Oxygen deprivation longterm effects?

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septopus

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(Hi I’m new here this is my first post bear with me)

I’ve had no doctor give me a straight answer about this so here I am wondering if anyone has had something familiar/has any theories about this.

I had multiple petite mal seizures a minute for an unknown amount of years. Although it’s never been measured I have a sneaking suspicion that my brain was deprived of oxygen (and sleep) during this time. It just so happened around that time I developed severe mental health conditions (and some still unexplained neurological abnormalities (ie double vision). In addition to this I went from an above average gifted student at the top of my class every year to a C- student at best.

Could long oxygen/sleep deprivation contribute to this?

I have never had a grand mal seizure over 5 min or a head injury during one so I know that’s not a factor..just trying to make sense of this whole mess tbh
 
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Hi septopus,

Welcome to CWE! Just like you I started out having petit mal seizures then 2 yrs. later I started having complex partial seizures also where I would see colors flashing back and forth from one to the other then I would blank out but sometimes right before the complex partial seizure I will get a nervous feeling in my stomach or smell odd odors like natural gas or a burnt odor. After having many tests done my Dr. was able to tell me it was from lack of oxygen at birth but yrs. later I found out to many cells went over to the right temporal lobe causing scar tissue on the brain and this is what started all my seizures when I was 10 yrs. old (56 now).
I looked into brain surgery to reduce my seizures and this is when the Drs. found out it was trauma while my mom was 4 months pregnant that caused the scar tissue all do to my grandfather passing away.
Over the yrs. I've been told many different things caused my seizures but it wasn't until I had a PET scan, SPECT scan and a wada test that the Drs. were able to tell for sure what caused my seizures and you may want to look into having these tests done also to pinpoint the cause of your seizures.
Get a calendar and keep track of your seizures write down what time the seizure happened and the type of seizure it was, by doing this the Dr. can sometimes see a pattern in a persons seizures. As to what time of day or night seizures happen the most or what days of the week. I always have seizures the 3rd week of each month do to hormones changing.
Lack of sleep can also trigger seizures along with stress. I had a sleep study done and found out I was having seizures in my sleep but I never realized it. If you should notice you feel really tired in the morning after a good nights sleep ask your Dr. to do a sleep study and e.e.g. on you at the same time this will help find out if this is the problem.
Be sure to cut back on the carb and starch foods and you might want to stay away from diet soda because it has been proven that NutraSweet (aspartame) causes more electrical activity in the brain and can sometimes trigger seizures for some people. This is why I no longer drink diet soda I had many more seizures when I did. Also I recently found out that I was cell phone sensitive which means if I'm around a lot of people using their cell phones at the same time it will trigger a seizure for me do to the frequency the cell phone is using. If you happen to notice you are having more seizures when you are using your cell phone or around others that are using theirs this could also be the problem. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
Hi septopus, welcome to the forum. :hello:

When I read your post, the first thing I though about was the possibility that you might be experiencing nocturnal seizures or sleep apnea (oxygen deprivation while sleeping). Either one could contribute to interruptions in the normal sleep cycle and that would fit the pattern of mental degredation that you described. Have you ever had a sleep study done? You might talk to your doctor about the issue and ask about it (a sleep study).
 
I had multiple petite mal seizures a minute for an unknown amount of years. Although it’s never been measured I have a sneaking suspicion that my brain was deprived of oxygen (and sleep) during this time. It just so happened around that time I developed severe mental health conditions (and some still unexplained neurological abnormalities (ie double vision). In addition to this I went from an above average gifted student at the top of my class every year to a C- student at best.

Could long oxygen/sleep deprivation contribute to this?

I have never had a grand mal seizure over 5 min or a head injury during one so I know that’s not a factor..just trying to make sense of this whole mess tbh

Septopus,

I agree with Bernard. Have you had a sleep study done? Or have you had your glucose levels/electrolytes tested? Lack of oxygen can cause brain damage.

I also have Type 1 Diabetes and when my glucose is too low, I sometimes see double or see weird outlines.

I never had a head injury, either, but I ended up with Idiopathic Epilepsy. Meaning they do not know why I have seizures; CP with TC. They just started out of the blue when I was 22 years of age.
 
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