Temperature an indirect trigger?

[Torak]

I've identified temperature as one possible trigger for seizures, as in the summer or in hot rooms I very easily fall into a somnolent state, which then triggers partial seizures (or if I fall too deeply into a somnolent state I can have grand mal or complex partial seizures).

Medications that make me drowsy just make it worse.

As for complex partial seizures, i'm not sure if these are seizures or dreams:

When waking up, I have only a very hazy memory of a period where I get an incredibly strong rushing feeling in my head, with a feeling like my head is made of plasticine and being deformed by a huge hand.

I can see vaguely and I get auditory and visual hallucinations together with panic attacks. I am also paralysed. If I relax it makes it worse, if I fight it doesn't seem so intense. Lasts for about half an hour, at a guess, as I have no real track of time when it happens, very little awareness of my surroundings and only vague memories of the event.

I'm not sure of this is a seizure or just a nightmare or lucid dream.

 

[RobinN]

Just to be on the safe side I would tend to classify these as seizures. I guess you could put any of the classic labels on it.. fit, episode...(can't think of other terms at the moment).

There are a few here that have similar "seizures" upon awakening. I am not aware of my daughter having anything like this so I can not speak with knowledge.

Do you get seizures during exercise that raises your body temperature?

 

[Birdbomb]

This is my biggest trigger. Since I live in the middle of the Mojave desert it gets pretty hot. I got to where I barely went out in the summer because I became so heat sensitive.

In winter if I began to shiver, it would induce a seizure. During my recent surgery I had been on high alert for fear of a seizure. The hospital was FREEZING and you know the OR is always 10-15 degrees colder. I was shivering really bad. Luckly they knocked me OUT before it could get worse.

 

[TeeTees]

Just to throw a small spanner in the works : do you think it's the HOT temperature that's bringing 'em on, or dehydration ?

It's just a thought, but something I often wonder about onder:

 

[RobinN]

Or the fact that you just hate a certain temp and the frustration/ aggravation level brings it on?

 

[Birdbomb]

110 degrees F. When the temp is higher than that, I must use caution being outside. I carry a large drink with lots of ice to keep me from overheating.

 

[RobinN]

They should make that illegal. I think everyone needs to be careful in that temp. I carry water too, though it rarely gets that high here. A spray bottle is a good idea as well.

 

[Birdbomb]

Some summers it get over 125! Ma! now that is HOT. We keep towels in the car to cover the stearingwheel and seatbelts. The buckles get so hot they cause burns. Can't even touch a dark colored car.

I just stay indoors now when it's like that. There was a time, we'd be out drinking beer and having a great Bar-b-Cue waitng for the 4th of July fireworks in that heat, but not anymore.

At least the humidity is in the single digets otherwise people would be dropping like flies! Not unusual to see people pass out from the heat. They hit the ground just like a drop seizure! BAM!

 

[brain]

I can't tolerate cold weather at all,
once the temps fall below 72* I freeze!
I'm known to wear jackets and it be 78*
outside!
:embarrassed:

And drop in temp and coldness does seem to
trigger seizures for some reason. I'm just a
genuine 100% tropical sunbird!

 

[speber]

Stuffy Room = Bad News For Me.......

I gotta have fresh air...temperature isn't a problem for me IF IT'S OUTSIDE (and within human limits of course!).

If it's INDOORS and it gets warmish....I'm headed downhill quick.....I start feeling like I have the flu....a head cold....then HELLO BIG E!

FRESH AIR....I'll stick my head outside the car window going down the road like a dog in the middle of winter if that's what it takes to escape the enclosed\heated space!

:twocents:

Peace
:rock:

 

[TeeTees]

If it's INDOORS and it gets warmish....I'm headed downhill quick.....I start feeling like I have the flu....a head cold....then HELLO BIG E!

Yeah, now that ^^ I can relate to. I hate stuffy hot places....probably why I feel so ill in Hospitals (off all places !)

 

[Megan]

I know for me, I get a severe migraine and get really bad virtigo. I don't really have a fever though.

 

[Belinda5000]

Heat & humidity can definity bring on my seizures if I let myself get over heated.
It's happened plenty of times and I've gone down in my sz's ended up busting my head open and even breaking my collar bones .

Belinda

 

[hawke86]

Heat and humidity can trigger my seizures also.

 

[jdki]

Temperature change

From everything I'm reading it appears that extreme temperatures affect many. For me it is an extreme (and quick) temperature change; either hot to cold or cold to hot. Anyone else experience this?

 

[juzzyk]

I can't tolerate heat as much since I was diagnosed and can barely go out on hot days. Also the heat disrupts night time sleep patterns so that brings my nocturnal seizures on. I'm fine with cold weather though.

 

[lindsayschu2]

I've definitely identified dehydration and sodium balance as a seizure trigger here. Wondering if it is that, from sweating--maybe try drinking more water, with a little pinch of salt in it when you are getting overheated? Or gatorade in limited quantities.

 

[Keith]

Heat is known to change blood pH toward alkalinity. Alkalosis is a known cause of seizure. Cold weather makes blood more acidic.

lindsay, I like your idea about salt as it's ironically known to raise blood sugar (via inhibiting aldosterone which raises cortisol to raise blood sugar), so it's helping to avert hypoglycemia.

 

[AlohaBird]

I gotta have fresh air...temperature isn't a problem for me IF IT'S OUTSIDE (and within human limits of course!).

FRESH AIR....I'll stick my head outside the car window going down the road like a dog in the middle of winter if that's what it takes to escape the enclosed\heated space!

Yes. This. Must have ventilation at night (nocturnal seizures).

 

[epileric]

Heat is known to change blood pH toward alkalinity. Alkalosis is a known cause of seizure. Cold weather makes blood more acidic.

lindsay, I like your idea about salt as it's ironically known to raise blood sugar (via inhibiting aldosterone which raises cortisol to raise blood sugar), so it's helping to avert hypoglycemia.

Actually that can't happen in human physiology. Quackwatch talks about that fallacy.

Have you seen advertisements for products such as coral calcium or alkaline water that are supposed to neutralize acid in your bloodstream? Taking calcium or drinking alkaline water does not affect blood acidity. Anyone who tells you that certain foods or supplements make your stomach or blood acidic does not understand nutrition.

You should not believe that it matters whether foods are acidic or alkaline, because no foods change the acidity of anything in your body except your urine. Your stomach is so acidic that no food can change its acidity. Citrus fruits, vinegar, and vitamins such as ascorbic acid or folic acid do not change the acidity of your stomach or your bloodstream. An entire bottle of calcium pills or antacids would not change the acidity of your stomach for more than a few minutes.

All foods that leave your stomach are acidic. Then they enter your intestines where secretions from your pancreas neutralize the stomach acids. So no matter what you eat, the food in stomach is acidic and the food in the intestines is alkaline.

Dietary modification cannot change the acidity of any part of your body except your urine. Your bloodstream and organs control acidity in a very narrow range. Anything that changed acidity in your body would make you very sick and could even kill you. Promoters of these products claim that cancer cells cannot live in an alkaline environment and that is true, but neither can any of the other cells in your body.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/coral2.html