Keeping busy to avoid seizures from coming on?

[momof3boys]

has anyone here tried to keep busy to avoid a seizure from coming on?

I got up today, feel so tired, with a huge headache, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Ive been having auras through out the day, and I decided by 2pm I had to get up for the day. I couldnt just keep laying on the couch at that point. My mom was with me and the kids today, and she left at 2pm, my husband got home from work at 3pm.

But as I got up, and started to walk around the house, trying to keep my mind occupied, I then sat down on the couch to rest, and I felt the aura coming on. It was the usual aura I get... fast heart beat, fear and sadness... nausea.. then comes on the stiffening and sometimes, not always does the jerking come into play. But Im consious through out, and its the feeling of this all that just makes me feel horriable through out it.

Ive tried to tell myself to keep busy.. because anytime I try to rest, I feel it coming on.. I just wondered if anyone else here has had the same thing happen? Im not trying to overdo things, I will be giving a call to my local neuro in the morning to get an an appointment scheduled. I just want this all to end!

 

[Autumn Breeze]

Dh says I get like that at night sometimes, he calls it pre-seizureish. My heart is racing, sometimes I'm tapping my fingers or my foot. I've never been able to avoid it. Then again, it's only been a year. I'm actually sitting here right now transferring all my notes into my calendar. Just when I thought I had a pattern, I don't.

 

[momof3boys]

I figured its better to keep myself busy, than sit on my butt and have these auras coming on. I hate the feeling, i just can not stand it! I had to stop doing the laundry to go pee.. but even just going pee I had the auras coming on! This stuff sucks!

 

[Autumn Breeze]

That does suck

I don't know if my change in perception is a continuation of the seizure activity or a result of it. But I've been dealing with feels from the past, as if I'm visiting a different year or season altogether since Thursday evening. I agree, it sucks. Big time.

 

[summerf]

I don't know if it's the same thing or not, but I do have to get up in the mornings instead of laying around to avoid tonic-clonics. I find that if I lay around in the place where I'm sorta drowsy and half asleep, when I do finally get up, I am MUCH more likely to have a seizure. For instance, if I hit the snooze button a couple times before I actually get up for real, I am much more likely to have a seizure when I do get up than if I would just get up when the alarm went off the first time. I don't know why. I have JME, and I only have tonic-clonics in the morning just after I get up. I don't have them at other times during the day. I haven't found the magic formula to stop them entirely yet, but not laying around in the place where I am half asleep goes a long way toward preventing them. It also helps prevent the myoclonic seizures that are a part of JME.

Not sure whether any of this helps...but you're not alone.

 

[momof3boys]

Thanks for all the replys. Im just trying to get all this straight. The past two weeks have been a complete change for me than what Im use to. Ive been on Keppra XR since May 2011, and other than trying the generic keppra xr in November 2012, and having seizures, things have been good. So when these came up, and things have been out of wack since, its been hard trying to understand what is going on. Like now, im not busy doing anything but typing... and im feeling "off"... my head is killing me and I feel like something is wnating to come on.... I try to fight it off... sometimes it works, other times it doesnt.

 

[Maisy]

I agree with above, also, i have too get washed and dressed straight away before even making a cuppa tea, then have too put music on, there still there but i dont notice them as much as the music is making me happy and im busy doing the dishes and things

 

[AngelwithDentedHalo]

I wonder if our thinking about having a seizure could bring it on, know what I mean? Like when you go to the doctor for symptoms you're having, your mind naturally tends to think the worst until you hear what it is.

The same thing could be said for seizures, if you think you're going to have one, your brain gets stressed about it and perhaps triggers it, so maybe keeping busy is a good way to try and avoid it. Of course that depends on if what you're doing, has in the past triggered one. I think keeping busy and not thinking about it could be beneficial.

That way your body isn't stressing about it. In fact this article here states that it is beneficial and also says that if you focus on the positive things, it helps.

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/resources/upload/077pgl.pdf

 

[momof3boys]

I just noticed that the feelings i get when the seizures do want to come on, are really strong when Im just sitting down, or not doing much. Where as I would be in the kitchen picking up the dishes, I would have similar feelings, but just not try to pay attention to them, which makes me I guess not notice them as much, trying to keep my mind occupied on something else. according to my new neuro, he said if you try to avoid the symptoms, and focus on other things, sometimes people can try to get out of having a larger seizure, but if its going to happen, either way, the feelings are going to be there even after you get done with what youre doing. I noticed when I got done doing the dishes, the minute I walked away, I went into a simple partial seizure. I had to stop right then, and let the seizure take its course. Im waiting to hear back from the neuro's office. they want to put me on a new medication, but the topamax did take that stuff away... it was just the bad side effects I couldnt deal with.

 

[Nakamova]

You ight want to check out the article chaz mentions in this thread: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...-approach-epilepsy-time-paradigm-shift-19674/

It's a little jargon-y, but discusses a cognitive behavioral treatment approach for folks that get warning signs for their seizures.