Question regarding triggers (specfic to JME??)

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chop456

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A few questions regarding potential triggers...

Paige was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy and to date has had 1-2 second spikes of absence seizures and many morning myoclonics. She has not had a tonic clonic seizure to date, however there is that possibility.

I know stress is a trigger. My question, if she is stressed and the stress triggers seizure activity, will the trigger lead to absence, myoclonics or tonic clonic.

The same with photosensitivity... she told me she had some "blackouts" when she was running last year. She was running thru the trees and the sunlight flickering thru the trees caused the blackout. I am now thinking she was experiencing absence??? Will photosensitivity trigger absence, myoclonics or grand mal?

What about sleep deprivation? I am unsure what type of seizure these triggers could potentially lead to. Any thoughts are welcomed.

Thanks! Beth
 
Everything that you said are seizure triggers for me, except photosensitivity. I have just about all the different types of seizures except tonic clonics, but I might have one of those a year.

I just know that the worse the trigger, stress, sleep dep, etc, it's more likely to bring on the seizure faster, but it doesn't make them worse. I still have seizures that pop up out of no where with no trigger at all.
 
So if a seizure is triggered, does the type of seizure vary? Can it be any kind of seizure or are you more prone to a specific type of seizure over another? Does one trigger tend to lead to one type of seizure. For example, does stress lead to myoclonic and sleep dep. lead to absence? or is it all over the board???
 
I don't know if I want to say yes or no about that.

All of the seizures I have are partial and generalized, all different types of them. Usually if I'm really stressed about something or very tired the seizure is almost guarented to be one that I'll black out during. I still have those kind out of the blue however too.

Lately I've been having a good bit of seizures that I'll get a little confused during (not blacking out) and my lips will tingle sometimes. I might have a few of these a day. They will last around 30 seconds or so. My husband sometimes know's that I'm having one because he says that "I don't look right". I'm really not sure what he means by that, but he's usually right. I might realize that I'd had it because when I come out of it I know I wasn't feeling right during that time. I don't think there's anything going on with me that is causing them.

As I said I usually have one TC seizure a year, but I've really never noticed anything that was happening in my life that brought it on.
 
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I can add insight here. I have JME and have the 'jerks' all day long and it's rough. I have a couple TC's a year. Photo sensitivity is an issue for me but it only causes me bad headaches and not seizures.? My triggers are complex decision making that involves physical move went for example I am incapable of playing chess or doing puzzles. 5 minutes in I 'jerk' all over the place and get headaches. Biggest trigger in JME and most epilepsy as well is sleep deprivTion- most of my TC's have come from days with little sleep and being startled awake- never rush them to wake up it could cause huge issues. I was taking Ativan on a consistent basis for the jerks and they helped a lot might be worth looking into but it's an addictive drug and a weak version of Valium basically but it works for the jerks and made me near symptom free while I still had ability to pay for mess
 
I can add insight here. I have JME and have the 'jerks' all day long and it's rough. I have a couple TC's a year. Photo sensitivity is an issue for me but it only causes me bad headaches and not seizures.? My triggers are complex decision making that involves physical move went for example I am incapable of playing chess or doing puzzles. 5 minutes in I 'jerk' all over the place and get headaches. Biggest trigger in JME and most epilepsy as well is sleep deprivTion- most of my TC's have come from days with little sleep and being startled awake- never rush them to wake up it could cause huge issues. I was taking Ativan on a consistent basis for the jerks and they helped a lot might be worth looking into but it's an addictive drug and a weak version of Valium basically but it works for the jerks and made me near symptom free while I still had ability to pay for mess
 
Thank you all for your words! I now know stress/anxiety will have effects for Paige. She started high school yesterday and, although she had a decent amount of sleep, she woke up to morning myoclonics. I think the anxiety and stress of a new school caught up with her. Thank goodness today she woke up fine.

I am just curious with JME if her triggers will usually lead to "the jerks" rather than a tonic clonic. Unless she clusters - then we know what may come.
 
Our Jon doesn't have myoclonic seizures -- his are usually tonic or tonic/clonic.

90% of his seizures are at night, so hard to determine a specific trigger except for perhaps moving from one sleep pattern to another, or perhaps in a semi-wakening stage. Of course, there may have been triggers earlier in that day that brought on the night time seizure -- like getting over-stimulated or over-tired or is sleep deprived.

But...daytime seizures -- about the only time his has a daytime tonic/clonic is if he bumps his head or if he goes swimming in cold water or gets in a cold wind.

Daytime tonics are triggered by watching TV and drinking ice water.

I never thought about sorting out triggers by the types of seizures they caused until I read this, but it's a bit interesting.
 
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