I'm from the Columbia University Epilepsy Study!

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!

Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hey everyone,

I am part of a study at Columbia University which hopes to build upon the collected wisdom of people living with epilepsy to inform research about how people take control of their health. Our goal is to provide an opportunity for people with epilepsy to benefit one another through research by sharing their experiences.

The easy part about it is that you can participate over any computer with internet access: it is an online questionnaire which should take about 60 minutes to complete. The study is voluntary and confidential. In return for completing the survey, participants receive a gift card of their choice and an entry into a lottery for an additional reward.

Participants must identify as having epilepsy and be between the ages of 18 and 65.

For further details, please contact the Columbia Couples Lab at 212-854-0127, or e-mail Columbia.Epilepsy.Study[at]gmail[dot]com. (Note: Use @ and . in your emails.)

Thanks so much!

Vanessa S
Research Assistant
 
I dont have epilepsy myself a family member has occasional fits. My interest is in which types of epilepsi are sensitive to solar storm as possibly indicated by kay's 1994 study of increased admissions into mental hospitals apox 14 days after a solar storm. He concluded the power of any storm made no difference as any storm caused an increase so I have begun to explore the difference the increased frequency of storms in the average 11 year time frame of increase as compared with the following 11 year decrease of activity which togeather make the complete 22 year average cycle.
I have read a few posts about epileptics being sensitive to solar storms and interested in any information that will help clarify if it is a general pattern or just the odd individual who has this unusual sensitivity to solar storms.
Thanks Terry
 
I dont have epilepsy myself a family member has occasional fits. My interest is in which types of epilepsi are sensitive to solar storm as possibly indicated by kay's 1994 study of increased admissions into mental hospitals apox 14 days after a solar storm.

Epilepsy has nothing to do with mental hospitals. I don't know why you would think that study would have any relevance to epilepsy.
 
"Epilepsy is associated with high rates of psychiatric disorder and one form of epilepsy, known as temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), in particular, shows increased rates of psychosis. Until now, little was known about the underlying biological mechanisms behind this type of psychiatric disorder."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110419121434.htm
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1186336-overview

Good luck with your research Terry.

Vanessa,
Will you accept the caregiver as a participant?
 
Question
Is there a link between epilepsy and mental instability, ie a chemical imbalance in the brain?
Answer
The short answer to this question is really 'no',
There is no direct association between mental illness and epilepsy, but mental illness may occur more frequently in epileptics for a number of reasons.
Examples would be recurrent status epilepticus, where a series of unremitting seizures can cause secondary problems to brain function, and where epilepsy severely curtails employability and lifestyle.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/neurology/201729.html


First of all, since the only connection is so general over a long term then a solar storm would have no association to increased seizures.

Secondly increased admissions to a mental hospital would be for all sorts of mental patients with no measure of how many have epilepsy or even if they did have it, did their seizures increase? If the solar storm would effect the epilepsy they would not be going to a mental hospital but a neurological institution.

Even in Robins link it says
These brain differences are potentially relevant to both psychiatric disorders in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and to schizophrenia in the general population.
Potentially means Possibly. That means that so far nothing has been positively shown to connect psychiatric disorders with TLE or schizophrenia.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom