stress & seizures

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!

Emee

Stalwart
Messages
238
Reaction score
5
Points
63
Does stress trigger seizures for everyone? Maybe it's because I'm old but I have a hard time coping with stressful situations. I seem to fall apart over the smallest issues especially things I have no control over. Thanks.
 
stress&seizures

Emee,

yes stress can trigger a seizure with me, depending on how stressful the situation is with me.:twocents::agree:


Belinda
 
Emee,

It definitely triggers seizures for me. I've had to learn through my life to stay as level headed as I can. I'm always the calm guy in the group. But it's more out of necessity than anything.

After stressful situations in my life I've had tc's. Like after breakups, etc.
 
Stress is tied into so many other physiological reactions too. When we are experiencing what we call stress, for our cave people ancestors this would have been the "fight or flight" reaction, either go kill dinner or keep from being some other critter's dinner. To do this well we have the hormones adrenaline and cortisol that kick in and give us a boost of rocket fuel as needed.
The problem with modern day stress like a jerk for a boss or freeway back ups, is that it is not a one time and then done event. It is chronic. But our bodies are still pumping out fight or flight hormones. They don't get a break.
These hormones keep you from digesting your food well (ever felt queasy before giving a presentation?). They also keep you from sleeping well. You would want to be able to stay up all night if there were a saber toothed tiger near the cave but losing a night's sleep because your boss is an ass and you had a fight with your girlfriend doesn't help anything.

So chronic stress leads to chronic nutrient deficiencies and chronic sleep deprivation which can both lead to seizures.
 
Stress is supposed to be good and bad, we sometimes require that stress to get something done or perform well in life.

There is always going to be stuff that gets thrown beyond control, we ALL SEIZURE OR NO SEIZURE have to try and pick ourselves and start again. :)
Illness can also be a stressor for seizure activity eg.. a winter flu can lead to seizure activity for my girl
The mind and body really is interconnected never underestimate it.

We all need our own strategies to cope one size does not fit all.
Also, one needs to be careful in not self bashing themselves, we are all guilty of thinking of the crap rather than little steps.
 
Stress is one of my main seizure triggers. If I've got a good bit of stress going on 9 times out of 10 I will have a seizure.


The problem with modern day stress like a jerk for a boss or freeway back ups, is that it is not a one time and then done event. It is chronic. But our bodies are still pumping out fight or flight hormones. They don't get a break.
These hormones keep you from digesting your food well (ever felt queasy before giving a presentation?). They also keep you from sleeping well. You would want to be able to stay up all night if there were a saber toothed tiger near the cave but losing a night's sleep because your boss is an ass and you had a fight with your girlfriend doesn't help anything.

So chronic stress leads to chronic nutrient deficiencies and chronic sleep deprivation which can both lead to seizures.

These last few days have been pretty stressful and I actually didn't realize it until AlohaBird posted this that I haven't been sleeping good (or hardly at all) and I'm just not eating because food seems to make me sick.

I'm just waiting for the seizure to happen. Cross your fingers that it doesn't though.
 
Stress doesn't seem to be a big trigger for me, except perhaps for the very first seizures (when the stress had "downstream" effects on my sleep and appetite). My seizures are controlled right now, but when they haven't been, I've seized when I'm happy and relaxed.
 
i can handle stress better than i can handle happiness actually
 
I tend not to have one thing that is a sole trigger of a seizure; instead it needs to be a few things combined to cause a seizure. So having said that stress (whether good stress or bad) by itself is not a trigger for me.
 
Definitely a trigger for me. Noticed this shortly after I was diagnosed as a teen. I had seizures.....

-Morning before state my 8th grade summber basketball tournament

-Morning before junior homecoming

-Morning before senior spring football game

-Morning before senior cap & gown pictures

-Morning after first college girlfriend "stayed over" for the first time

In that order. Sleep deprivation is my biggest trigger, though, and I can't sleep when I'm stressed out.

The crazy thing is what c0urt said is true in my life as well. Unless he was joking, then haha.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom