Strange Experience

[epileric]

I recetly moved across Canada to Ottawa where my brother lives. Since my stuff hadn't arrived yet my brother gave me an X-box that used to be our moms. I finally learned how to play sudoku on it so I had fun playing but it seemed to provoke seizures. I didn't have any but I would start to feel spaced out & sort of hypnotized as I sometimes do before one. A couple of times I actually had to stop & focus to stop a seizure from starting.

I assumed I was being photosensitive to the X-box so I bought a sudoku book so that I could play. Oddly enough I started to feel that same hypnotized type of feeling. I rarely have more than one seizure a day & I'd had one that morn but when playing sudoku I had a 2nd, 3rd & 4th seizure all within an hour. The next day I played a few games again & got a few twinges but not as bad, the 3rd day it didn't really seem to effect my seizures (if at all) & the 4 day the sudoku seemed to have no effect on my E.

Has anyone had any similar experience with mental activity triggering seizures? I'd love to hear about it. So far My only theory is that creating new neural pathways by doing new types of mental activity is what triggered my seizures but I intend to do more research once I'm unpacked.

[occb]

My partner's extremely sensitive to light and patterns, so the gridwork on sudoku sets him off -- if the x-box lowered your threshold, maybe it temporarily made you susceptible to patterns as well?

[flinnigan]

My father was an amazing thinker who had undiagnosed seizures his whole life. I had ones triggered by sudden motion although my doctor didn't seem to believe me that I could trigger them myself as a child, then I stumbled upon this article very interesting stuff. The brain is so baffling.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1187259-overview

[CathyAnn31]

Very interesting stuff. Thanks for posting it.

[Nakamova]

I would agree with occb -- grids tend to start neurons firing right around the intersections, so if you're at all photosensitive, that can be a trigger. The ambient light while you were doing the sudoku may have also played a role.

[RobinN]

Allergy to numbers?
Sorry to hear that Eric. I know how fun the game can be. What about if the paper is a color?

Irlen Institute

[Bernard]

My guess is that its related to this: Mah-jong epilepsy: a new reflex epilepsy

[flinnigan]

WOW Bernard very interesting. It may also explain the anxiety I feel when I had to make multiple decisions. I became over the top anxious and would have seizures. I've had a few feelings like that since surgery but put a stop to whatever I'm doing when I feel like that as to not induce one.

A friend gave me a Sudoku book and Brain games while I was in the hospital I gave them to my 14 year old daughter because I found them frustrating, good thing I did I guess.

[seizingbeauty]

Its odd cuz they have the reverse effect on me. When I'm stressed out or feeling "off" its help to forces my brain into gear. I find that crosswords or things that require memory of previously retained information not so good. But Kakuro and Soduko are pure logic and at least i have aome control over what I am thinking about while doing them.

[epileric]

I"m going to have to start looking at crosswords or figure some other way to see if it's the grid that caused this.

I don't think the colour had anything to do with it this time since the pages were white. I do plan on getting the coloured lenses for my glasses when I renew my prescription though.

Allergy to numbers?

Good article flinnigan, thanks.

The interesting thing about all this is that it subsided after a few days, though if I ocassionally still have one while playing.

[Rae1889]

Yes, I'm going to gues it was the grid.
I just did a quick search on that optical illusion where it asks how many black dots there are. its a black grid with white lines, and at the intersections it looks like flashing grey or black dots at the ones you dont look directly at.
I tried it with white on black with the same thickness of lines, and it does the same here.
I dont want to post the links incase I trigger someone into a seizure, But unless I put a big notice to say not click if your photosensitive. but people get curious and click anyway.