Way to prevent seizures while awake and aware

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BillK

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When I have a seizure it seems like my eyes shift downward and to the side and then it begins. I find that when I'm on the verge of a seizure it seems like I can prevent it by looking straight ahead and not allowing my eyes to shift. Has anyone experienced something similar? Two neurologists have told me they've never heard of this, but I'm guessing that someone in this forum might have a similar experience.
 
My neuro told me to tighten up all the muscles in my body and make my hands into tight fists the moment
I felt a seizure starting and that was back in the late 1970's and since I've been doing that it has stopped
many seizures. I wish you only the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
It sounds a bit like what neurofeedback can do (where you learn to train the brain to avoid abnormal brainwaves) and also like what is described in the book “Epilepsy: A new Approach”. You can read about the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/438959.Epilepsy and also in older posts on CWE: https://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/threads/epilepsy-a-new-approach.7189/
It’s quite out of date by now, but it discusses ways to potentially derail your auras before they progress to full seizures. The website for the program the authors created is here: https://www.andrewsreiter.com
 
I can't stop mine once they really get started, but relaxing makes them less severe. I think I can stop them at a very early stage and sometimes prevent myself from developing into complex partials.

When I'm getting sensory simple partials, like fuzzy feelings, rubbing the affected part seems to help. I think this makes sense. If you think about it your neurons are going haywire and acting disorderly. By giving them intentional feedback through the same circuit it helps them re-organize. They have to process the information, and that makes them work correctly, at least up to a point. My face feels fuzzy, or my hand gets shocks, which is my neurons acting unnaturally. By rubbing, moving, tapping, or shaking the affected part I'm giving it real sensations to process, which requires it to re-organize and act normally. The same thing may be true of your eyes. By not allowing your eyes to do what they want, and forcing them to do what you want, you are re-organizing the impulses.

I went to Andrews-Reiter and found it very frustrating. It was mostly deep breathing, but that never works for me. If I forced myself to sit and do it for 15 to 30 minutes straight everyday it helped, and I felt better, but it was super hard. Nearly all of that time was spent just trying to calm down. The idea was kind of similar to what I said. Instead of giving your body sensory or motor feedback, you are re-organizing your brainwaves to a relaxed state through meditation. Anyhow, Donna Andrews did learn to control her epilepsy, and has taught others to do the same.
 
I have no control over either type of my seizures. The simple partials aren't much of an issue--when they occur, they're usually over within 5 minutes. It's the complex partials that are troublesome. I don't have any aura, & only know of their occurrence thanks to witnesses, because another show is on TV, or something I've done to myself. Now I'm going to see how long Xcopri will last before my brain becomes "immune" to it & breakthroughs start--at this dose, at least
 
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