Hi everyone. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Doctors have called my seizures petit mall, complex partial or phycomotor seizures. My worst type is when I fall, but that's about all I do when I have this kind. In fact, I will fall and then sometimes before I come out of it, I will go back to what I was doing before the seizure started. But, the weird part is the fact that when I have this falling type, most of the time it is within an hour or so after I get up in the morning. For example, one week ago today, I got up & went to feed my cat and the next thing I knew, I was fixing my breakfast with a hand that was in pain. I had a seizure, fell & broke my wrist. Then, the following Saturday, I got up & didn't even get out of the bedroom before I had another seizure and fell. Then this morning I got up & fed the cat and it hit again and I fell. Normally, they don't happen this frequently. I just find it strange that they hit right after I get up. I don't have a doctor to discuss this with. He dismissed me because he had to take me off of my medications because the side effects were worse than my seizures. I am sensitive to medicines and can't tolerate much at a time if at all and everything he tried me on was intolerable and was worse than even my falling type seizures. Does anyone have any ideas about this?
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
- Thread starter KathyJJ
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There are some links between where in the brain the seizures originate, and what time of day they hit. For instance, parietal lobe and frontal lobe seizures tend to happen in the morning. They're not entirely sure why -- it's probably some combination of internal circadian rhythms and external cues like low blood sugar and exposure to sunlight.
You might experiment with eating/drinking something before you even get out of bed to see if it helps. Maybe a little juice and a banana. And get out of bed very slowly, making sure to concentrate on your breathing as you go. (Short inhales from the diaphragm with longer exhales). Don't stand up quickly, don't stretch and yawn, don't put your arms over your head.
Since you're sensitive to meds, you might look into neurofeedback to see if it's an option.
You might experiment with eating/drinking something before you even get out of bed to see if it helps. Maybe a little juice and a banana. And get out of bed very slowly, making sure to concentrate on your breathing as you go. (Short inhales from the diaphragm with longer exhales). Don't stand up quickly, don't stretch and yawn, don't put your arms over your head.
Since you're sensitive to meds, you might look into neurofeedback to see if it's an option.
Nakamova, thank you for your post. You mentioned “exposure to sunlight" could be a cause of seizures made me remember something and start noticing. When I made my original post, I had experienced 3 seizures which I had fallen each time. Of these 3, the last 2 of them I am 100 per cent positive I had just turned a bright overhead light on. It’s possible I had one on during the 1st seizure but I just don’t remember it. Ok, this morning, I had my 4th seizure but this time it waited until after I had finished my breakfast. Luckily, my husband prevented my fall. I had talked to him about my suspicions of sudden bright lights being a trigger for me. He told me that I had walked over and had turned the overhead lights on and no sooner had I flipped them on and he said he could tell by my face that I was going into a seizure. It may not be connected but I can’t help but wonder about it. Thanks again for your reply.
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It can take a bit of detective work to identify a trigger -- it might be the lighting (fluorescents are especially problematic), but it could also be a something else involving how you stand up or the way you breath right before you get up, or a combination of factors involving your morning metabolism. Sometimes triggers don't immediately precede the seizure (say if they are systemic ones like hormone spikes or low magnesium) which can makes them tricky to pinpoint. Good luck with your sleuthing!
Thanks! I am keeping a log of all of these seizures now and making notes of the lighting issue. Just maybe I will figure out the difference in my mornings.
onder:I just wanted to add an update to this post. Thank you Nakamova for your reply to this post! Because of you posting this and the juice, my seizures have improved so much. As I stated earlier, for so many years, I would get up and have a seizure where I would fall and injure myself. It always happened right after I got up. My husband and I wondered why then? The rest of the day, if I had a seizure it would be light. I wouldn't fall, etc. I always said if I could get those under control, the rest I could live with because I don't have injuries, etc. with them. I started trying the orange juice each morning in Aug. before I get up. I haven't had a falling seizure in 2 months and for me that is good. I was having several a week until I started this. If I have one that time of the morning, it is a light one. The reason it hasn't been since I started the orange juice is because I had one when it didn't wait for me to start drinking the juice. But, it was just that one. I was a little late in trying it due to my husband being ill but, it's better late than never. So a BIG THANK YOU to you for your help!!!!
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Kathy, I'm glad to hear that things have improved! The fact that the morning OJ is helping might be a sign that you have blood sugar issues. If you haven't already, you might want to check in with your doc to get tested.
I have a physical every year and everything checks out fine and was even before I started with the OJ. I read another thread on another forum and if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn I had written it. She described her seizures right when she got up each morning and she started drinking OJ before she gets up also and she hasn't had a seizure since. The rest of the day, I was fine. It was only when I first got up in the mornings but not every morning but, so far the OJ is still working. Just wanted to give this update hoping others will benefit from it and to say Thank you!!!!