Does smoking cigarettes trigger seizures?

[Spring2018]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the site. Has anyone noticed that their seizures are triggered with smoking cigarettes? I am a smoker and have gotten worse (5 cigarettes a day) since my diagnosis. I was diagnosed with epilepsy 4 years ago and it came out of nowhere. No one in my family has it, I did not have any brain accident... but noticed when I smoke cigarettes my simple partial seizures are triggered...not every time but it happens enough that I noticed. It has been hard to quit because of other things happening in my life. Anyone come across any news linking seizures and cigarette smoking or their experience with this??

My mouth and tongue starts twitching when I have a seizure. Sometimes its mild where only my speech is slurred other times it gets worse where my tongue sticks out of my mouth and my mouth moves to the left side. I'm currently on Keppra, Vimpat and Dilatin which have not helped stop them.

Any advice/help is much appreciated.

 

[Fedup]

Spring2018

Welcome to CWE, I am a smoker for a good many years and yes I realise how bad they are and the consequences, everybody is different when it comes to triggers, sometimes some are the same and other times not the same. I did not have a brain injury either and no reason has been found, as for your question I find the complete opposite to you, yes if I give up smoking (which I have done) at first I get seizures from giving them up and then after a week or two my seizures increase to much the same as when I was a child but if I smoke my seizures seem to decrease. For me it is a question of suffer the consequences or have the seizures.

 

[Music36]

Hi, welcome to CWE. I smoked cigarettes for 22 years, but quit almost 14 years ago. Sometimes, I would have a complex partial seizure while smoking a cigarette but I don't know if it was a trigger because I smoked all the time but I didn't have seizures every day. I guess if it was a day in which I was having a cluster of seizures it may have been a trigger, but I'm not sure. I quit smoking b/c I had chronic bronchitis for years from smoking that was getting worse. My breathing was greatly effected. I walked up the stairs one night and could not catch my breath. It scared the hell out of me. I never smoked again.

 

[Nakamova]

Nicotine is a stimulant, so that puts it on the list of possible seizure triggers. And as Fedup notes, quittingnicotine can also stress the system. Anything that messes with brain chemistry can potentially trigger a seizure in someone who already has a lower seizure threshold. Everyone's different, though, so it's great if you can figure out what your particular triggers are, and it's even better if you can avoid them.

 

[gymrat827]

not for me....But i only smoke 2 cigs a day.

I get to enjoy them and relax. My lady makes a pack last 10 days, so i go smoke 3 one day.....the next day is just 1.

I think of them almost like cigars for ones who are non-epileptic.

 

[resaebiunne]

I do not smoke cigarettes. I vape (as in, e-cigarettes!).

I have not noticed that nicotine is a trigger for seizures, or any of the supposed metallic compounds released by the heating coils of the vaporizer (such as, and not limited to, lead and nickel-chromium, not good).