bmanon
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Hello, I'm new, and I'm here becuase I'm the only person I know with epilepsy. I have a question though. I was reccently out with a freind and I had a problem. I couldn't get on the escalator with her and I had to explain why. It was really embarrasing, and hard to explain. But she was fascinated and started doing all this research. She's actually the one who suggested I get on a forum and see if anyone else has the same issues. So here goes:
I have a very strange trigger for my seizers. Its not the only one, but its certainly one of the more odd and embarrassing ones. I have a problem with long, enclosed escalators. That’s right, not just any old escalator. A nice, short escalator, that is very open doesn’t seem to bother me. But I live in the DC area and I use metro a lot. Many of their escalators are very long and are enclosed, as they go underground. I can NOT ride them. I begin to loose all sense of equilibrium, followed by dizziness, and then a seizure. Thank God the 2 times its happened, I was with 1. my uncle and 2. my husband. Both were able to catch me, mid fall. Now, I avoid them at all costs. I don’t know if this is some sort of epilepsy enhanced vertigo or if it’s a bizarre case of claustrophobia. I’m not normally claustrophobic. I’ve read that some other epileptics have problems with escalators because of the moving stripes, but that doesn’t seem to be my issue. It’s standing on them while they are moving me, down a tunnel. Does anyone else have a similar trigger, or at least something very specific? Some people treat me like I’m making this up, but why would I? This is really a huge inconvenience to my daily life. As if all the other epileptic symptoms weren’t bad enough! Please tell me I’m not alone!
I have a very strange trigger for my seizers. Its not the only one, but its certainly one of the more odd and embarrassing ones. I have a problem with long, enclosed escalators. That’s right, not just any old escalator. A nice, short escalator, that is very open doesn’t seem to bother me. But I live in the DC area and I use metro a lot. Many of their escalators are very long and are enclosed, as they go underground. I can NOT ride them. I begin to loose all sense of equilibrium, followed by dizziness, and then a seizure. Thank God the 2 times its happened, I was with 1. my uncle and 2. my husband. Both were able to catch me, mid fall. Now, I avoid them at all costs. I don’t know if this is some sort of epilepsy enhanced vertigo or if it’s a bizarre case of claustrophobia. I’m not normally claustrophobic. I’ve read that some other epileptics have problems with escalators because of the moving stripes, but that doesn’t seem to be my issue. It’s standing on them while they are moving me, down a tunnel. Does anyone else have a similar trigger, or at least something very specific? Some people treat me like I’m making this up, but why would I? This is really a huge inconvenience to my daily life. As if all the other epileptic symptoms weren’t bad enough! Please tell me I’m not alone!