to still be flying and going away just after a seizure. This is only my fifth ever seizure and I'm still getting my head around it all.

Do we still go away? Do you think skydiving and flying in general can contribute to seizures?

 

[epileric]

Hi Rita68, Sorry to hear about your seizures. I have never had problems with my seizures acting up when I fly or have changed elevation however I've never gone skydiving.

I think that since you had not 1 or 2 but 3 seizures together you should probably find out what is triggering them before you go anywhere. The question I think you should ask yourself is if you have any seizures while on vacation then are you going to wish you hadn't gone? It is definitely safer but it also might not be the fun you're looking for if you're constantly seizing.

The day after flying home (very early flight and little sleep) I had three seizures in the morning at my mum's house. She called an ambulance and I ended up in hospital overnight. My mother is super conservative and she is giving me such a hard time for skydiving. She is blaming this on the seizures.

It makes perfect sense to me to blame your seizures for you having 3 seizures. Are you trying to say that these 3 seizures were different for some reason?

As for skydiving contributing to seizures..... it's a very exciting/scary thing to do & it physically increases your cardiovascular rates. Just those things make having a seizure more likely. I'm not saying not to do it (after all I do like bungy jumping) but I feel you should have your seizures under control before indulging.

 

[Katie]

Sorry to hear about your seizures. I've been skydiving and it didn't have any effect on my seizures (and my chute failed and we had to deploy the reserve). But I can absolutely see how it would. It's an intense experience.

I hope you figure things out soon.

 

[huskymom]

I think that you should go and have fun and not worry! This could have just been one of those times when you were excited about the trip and then skydiving followed by little sleep.....I have gotten into a group of seizures before and they do suck, but ask your dr. for some meds for that. I have a very teeny tiny pill that I take on those "special" occasions of cluster seizures and it helps, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is right now. Classic medication side effect, or age?? I pick side effect...makes me feel better

 

[epileric]

I have a very teeny tiny pill that I take on those "special" occasions of cluster seizures and it helps, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is right now

It sounds like Ativan (lorazepam).

 

[huskymom]

You da man! That's right It's so great having people around who are so darn smart! Thanks Eric

 

[Rita68]

Hi,
Thanks everyone for your response. You are all so wonderful on this site and responsive.

I, like a lot of people, have been in major denial of my epilepsy.

I live 4.5 hours drive from my family and tonight my son and I just got back after being in town where my family live. We were there for the past week since this last seizure activity.

On the way home about 30 minutes before we got back I got this stabbing pain in my chest. Then I couldn't stop crying and I think I had a panic attack. Awful awful awful!

I am a single mother of a three year old boy and I am suddenly really scared about living with just the two of us. I'm scared I may die in my sleep and leave him alone. His father lives in Europe and has nothing to do with us. I am so scared. I think I was in denial. This last seizure has really affected me emotionally. I take this herbal anti depressant and I ran out. This may have contributed to me having a seizure. I think this did happen last time.

It's like detective work isn't it? Don't you feel this way? Trying to connect things to why you are having a seizure.

Is a sore chest and feeling like you are going to throw up a panic attack? Plus I have become an insomniac since my last seizure. I think I'm too scared to go to sleep. Then I wake up so tired and have to look after my three year old alone. And the less sleep I get the more I worry I will have a seizure. And the vicious cycle continues.

Thanks for letting me rant. Sorry. When I am better I will certainly try to assist others on this site. Once i've worked out how to fix myself physically and mentally.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Rita --

About 40% of people with a panic disorder experience pain in their chest. And nausea is also a very common symptom of a panic attack. So it seems pretty likely that's what happened. But if there is any doubt at all, if there's any family history of heart disease, etc., you should check in with your regular doctor to rule out cardiac issues.

With panic attacks it can help to take preventive steps. This means taking steps to improve your overall health (see http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/proactive-prescription-epilepsy-1254/) and scheduling a few minutes each day to meditate and/or relax your body and mind. Surround yourself with positive things -- play your favorite music in the car for instance, or put up pictures that make you happy.

I hope you get some relief soon and are able to sleep better. It can help to do progressive relaxation in bed right before you go to sleep. (This involves very slowly tensing and relaxing and your muscles, starting at your toes and working up to your head).

Best,
Nakamova


p.s. you might want to be careful with herbal anti-depressants. They seem to help some people, but there can be inconsistencies in the amount of the active ingredient. A good reference site on herbal medicine is here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html