Epilepsy Talk
Common epilepsy triggers…
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Epilepsy affects each person differently. Below is a guide to some common seizure triggers. You may not feel or notice anything in particular. Or you may have triggers which are not mentioned here. Keeping a seizure diary is the most effective way of keeping track of what triggers your seizures.
Tags: emotion, food allergies, hormones, medication, musicogenic epilepsy, photosensitivity, stress, triggers
A menu of epilepsy auras…
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One of the good thing about auras, is that if you’re aware of them, they’re effective (if unpleasant) warning signals of an oncoming seizure.
I didn’t learn to identify mine (mouth filling up with saliva and disgusting metallic taste) until I was well into my 20’s.
Tags: auditory changes, auras, physical changes, psychological changes, seizures, visual changes, warning signs
EEGs and beyond — which tests do you need?
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How many of us have heard: “Your EEG is normal. You’re fine..” (“It’s all in your head?”)
I know of people who have had 5 EEGs, only to be properly diagnosed when they finally had Video EEG Monitoring.
So if someone is trying to pass you off or is ignoring your symptoms, perhaps you should become a little more familiar with your diagnostic options…
Tags: CAT Scan, Continous Videal EEG Monitoring, diagnostic tets, EEG, Functional MRI, MEG, MRI, PET
Seniors — Alzheimer’s, Epilepsy or Seizures?
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The question of whether a person has epilepsy or Alzheimer’s can be a tough one.
Take those “senior moments” — memory lapses, zoning out and other temporary confusion. These seemingly harmless incidents may actually be a sign of epilepsy. Roughly 1-2 percent of seniors develop epilepsy — and that rate is rising.
But experts at the U.S. National Council on Aging warn that often epilepsy goes undetected in seniors.
Tags: "senior moments", Alzheimer's, drugs, Epilepsy, medications, misdiagnosed, Research, seizures, undetected
The Trouble with AEDs…
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At the very best, finding the right anti-epilepsy drug is a crap shoot. There’s always the hope that this one will do it.
Or maybe adjunct therapy will work. Or, sigh, the side-effects derail you and you’re on to the next.
Is asking for seizure control too much to ask?
Tags: AEDS, anti-epilepsy drugs, benefits, dangers, seizures, side-effects
Laughter as effective as cocaine?
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Yup. A comic cartoon fires up the same brain center as a shot of cocaine, researchers report.
Tags: brain regions, cocaine, dopamine, EEG, euphoria, laughter, MRI, scentific evidence
MS or Epilepsy?
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Recently a woman wrote to me telling about the awful diagnostic disaster that she had been through.
In her words: “It took 3 years, 3 primary doctors, and 7 neurologists to diagnose me.
I told everyone that ‘it feels like my brain is shaking in my head.”
If they had listened to me the first time and had done a simple EEG, it would’ve saved us and the insurance company a lot of money!”
Tags: autoimmune, Epilepsy, misdiagnosis, MS, neuroimaging, research sparse
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Epilepsy Talk 