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!
Robin,
If you say that:
I did read last week that those over 50 are the largest group of people being diagnosed.
That indicates to me that stress is the trigger.
I know it was for me.
Laid off from three jobs between June 2003 and October 2004, and the job I took in December 2004 was a total mismatch-Collections. Terminated over the phone from that in November 05 & five days later my first tonic / clonic and spent ten hours in the county medical center.
So here I am almost two years later having not had a job for two years, and no income for 16 months. Anyone know how I could win the lottery? Just kidding.
(Lisa Renee)
Minneapolis MN
Stress lowers the seizure threshold, so it can be a seizure trigger in those whose threshold is normally low (ie. those with epilepsy).
I still wonder if extreme, traumatic stress can be a causative factor in permanently lowering the seizure threshold (or "causing" epilepsy). It's pure speculation, but extreme stress can cause physiological changes including vitamin/mineral imbalances, depressed immune systems (increased vulnerability to virii and environmental threats), etc. See emotional trauma stored in the body for more on the subject.
I saw the lead / reference from the epilepsy.com website about CBT and dropped everything and came to this site. That is what is of greatest interest to me.... OK so where do I go from here?