Is temperature change a trigger?

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jdki

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Hello. I’m new here and just wanted to share my experience with epilepsy.

Quick, extreme temperature changes will always leave me unconscious on the ground (seizure). Going into a cool, air conditioned room after being outside on a hot day will put me down. My saying for this: "Don't get too hot and then quickly cool, cause you know you'll hit the ground, fool". As often, or maybe more, if I get too cold to the point that my fingers and toes hurt when trying to warm up, I get that 'being in a tunnel feeling' and pass out. My saying for that scenario, "If my cold fingers are hurtin', I'm going down for certain." My seizures are extreme but not 'real' often, maybe one or two a year for the last forty years. When I go out it is usually for about fifteen minutes and sometimes loosing control of my bladder and bowels. When I wake up I can be either shivering cold or sweating hot and the temperature I'm in doesn't dictate which. After the episode I sometimes vomit and am always weak and 'sickly' for a couple of days. You would think that with the severity and number of episodes I've had that it could be diagnosed, but it hasn't. I've been to specialists and hospitals and got no answers. I've even had three episodes while in hospitals visiting someone and once in an emergency room. Oh well, I'm sixty now, lived with it for forty years and still alive, but it's still scary when I get that 'feeling' and know I'm going down and not being sure that I will wake up this time. I just thought that I'd share my experiences and maybe hear from someone who suffers from the same.

Thanks for a place to share.
 
Yes, there is a paper out there which suggests based on eeg studies that some are more prone to epileptic activity during different seasons.

Seizure frequency and bioelectric brain activity in epileptic patients in stable and unstable atmospheric pressure and temperature in different seasons of the year--a preliminary report.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:
An epileptic seizure is a sum of exogenous and endogenous factors affecting an epileptic focus. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature on the increase in the frequency of seizures and changes in EEG in epileptic patients.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
The study included 30 epileptic patients (aged 19-54) reporting the influence of changes in weather conditions on the increase in the frequency of seizures for at least 2 years. EEG was performed twice each season at the time of stable and unstable weather conditions.
RESULTS:
In stable and unstable weather conditions, epileptic changes in EEG were most often found in winter (in 43.3% and 63.3% of patients, respectively). Unstable weather conditions increased the proportion of patients with epileptic changes in EEG also in the other seasons. Unstable weather conditions caused an increase in the frequency of seizures in 40% of patients in spring, 43.3% in autumn, 40% in winter and in approximately 7% in summer.
CONCLUSIONS:
In spring, autumn and winter, unstable weather conditions cause an increase in the frequency of seizures in almost half of the epileptic patients but only in 7% in summer. The increase in frequency of seizures in unstable weather conditions did not correspond in all patients with increase of changes in EEG. The higher proportion of epileptic patients with changes in EEG in unstable weather conditions in all seasons suggests an impact of these conditions on subclinical seizure discharges in this period.
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With me I tend to agree that cold is a minor trigger. I have tried going into a sauna when having epileptic activity and it stops in the sauna. Only tried it once though so...
 
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Hi and welcome to CWE, jdki,

I've suffered with E for over 30 years. I've lived in the Rockies, where the temp is freezing at times (like this week) and when I was married, we lived in TN. The humidity there was unbearable and I hated the hot temps. Often times we traveled back and forth between the two states and the temperature change didn't seem to bring on seizures for me. And we flew most of the times (I was married to a pilot), so the air pressure didn't effect my seizures, either. As many times as we had flown, I never had a seizure in flight. Maybe a day or two afterwards.
 
I, too, have lived w/ E for over 30 yrs. and I also get affected when the weather turns cool. Live in the south, but it gets cold here every once in a while. My very 1st seizure was on a cold day in February. So, yes, temp. change IS a factor for me.
 
yes the heat& humidity can bring on my my seizures.Yet then so can crowds bring on seizures for me.There doesn't have to be a reason for me.
 
Me too. It's crowds, loud noises, stress, that monthly time, flashing lights,temp. change, or nothing at all! The seizures just seem to have a will of their own - they come when they want. I just had some last night. No reason!
 
I do believe variations in temperature do trigger stuff for my daughter. For eg.. If my girl is in the spa I do have to check that the water temp is not too warm as it does seem to induce seizure activity.


In Winter, her seizure activity does increase, in Australia we don't have freezing temps but if it's really cold days it can trigger some seizure activity.

Also, any illness & stress is another thing to worry about.
 
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