Seasonal Seizures?

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awesomeAccent

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Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum but reading over the posts, this seems like a great resource to have. I suppose I'll start with a little background about myself: I was diagnosed with partial epilepsy 4 years ago when I was 15. Since then, I've been on Keppra xr...taking what I consider ridiculous amounts (2000 mg daily!) of the stuff. I began on 500 mg daily, and each time I had a seizure my neurologist's answer was to up my dosage.

Over these past 4 years I've had 5 seizures...BUT...they always happen between September and early November. I was wondering if anyone else experienced what I would call "seasonal seizures"--that is, having your seizures be more active in a certain time of the year. I asked my neurologist about it and she kind of shrugged it off and said it's been reported but the medical community doesn't really know anything about it yet.

So, yeah. Has anyone else experienced this? Are there any actions I could take around the time from sep-nov to lower my instance of having seizures?

Thanks :)
 
Hi, AwesomeAccent,

Welcome to CWE!

I don't have seasonal variation in my seizures, but I could see how it could happen, and how variables that time of year could be seizure triggers. Lots of stuff changes that time of year.

Are there variations in your lifestyle starting in fall? Like less sunlight? Maybe a full spectrum light could help in that case. People get SAD (seasonal affective disorder) that time of year, so it would make sense that increased seizures could happen, too.

Could it be allergies? That's the time of year that most people are really firing up their heaters, which could mean allergans that settled in the ducts during the summer spreading through the house, and living with the windows closed so there's less ventilation. Or maybe it's the time you pull out that down comforter, etc.

It will take some detective work and good journaling on your part to figure out what it might be for you. Are you keeping a good seizure journal? I'm guessing that's how you knew your seizures increased in fall/winter.

Hope you are feeling better soon.
 
I noticed when I lived on the west coast & it would rain non-stop for all the winter that my seizures would increase.

Also, the day before the first day of winter rain I'd have a huge (by my standards) seizure no matter how nice a day it was.

Now that I"m in central Canada & it might be snowy but it's also very sunny I'm curious to see how (or if) it effects my seizures.
 
My son sees a TCM practitioner. He did indicate that fall would be a bad time for my son. We did see an increase in seizures and doubled his herbs. The seizures (and bad behavior) reduced after doubling the herbs. He asked me to reduce the herbs just recently and the seizures came back.
 
Hey everyone thanks for the replies. I thought more about what goes on in the fall for me and realized it probably has to do with allergies and anxieties about starting school.

Hootie, is TCM considered legitimate seizure treatment? I'm a bit skeptical.
 
awesomeAccent said:
Hootie, is TCM considered legitimate seizure treatment? I'm a bit skeptical.
Click to expand...

Considered legitimate by who? I'm sure there are many western doctors who may question or even not acknowledge TCM as a legitimate treatment but I'm also sure that it has helped many people with seizures. An excellent example is Neurofeedback which has not been acknowledged to help seizures yet & therefore is not covered by insurance for that purpose, however there are people on this site whose seizures have been greatly helped by it.

IMO, I think we should find what works for us regardless of how others have judged our treatments. That being said, I also think we should be very careful of those who try to sell snake oil & deeply research the validity of the various treatments we want to try.
 
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vitamins D & C

Look into high doses of vitamins D3 and C. I found these to be helpful for my seasonal seizures. My body produces D poorly and D is necessary for adsorption of C. Vitamin C directly helps the brain to maintain a good working environment.
 
I always become more unwell in Autumn, my mum swore by this trend when I was younger. I think it's got something to do with my body suffering more coughs and colds ect. I don't know where you are from so what type of season those months are for you but I thought it worth a mention.
 
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