Epilepsy Triggers

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I've noticed that the scrolling of the computer screen/page gets to me as well. Not the flashing lights or the brightness of the screen, but the quick scrolling from the top to the bottom of the page.

Steven
 
I have complex partial seizures and over the years I have noticed a more sensativity to seizures if i haven't eaten in a good while- i noticed this in college when i chose not to eat a real meal in the cafeteria! LOL There are just some things you cannot eat! Hehehehe.
Getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night for a fews days does it for me.. I am almost sure a seizure weather shorter or long CP will happen.. I try to rest when I can without taking too many naps- but neuro told me never to take naps since it messed up your night time schedule and you don't ever really sleep.
Caffine gives me tachycardia which makes it hard to breath but not a heart attack or anything- just fast heart rate that I take medication to stop the episode. Sometimes I go to ER for Ativan which really sucks..
Anyways, slow moving light or patterns can do it but not very common to see things like that plus i have limited vision..

I hope everyone is well- take care
-CM
 
The majority of my daughter's seizures coincided with illness - as she is 12, sickness is her biggest stress. Could be your immune system or just the stress of an "alien" attacking your body. The brain is such a mystery!
 
For me it is lack of sleep. A night with less than 5 hours will certainly give me trouble... plus returning to locations or situations where I had a seizure previously. I had a partial simple while looking at a flashing yellow traffic light once, traffic lights have caused me trouble ever since.
 
Lack of sleep is by far the greatest trigger that I have. Stress, I'm usually able to handle, but am finding that the "pent up" stress catches up with me after a while. Most recently, my stomach has been a trigger. I have some form of either parasite, candida, or virus (for 8 months) and it definitely puts stress on my body (causes hypoglycemia, etc.).---LMT
 
:bump:

Bumping this thread back up!
Great discussion here! For all of our new
folks who've walked into our doors in CWE!
 
That's what my PCP and Neuro are looking
at now, it seems mine are all tripping just before
mine starts - but I've been bouncing back and
forth between menopause and menses ...

NOTICE the word "MEN" in it?

Do I have a reason to blame them?


:lol: :pfft:

You're not being fair!! You're looking for political correctness when, in reality, many medical terms have Greek or Latin names as their origin! :touche:
 
Stress is a biggie, but I want to draw a distinction because there are many types of stress. I have noticed that Stacy is particularly seizure prone when she has extreme emotional stress - experiencing extreme sadness, anger, etc. - more so than anxiety, exhuberation, etc.

Hmm, that's really interesting. I've never considered different forms of stress being different for each person.

I would argue that inner anxiety and stress is emotional. If you feel that you are being stretched further than your limits or capacity, then you feel stressed out, in which creates an imbalance in body/mind.

In any case, I've noticed that my Drop Attack Seizures and Myoclonic 'ticks' (or "jerks") Seizures occur when I am stressed, but I have linked this to (social) anxiety - outside world, work, people. Some others are lack of sleep and not eating something in the morning as well as alcohol withdrawal (otherwise known as a hangover) - I don't have any triggers when drinking alcohol, but when the body/mind is withdrawing from a big intake of alcohol the night before, then there is an 'imbalance', which seizures occur.
 
Alcohol can also have "downstream" effects on the body -- poor sleep quality, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance -- that can be triggering for some people.
 
Alcohol can also have "downstream" effects on the body -- poor sleep quality, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance -- that can be triggering for some people.

In my case, I think that's what it is.

This last weekend, I went out for Halloween with my boyfriend. And drank a little too much to be functioning the next morning. We crashed at his place and I wasn't able to get medication until 4pm. I had several drop attacks and myoclonic seizures which was most likely due to not taking my medication in the morning and alcohol withdrawal from the night before. Once I was home and took my medication, I was fine and didn't have a Seizure or "attack".
 
Alcohol acts like GABA in the brain causing an inhibitory response, slowing things down but it also increases GABA re-uptake which gets broken down into its base components for reuse, which can cause an increase in glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, leading to an excited brain.

So it makes you feel good and relaxed, makes you fall asleep but then it wears off and you are now GABA deficient and glutamate excessive causing wakeful/ restless sleep.

Poor sleep, low GABA, and extra glutamate is a bad combination for a brain prone to seizures.
 
Hi guys,

I'm new here, but glad I found this place. I have three tyypes of seizures and one follows the other. I always start off with an absence seizure, then comes the myclonic, followed by (most often than not) a grand mal. I've even found myself having unrinated on myself.

Now, I kept wondering what my triggers were. I knew stress was one. It's not work related stress; it's more anger triggered stress.

1. a) anger related stress
For instance, I have to get something done (work related), I depend on someone to complete the task. They don't do it in time, it pisses me off, I have an attack.

There was a deadline to have something done for incoming students. Mind you, I gave the woman all the information she would need last MONDAY. I'm already getting annoyed again. Our deadlne was March 10th, last Friday. She tells me on Tuesday she probably will do it on Thursday or Friday. I told her, please do it, if she can before Friday 4pm. I'm texting her like crazy on Thursday (I was ill on Friday---drug dose was too high for my seizures). This was her response, "I'm at happy hour". I felt like my brain was about to explode. This is our responsibility and your telling me "happy hour". I called the secretary and walked her through it, since I knew this girl wasn't going to complete the task. Texted her again, nothing. That's the anger level stress I was talking about. Stuttering started, absence began, hands trembling...had to sit in the dark.

b) overstimulation stress
I didn't notice overstimulation until it was mentioned here and I remember I went to my student's class to cheer them on. I started getting hot, the dizziness hit, moments of absence and then came the myclonic. I made it back in time to sit down and just calm myself.

2. Lack of Sleep: Biggest culprit of them all. This is hell on Earth. I had a GM at work, yeah in front of the kids, at work this past Monday. I didn't sleep well at all and was out of it I walked into work and told them that I wasn't feelinig well, but I'll handle it. Well, I was hospitalized until today, or Wednesday.

By the way it was one of the worst episodes ever. I had 1 grand mal at school in front of the kids and then 4 more at the hospital. I was going to leave against glad I didn't. The neurologist there put me on Topomax + the Lamictal & Onfi my doctor already gave me. I saw my normal Neurologist and she was liked the suggestions for the meds but said, ugh, no...you'll be going back to work on Monday.

Guys, all I've been doing is sleeping. It's like my body is trying to get back all the sleep it's been missing.

3. Lack of food: Yup, definitely a trigger. I didn't realize how much it was. It looks like I may need about 5 small meals a day or so.

4. Light: I don't like the yellowish lighting. I can take the white light for short periods. But the yellowish....makes me woozy. Not so much a trigger as a migraine trigger. Migraines are an "aura"
 
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