Epilepsy Talk
Super Seizure De-Stressor | February 16, 2022
We all know that stress is a super trigger for seizures. Whether it’s family, friends, frustrations, conflict, work, school, fear, anger, anxiety, depression. The list is almost endless.
While nobody can say there’s a magic formula for de-stressing, you might give Progressive Muscle Relaxation a try. It’s a pretty powerful tool.
The advantages of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (or PMR) is that it’s easy to do, costs nothing, and requires only a little training and a few minutes of privacy.
Basically, what you are doing is deliberately tensing muscle groups, then releasing that tension. (That’s where the relaxation comes in!)
Here’s how simple it is:
1. Start by lying down on the floor, or sit in a comfortable chair…
2. Tense the muscles in your feet and hold that tension for about 10 seconds, being careful to not tense so tightly that cramps or pain occurs…
3. At the end of the 10 seconds, release the tension and drop your feet, allowing them to rest…
4. When your feet have tensed and released, go on to the next muscle group, in this case, your thighs…
5. Work through your entire body: feet, thighs, buttocks, stomach, chest, arms, neck, and then finally, facial muscles.
6. When you have tensed and released all the muscles in your body, search mindfully for any remaining spots of tension.
7. If you come across tension anywhere, mentally concentrate on this part and will it to relax. You can tense and relax any part again if it is needed.
8. After a few minutes, stretch, imagine the energy that is entering into each part of your body, then slowly sit up…refreshed and relaxed.
Reference:
http://www.epilepsyhealth.com/relaxation.html
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Tags: costs nothing, de-stressing, easy to do, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, release tension., tense, triggers
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Epilepsy Talk 
Reblogged this on Disablities & Mental Health Issues.
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Comment by Kenneth — February 16, 2022 @ 10:05 AM
Since law enforcement, including TSA, believes epilepsy is a mental illness, I wonder if epileptics will be put on the new no-fly list.
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Comment by Susan Vander Veer — February 16, 2022 @ 11:25 AM
😢
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — February 16, 2022 @ 12:45 PM
What’s next?
Exterminating the mental patients just like the Gestapos of NAZI Germany?
But since when did any mental disorder or Epilepsy became a crime for Law enforcement or TSA to ban the patients from traveling, flying to their choice of destination?
This is going way too far, it can’t be true.
Gerrie
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Comment by Gerrie — February 16, 2022 @ 2:05 PM
It’s not. Yet.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — February 16, 2022 @ 4:18 PM
Epilepsy is not a mental illness! There are EMTs that don’t know about Epilepsy as much as they could or should and if a person who is coming out of their Epileptic seizure their way that isn’t “the paramedics way” they will radio in for the police.
Which is a traumatic experience especially when the wrong police officers show up on scene!
Before 2018, I never had the nightmare experiences that I have had since then!
Put in handcuffs from trying to get out of the the Postical part of the Epileptic seizures non-violently!!
In a city that I didn’t grow up in or get diagnosed with Epilepsy either!!
Other police have done first aid on me and radio for paramedics, when they saw me drop, go unconscious and bleed a lot from my head.
It’s horrendous the way people continue to watch the person come out of the Epileptic seizure and assume the person is “drunk and or high” and tell that to their faces, not unlike Julie assumption that people that live with Epilepsy should be banned from flying. I hadn’t in the past.
I used to save up for July fourth week to be with my best friend and make new ones.
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Comment by Taima — February 20, 2022 @ 1:44 AM
Taima,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I never thought it could happen to me or anybody else but I had been in your shoes, handcuffed to ambulance & hospital bed while having grand mal seizures, until my dear friend showed up at the hospital & accused the ER doctor of medical malpractice, thereby forcing the hospital to release me immediately.
Therefore, I understand what you’ve been through.
While I realize that most ordinary people wouldn’t know what to do on the scene when someone is having unexpected medical hardship, I suspect the Ambulance technicians may have financial motives to gain by dragging the patients into hospitals.
After all, it costs money for the Ambulance industry to make the trip from the hospital to the incident site. Therefore going back to the hospital with empty hands does NOT pay the bill.
As for the police, concerned & suspicious of illegal drugs trafficking activity, clearing up the scenery & dispersing the curious crowds seem to be far more important mission than coming to the rescue of the seizing patient.
If we only had an alarm sensor to wear transmitting a warning signal before having seizures, I wonder if we could had avoided these tormenting experience.
Gerrie
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Comment by Gerrie — February 20, 2022 @ 5:11 AM
given this by a counsellor who added in, dream up an event you were really happy in, have some soothing music, I love thinking about the mountains I climbed
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Comment by Gail Barry — February 17, 2022 @ 4:38 AM
Gail, I think you’ll like this article:
Some Stress and Anxiety Solutions… https://epilepsytalk.com/2021/03/08/some-stress-and-anxiety-solutions/
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — February 17, 2022 @ 9:23 AM
Thanks for the tip, I’ll try it. Usually It’s music and running that also help me with anxiety.
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Comment by kate — February 17, 2022 @ 7:51 PM
tips can also be found on the epilepsy foundation site. epilepsy.com It’s also been very helpful for me. I had my first seizure at the age of 6, medication was all I knew at first. But it’s never too late to try something new and natural (no side effects) 🙂 Thanks again
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Comment by kate — February 18, 2022 @ 11:31 PM
Taima & Gerrie, I think this may be of interest:
It’s interesting that whenever a crime or harm is done to a person with epilepsy, or as soon as the person’s epilepsy becomes known, the accused are veiled in immunity.
Any claims by someone with epilepsy that they have been physically abused are written off or ignored, stating that the person cannot function properly with their degree of epilepsy, and that additional treatment is necessary to prevent the incident from happening again.
The degree of the outcome is basically irrelevant, from inflicted emotional trauma, to assault and battery, to robbery, kidnapping, rape, and murder.
And, to add insult to injury, people with epilepsy experience these atrocities at a much higher frequency, because they are regarded as having something “wrong” with them.
The results of the harm will most likely be written off because the person had epilepsy. Therefore they don’t “count.”
Even the number of witnesses, the degree of evidence, and the presence of law enforcement officials are basically irrelevant. Most people tend to turn their heads and pretend nothing happened.
Well-documented cases with complete sets of video, don’t sustain punishment, legal action, correction, change in policy or even change in protocol.
And so the blame goes to the victim. (Are they insinuating that we’re all nuts?)
This resulting denial of “equal protection under the law” is an additional abuse.
It’s sad to know, the very “authorities” who swore to protect, serve and save our lives, can be as deadly as the epileptic seizures we are forced to live with, everyday.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — February 20, 2022 @ 10:56 AM
Phylis, Thank you for your deep understanding of our tormenting experience & traumatic ordeals.
Let’s hope for the days where the establishments “designated” to serv the wellbeing of the victims of neurological disorders will come to heed the agony of victims of epilepsy.
Gerrie
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Comment by Gerrie — February 21, 2022 @ 3:56 AM