Can noise/crowds be a trigger?

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Freda

Freda

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My daughter Carly has had a couple of partials recently and it's been at family gatherings where there's been a lot of chatter and people mulling about. She also finds it 'strange' when we as a family are talking and, say, the television is on. We know it's not loud but to her it sometimes is and if it starts to echo she will leave the situation and try to focus herself out of the feelings she's having - which has worked on some occasions. The partial she had last Sunday was so strong, dizzy, hot and echo's that she said later she thought she was going into a TC. I gave her a Clobazam and took her home, the day before everything built up at her sisters while playing with her little nephew and she ended up in floods or tears.

I think she's expecting too much of herself, having only recently being diagnosed and having her Keppra upped after every partial, she's now on 2,750mg per day and thinks it's working because so far she isn't going into TC's.

If these situation can in fact be triggers then maybe she should steer clear of them for a while, although you can't always predict how a situation will pan out - today for instance when the bus filled up with children, mums and buggys, it was so busy and so noisy it put me on edge but I tried to act normal in case I stressed her out too. I was pretty worried though.
 
 
Thanks for those links Nakamova, I suggested ear plugs for work because she also finds people talking in the office a source of confusion when she' trying to type, it's just a small office with two colleagues but when the doctors come in they all sit and chat and she can't concentrate. She's had two Tonic clonics in the office and one in the hospital coffee shop, which is a very busy area. That doesn't figure in the two she's had in her bedroom but both were after a day at work.

She also feels like thinking of a previous seizure event makes her feel strange and so she alters her train of thought, makes herself busy doing something and feels better. She says it's strange and she can't explain what she means but she feels like she could 'think' herself into a possible seizure.

These feelings are all so new to her and also rather scary - she's not sure if they actually occur or if she imagines it.
 
Hi Freda,

Sometimes certain sounds can trigger seizures for a person these are known as audio seizures. Take note if it's high pitch sounds that are triggering seizures for your daughter and I would let her neuro know about it also because this may be a break through point as to what can help stop or decrease her seizures.
I'm just like your daughter when I start to have a simple partial seizure I will sometimes hear one word echoed over and over again until it stops. I've found tighten up my muscles helps stop that.
If I may ask does your daughter use a cell phone? If she does and it's not bothering that's great but tell her to take note when she's at school if a lot of people are using their cell phones at the same time and then she has a seizure, it could be she's cell phone sensitive like I am.
I wish you and your daughter the best of luck and May God Bless the Both of You!

Sue
 
Hi Sue

Yes she uses a cell phone, iPad and computer with no ill effects - she's a medical sec and not at school but sometimes when the office gets busy she can start to feel strange, so she takes herself into another room for a bit.
The reason I do all the postings here is because she says she has to live with E and doesn't want it to invade her life any more than it is already but I want more info on the condition and I pass much of it on to her also. She's still pretty much coming to terms with actually having E and feels reading too much about it is quite depressing right now.

Thanks for your reply, I like to be informed for any possible future eventuality.
 
It could be an anxiety thing. Sometimes when i'm out i'll get scared that i'm going to have a seizure, and i have a real fear of having a seizure in a crowded place and everyone seeing it, especially since i had one in my favourite rock club years ago, i didn't go back for about two years.

But then i don't like crowds of people anyway. The anxiety causes a raised heartbeat and fast breathing, and with hyperventilating being one of my triggers, it can result in a seizure.

I wonder if it could be the same kind thing with your daughter.

I've come across some strange triggers though, i used to support a guy (worked with adults with learning disabilities) whose seizures were triggered by stairs. That made getting around interesting.
 
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I personally think it can I try avoid them but have seen others strangely pissed off men waiting for wives then poor bugger goes down no wife around people meaning well get him yanked off to hospital woman comes out of shop thinks where hell he gone could be sometime before gets in touch he ends up stinking head ache rest of day.Or for woman she pissed off yanking uncooperative partner around sales.
I think what will be will be what if you in house alone you could spend hours thinking what ifs.So live normal life just as easily any of us get run over by bus before day out I hope not but things in lap of god's.Maybe stay in today it Friday 13th it is load of crap but just incase��
 
She definitely doesn't stay in and knows if it's going to happen it'll happen, she works in a hospital and has had three TC's while at work but I know how much she hates her work colleagues witnessing her having a seizure and even though they're all medically trained she finds it embarrassing and upsetting. It's still early days for her and E and not something she ever imagined she would have. I suppose many people suddenly diagnosed like that find the limitations suddenly thrust on them overwhelming at times - even more so each time the meds are increased. Losing her driving licence has also hit hard but even if she could drive ATM she wouldn't anyway and the 'seizure free for one year' goal seems to move farther and farther away constantly.
 
Does the hospital have fluorescent lighting? That can be triggering for many people. If that might be a factor, she could try wearing lightly-tinted sunglasses to see if it might help. And if possible, get the lighting changed.
 
There isn't fluorescent lighting in her office and none at home where she's had two TC's, I'd thought maybe her computer screen should have a filter cover but as it's happened at home with no computer it doesn't seem a likely trigger.
We try to find triggers but the only thing we can think of is perhaps noise and activity so far.

I know it's early days and her condition fluctuates but hang on to the hope that once a correct medication is found things will improve.
 
Some times triggers can be cumulative over several days (like fatigue AND noise). There they can also be a delay between the trigger and the seizure -- There are studies that show that for some people there are pre-ictal changes occurring in their brains anywhere from minutes to hours before the actual event.
 
She had another partial at her sisters this evening and had spent the day playing with her two little nephews, aged two years and five months old, so not exactly exerting herself. This is far better than having tonic clonics but she says the partials increase her anxiety because she's aware they're happening, whereas with a TC she doesn't know anything and therefore doesn't panic. The Keppra must be having a good effect as her TC's seem to have stopped, but on the whole she just isn't feeling herself any more and is pretty disheartened that even with the Keppra dose increased she's still having issues at 1250mgs am and 1500mgs pm.
The next step will probably be adding Lamictal to the mix. She's sees her neuro at the end of the month and will ask questions then, because she doesn't like to keep badgering her with emails as she answers in the evenings or at weekends when she's officially not working and Carly feels bad interrupting her family time.

Some days she feels pretty much her normal self but upping the meds weekly (as has happened over the past three weeks) is affecting how she thinks and feels - I expect you'll all know how that feels. She's taking her third week off work because she feels anxious going and is worried she may put herself in a position of not wanting to go back at all.
 
Often side effects will go away after the brain has been at a steady dose for a month or so. Maybe that will happen for you daughter.
 
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