Epilepsy Triggers

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

bernard said:
Ack! I was at a conference for the last few days and Stacy was using my computer to access the interent (I needed the monitor that she uses with her computer). She didn't log out and clear the cookie for my account. That last two posts were hers!
Click to expand...

Hmmmmm that explains a lot, I was confused as I remember seeing on an earlier post that your knowledge of epilepsy was minimal untill you met Stacy, but my memory isnt brilliant!!!
 
You're right - the accident might just have been a coincidence. I started having what I called sinking spells when I was 11. The grand mals didn't start until I was 21 and I was diagnosed when I was 25. It was believed for a long time that my epilepsy was caused by an accident that I had when I was 10 - fell 30 feet out of a tree and broke my back. It wasn't until I was 47 that I learned that there was a family history of epilepsy. My mother has always talked about how I was brain damaged and I had always wondered why, if I was brain damaged, there was no sign of a scar or any damage in the numerous CT scans and MRIs I've had. Between the knowledge I now have about my family history, the totally clean CT scan and MRI results and the control over my seizures that I have gotten from vitamins and supplements, I fully believe that I either inherited epilepsy or it's a result of an inherited nutritional problem. My mother may still call me brain damaged but I'm glad that I know the truth!
 
bernard said:
Well, a couple of things I know that are supposed to boost your immune system:

Raw Garlic - eat a clove a day
Wheatgrass juice - drink a "shot" a day

Yummy! :twisted:
Click to expand...

Howdy!

Wheatgrass juice, eh?

I've got some Nemiroff Ukranian "wheat juice" in the house...
That close enough? :twisted:
 
If it's anything like the Mexican Vodka that I tried at a party once while in college, the answer is an unequivocal no!
 
Well, I have to get quite a bit of sleep, like nine hours. And sometimes when I'm under a lot of stress. And maybe, like, when there are a lot of bright light, and loud music.
 
Stress is a huge trigger for me. At the present time I must be under a lot of stress in order to have a seizure. Like lindy, I too seem to have my nocturnal seizures under control through vitamins and suppliments. When one is under stress you are using up critical nutrients in the brain. The theory goes that it is the drop in nutrients that brings on the seizures. Chronic stress will do the same thing. Brain nutrient supplimentation should be used as an adjunct therapy to treating the many different forms of seizure disorders.

Stress is a bad deal and everybody reacts differently to it. That is why you should work with your doctor to see if it is mental stress, physical stress, etc. that is complicating treatment. Stress is the silent depleter of nutrients in the body, it is also the silent symptom. I call it that because our culture frowns on people who can't handle stress and therefore many of us will not talk about it. I worked at many a high stress jobs, field safety mgr. at nuclear decommissioning, and to admit one was stressed out was to sign your termination papers. The high stress was causing a depletion in the brain nutrients, all the psycho-babble and drugs wasn't going to treat the problem. They were only treating the symptoms of an actual physical issue, essentially poor nutrition to the brain.

In my case, I presented my information to the doctor and she approved my use suppliments. If you want to know more about the doctor visit, see the other thread about the actual visit. I have been using the suppliments now for 2 months without the additional use of AED's. Please note: this is all under doctors care and observation.
 
You're lucky to have a doctor who will work with you. It took mine a while to come around. When I first stopped taking an AED, my neuro refused to have anything more to do with me and my primary care physician thought that I had lost my mind. She was willing to keep an eye on me - after all she had been the one who took care of me when the seizures were really bad since it took so long to get a neuro appt - but she was sure that I would change my mind about the crazy approach I wanted to try. Now, based on the lack of seizures and how well my annual bloodwork turns out, she is very enthusiastic. It certainly was a lonely time though when I thought that I was on my own with no doctor back up at all. Count your blessings with your doctor! You're so lucky!!
 
1. Caffeine
2. Running a temp....cold/flu
3. Menses, hypoglycemia (hormone/endocrine changes)
4. Lack of sleep
5. Pseudoephedrine & certain OTC headache meds
6. Barometric pressure changes
7. Nutrasweet (phenylalanine)
8. Idiopathic (i.e. who knows what else)
 

Promise you won't laugh at me?
:shock:

#1 seizure trigger for me which I found out was
which I thought was a joke and had to look it up
and there really was such thing as STARTLE EPILEPSY!

Just don't dare sneak up on me or attempt to Startle me!

:shock:

I get so embarrassed! :oops:


But the other seizure triggers for me are:

TRIBUTE TO HOLLYWOOD:

"Hormones Gone Wild" (coming soon at a your favorite video center)

"The Perfect Barometric Drop" (check with your local listings)

"All My Favorite Artificial Sweeteners" (the newest Soap Opera)

"Snooze Cruise" (Starring Dean Martin, Chong, Char, Robin Williams...)

"How's Your Flash Life?" (Featuring nothing but pure Macromedia Flash and strobes, and more; to send flurries of Epileptics and Non-Epileptics to pack all hospitals!)

"Two Men and Stress" (spin off of Three's A Company & Perfect Strangers Combination and throw in a Landlady who has to live with them)


Thank Goodness there's AED's available! :wink:
 
I usualy take my funny turns (auras or mild seizures) when I am tired, sometimes when I have had busy day & when i am stress. I do have problem with stress, worry about things & let things get to me which doesn't help my epilepsy. I do try to control my stress to not worry about things so much so I don't take so many seizures.

The last 3 turns that I took I was either on the computer or near a computer, this worried my family & made them think that maybe computers could also be a course of my turns because I am on the computer alot. I have a screen for my monitor which I got after my last turn & that's helped a little bit. Apparently you can get a special monitor which is glare free or something like that & especialy good for people with epilepsy but I have to wait until i can afford to get it so until then I will have to do with the screen.
 
CQ:, LCD monitors are much easier on the eyes (cause less eye strain than CRT monitors) and have less flicker (better for photosensitive folks). I spend all day on the computer usually and LCD monitors have made a world of difference for me. I highly recommend them. It's an investment in your health that you won't regret.

LCD monitor advantages
 
Bernard said:
CQ:, LCD monitors are much easier on the eyes (cause less eye strain than CRT monitors) and have less flicker (better for photosensitive folks). I spend all day on the computer usually and LCD monitors have made a world of difference for me. I highly recommend them. It's an investment in your health that you won't regret.

LCD monitor advantages
Click to expand...
Thanks Bernard

I intend on buying myself an LCD monitor in the next month or so, as soon as I have the money. I've noticed that the glare screen I am currently using has helped aswell. I don't get as many headaches as I used to when I'm only on the computer (only if I am on the computer all day for days on end which I try not to let happen).
 
Last edited:
Yes Dianne,

I was the one who got into a skating accident and broke my tailbone at age 12.

The immune system thing affects me too. Both major sets of seizures in November, I had either gotten pneumonia or had gotten a flu shot. Both times I wound up in the hospital. Both times around my period. These were two of the six times I've been to the hospital, but at the same time, the large sets in November (13, and 12) were bigger because of the fact that I was sick...my immune system was down.

I'm going to try an experiment this year and see if I can stay healthy and seizure free. Wish me luck.
 
I have an LCD Monitor, my sister said it was
"Broken" and I said it wasn't. So far it's doing
pretty awesome for a broken LCD monitor! It's
HUGE at 21" flat screen!

:D
 
I have a 19" LCD and I love it. The images are sharper, colors brighter, much less eye strain. I even choose to watch movies on my pc over the TV.

Several months ago I had to use my neighbors pc and he has the old CRT from his original HP he got in 98. I thought I'd go blind! I even went and got the Windex to clean the screen hoping that would help. BAH!

Next one is going to be 21 inches or bigger.
 
brain said:
I have an LCD Monitor, my sister said it was
"Broken" and I said it wasn't. So far it's doing
pretty awesome for a broken LCD monitor! It's
HUGE at 21" flat screen!

:D
Click to expand...
Seizure triggers for me (already on AED's) are cold and/or flu medications containing antihistimine and/or decongestant.

When they are mixed with AEDs, they can be very dangerous and "Can" cause internal bleeding.
Most Doctors don't tell you that and it's not on most pill bottles.
I found out through a very bad experience.

This has been a known fact by pharmisists for years but I can't understand why the FDA or Health Canada hasn't made it manditory to display this info. with all AEDs.

Randy
 
RanMan said:
Seizure triggers for me (already on AED's) are cold and/or flu medications containing antihistimine and/or decongestant.

When they are mixed with AEDs, they can be very dangerous and "Can" cause internal bleeding.
Most Doctors don't tell you that and it's not on most pill bottles.
I found out through a very bad experience.

This has been a known fact by pharmisists for years but I can't understand why the FDA or Health Canada hasn't made it manditory to display this info. with all AEDs.

Randy
Click to expand...

The first husband of one of my Moderators, died from ONE dose of Nyquil. That shit happens, it may be rare but any medication had that potential.

My husband has had anaphylactic shock twice from Bacitracin. He was close to death on his 50th birthday because of this common antibiotic ointment. Oh was that scary.

Because of that, we are very cautious of any and ALL medications that come into our household. We read all the litature and I search out more on-line before we take it.
 
Hormones

I noticed that my menstrual cycle usually plays a part...probably 75 % of my seizures have occurred during or the week before.

Can hardly wait for menopause.
 
TBD, you might ask your doc about taking a little bit of pregnenolone to help even out the hormones. Stacy takes it and is adamant that it helps her.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom