Can Child Abuse lead to E ?

[rich956]

Any thoughts are helpful.

 

[Cint]

It can. My epileptologist once asked me if there was abuse in my childhood, since I didn't have any brain injuries or encephalitis, meningitis, etc. leading to my seizures.

 

[Nakamova]

:agree:

Not only can physical abuse (i.e head trauma) cause epilepsy, but studies suggest that emotional abuse can damage the hippocampus as well and possibly play a role in temporal lobe seizures. There also seems to be a correlation between dissociative identity disorder (which can arise from child abuse) and seizures. You might be interested in this CWE thread:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...epilepsy-dissociative-identity-disorder-8461/

 

[qtowngirl]

hi rich ...sorry folks it's a bit long, due to personal experience.
the manifestation of emotional pain and fear definately has the ability to lower your seizure threshold. the mental state those memories bring is such a high level of stress, and with stress being one of the main sz triggers, it's not uncommon to break the threshold.
my first sz was a simple partial at 15, was horrid fear for about 40 seconds. however with good health and no one with epilepsy in my family, the psychologist diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder and i went on zoloft. tried taking myself off after one year b/c at that time i wasn't in agreement w/meds, though during that time (what were called episodes) went down, but not erased. in my late teens i had more and more, so went back on it, and lived my life accepting the condition i had.
age 25 was my first grand mal and e diagnosis followed after the 2nd one a few months later. didn't have another g.m. on carbamazepine for almost 5 years, but 'episodes' remained. not until age 28 found out they were seizures all along. case in point:

i was sexually abused by a young male babysitter at age 6, and due to fear and not knowing what to do my parents chose (tho they dealt with him ) to avoid counselling as i was so young and 'put it out of my head.' that worked for 9 years.
last year my new epi explained that b/c my e was found in my hippocampus, when the first s.p. hit at 15 it 'dug as deep in the memory bank that it could and found the most terrifying one buried.'
as the memory was of him putting me to bed that night, then turning around and coming back, that first sz brought back memory of what he did right down to the pyjamas i had on. hence my 1000+ partials have been fear-based.
i've read a number of journals on how similar epilepsy and ptsd can be, and how it's not an uncommon mis-diagnosis. had he got it right at 15 (by proper testing ie: mri) i would have been diagnosed with e and on meds way earlier in life. was very hard to accept.
for whatever (hugs) you're asking this, i can't say enough how we have to be our own advocates, and if you feel that further testing is necessary, demand. i am a classic example of them making a quick decision, and getting it wrong.
once the lesion was found in 2011 my doc requested the psychologist have a one-meeting sit down to discuss and open my file from 1994. he refused.

 

[lindsayschu2]

Those of you who are saying that abuse can lead to seizures: are you saying that it can lead to epilepsy, or psychogenic seizures?

 

[lindsayschu2]

Sorry I think I answered my own question, and that you are saying yes. If that is the case, is there evidence that counseling can reverse the epilepsy? I know that my seizures appeared at age 12, coincidentally when I was also being sexually abused.

 

[Cint]

My seizures originated in my hippocampus, and as qtown said that is what my dr. told me also. I didn't have any sexual abuse, but verbal, emotional, mental abuse before I started having seizures in my 20's. I went thru years of counseling; neuropschiatrist, neuropsychologist, regular psych and psychologists and still had seizures. It just helped me deal with the life better.

 

[qtowngirl]

If that is the case, is there evidence that counseling can reverse the epilepsy? I know that my seizures appeared at age 12, coincidentally when I was also being sexually abused.

hi lindsay,
unfortunately no, regardless of cause or treatment epilepsy is not reversible, however the word more accurately used is incurable.

though the root cause of mine was a lesion developed in my mom's womb, the first seizure hit when it did, as put by my epi... 'mostly due to hormones that take place in your teens. there's a lot going on.'
my brain was going to misfire at some point (very lucky to have 15-free years), and when major hormones (and other stresses) hit, so much was going on at once that the brain gave way. so in other words, my brain buried the trauma from age 6 and just couldn't hold it all together 9 years later, when a mix of hormones and stress from family issues had much control.

amazing how something that happens in childhood can mentally strike us later in life. hugs.

 

[cadsgj]

Interesting. While I seriously doubt this is my field in life leading to seizures, I must say, interesting, and not via good thoughts. For those of us who live in this (seizure) world, it sure is sad to read about one's life, child abuse, then seizures. As well, very angry just thinking about others who possibly may cause a life of seizures

 

[qtowngirl]

well my friend you still live in sask...... not that far from where he still lives....... want his address?

i've only seen him once since it happened, but i was 12 and the memory had yet to come back. being 35 i have long been 'over' what he did (interestingly enough it was only memorized in that first seizure, almost as if my hippo brought back my worst memory then pummelled it, i didn't even need counselling). but really have no idea how it would feel/what i would say if i seen him now. been home several times since we moved out of sask when i was 8, at 12 and the rest as an adult.
tbh i'd prob greatly rely on the brain surgery to cover my seizure ass if that took place......

 

[SoonToBeMommy]

This is very interesting. I was physically and mentally/emotionally abused since I can remember up until age 17. My first seizure came at 19 although a few doctors think I may have been having absence seizures since I was 9. But they think it is ptsd or psychogenic seizures.

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[rich956]

Any thoughts are helpful.

First of all thanks for all the input.
I know its a tough subject for some of us -:hugs:
The main reason I had brought this topic up was my late wife had generalized E, and really had no idea how she had gotten it. Her parents said she got it at four years of age. But here's a twist......that we never knew. Her biological mother had given her up for adobption, placed in a foster care home, then child welfare took her away because of some kind of abuse. They put her into a second foster home and was rejecting any kind of attention or any thing! Then one day her now step parents came and she seemed to like them....This all happened in a very short time span =Her first seven months into this world...I kind of think its a possibility that some type of stress or trauma around that time was a major contributor and then around four she had a fever that might of sparked the fire so to speak...