Electronics and Seizures:

[purseynursey]

Sorry for all the questions. This my 4th post already!! I was wondering about children with the various kinds of seizures watching tv and playing on a Kindle device. Nora loves her kindle and would play for hours if I would let her. She also watches tv at bedtime to help her sleep. Im worried that the flashing could cause another seizure because she is already so over tired at that time of night and fighting sleep. The addition of Keppra this week also has me concerned about this. She really seems to be struggling with sleep and balance since she was started on it. Thanks Again. Im sure Ill calm down soon

 

[no.guru]

Do you know if she's photosensitive? Flashing lights probably wouldn't cause a seizure otherwise.

 

[purseynursey]

Im not aware that she is photosensitive. I was concerned more because she is so over tired at night and restless. She actually looks like she is having small seizures or fighting having one. Blinking, head tossing, tapping. Just looks seizury if you know what I mean? I worry also that having the TV on keeps her awake longer. I hate to get her really upset and crying because I also worry that the stress of that will put her into a seizure!! As you can tell Im a mess wirh this. Just dont want to make any mistakes and make a bad situation worse

 

[valeriedl]

As no.guru said, as long as she's not photosensitive then I wouldn't worry about it. You would probably know if she is by now. If you think she might be then keep track of her seizures and see if she's doing any of these things before hand that could have triggered it.

Ask all the questions you want, I've asked probably over 100. The more you know about things the better you are knowing what's going on and how to deal with it. You'll find out that you'll be answering questions too!

So ask away!!!

 

[Nakamova]

The blue light streaming from laptops or LCD screens will suppress the body's natural melatonin production. That's not a problem during the day, but can mess with sleep if the screens are used a lot at night, especially close to bedtime. Read more here: http://voices.yahoo.com/melatonin-young-girls-8719765.html

Ideally, there should be a break between computer activity and bedtime to give the melatonin levels time rise again.

 

[Rae1889]

personally I would say its probably the over tiredness that is causing the seizures (or possible partial seizures) more so than the electronics. Like everyone else said, if she was photosensitive, you would have known it by now. Thats not to say that the combination of being over tired, hungry, dehydrated or what have you, with TV etc wont cause one. The less triggers present, the less chance of a seizure.

I would let her take naps during the day. 2 hours max if she has issues falling asleep, and I would put her to bed rather early (say if bedtime is normally 10pm, put her in bed to watch TV by 7:30pm, and lights off at 8pm. Then each week add half an hour to that until she is back up to a 10pm bedtime.) If at all possible, try cutting out TV before bed, as this even causes adults to have a hard time falling asleep and being unrested when we do. If its the sound she likes, try a radio on a low volume, or something with a sound she likes (like rain or birds or wind etc).

Alot of people tend to think that EVERYONE wiht seizures has light induced siezures. This is a common myth.