Medication. Doctors diagnose your problem, write a prescription, tell you take the meds a few times a day and send you on your merry little way. No matter if it’s the common cold, flu, a cut or in my case, epilepsy. There is NO cure for epilepsy so medication is used to help control the seizures. While the Topamax and Keppra help keep my seizure count low, there are other things that can cause me to have “breakthroughs”. There are a number of things that I should avoid also known as triggers. They may seem like normal everyday things to everyone else but could send an epileptic into a seizure.
For each person the triggers can be different. From a lot of research I find a lot of us have a few in common. I’ll share my seizure “triggers” and how I came to figure these out.
My Triggers:
Artificial sweeteners (Splenda, equal, etc)
Fresh Apples
Caffeine
Hormones
Extreme Heat
Missed medication
Stress
Acetaminophen/Diphenhydramine (no over the counter meds)– super hard to battle colds — this came from my doc (check with your doc for info)
Those are just a few. With the food triggers it was basically trial and error. I would notice the time of day I would have the seizure and exactly what I had and narrowed it down. Now I am even more conscience of what I eat and if I can’t read the ingredients or make it myself, I’ll ask or just won’t have it at all. I would much rather decline than to deal with a health risk.
There are times I completely forget to take my meds. I use RxmindMe app on my phone and have an alarm. I have friends to annoy me like crazy “Did you take your meds?!” And sometimes with all of that I would fall asleep and STILL forget. I’m only human. It happens. I went from taking no meds to 8 pills a day. Took a little getting used to. But the forgetting has gotten better and I do not miss them as often as I used to. Go me!
Stress and Hormones. Okay, I’ll just be honest this is the HARDEST to control. I stress when I have a seizure, I stress when I’m not having one. I mean in todays world we stress about pretty much everything. I really try to keep a calm vibe as much as possible but I think I stress about that too. As a female, hormones just like to do what they want to our body is all I can say but it does not define my life.
With any health issue or even if you don’t have any, it is SO important to know your body. Pay attention to every detail, every change you notice. Document it. And if you notice something and it worries you, be sure to tell your doctor. By me keeping a journal of everything helps my neurologist better treat me since he’s not with me 24/7. Leave nothing to chance, YOU can save your own life.
With love,
Whitney
Ok, so I use or eat or do these on your list:
Artificial sweeteners (Splenda, equal, etc) ~not often, really rare, not even in my coffee.
Fresh Apples~ I eat apples often.
Caffeine~ I have coffee everyday!
Missed medication~ even 1 day I will have an episode!
Stress~ I have always been an easily stressed out person. I have faith and pray, but I still stress.
as far as hormones~ I do notice when I get my monthly special time~ my migraines and episodes come.
I am still learning my episodes. I just had a bad one a few days ago. The next day, my body was just so worn down. I had no energy. The days leading up to my episode, I could taste the metallic and it kept getting stronger. I have my seizures in my sleep though. After the episode this time, for the first time~ flashing lights bothered me. That has never bothered me before. It was the worse I have ever felt.
Do you drive? When I drive, which is not often, I am often in a daze. It makes me very nervous. I do not drive long distances. I drive with peripheral vision I notice.
Now that my episode has past, I have a deadly migraine. I try not to bring me down, but it seems like it is always something.
Thanks for sharing this info, I need all the help I can get. I am learning so much from everyone. My neuro MD can only give me so much information, but I really need personal help from others who suffer. I want to be one of the epilepsy patients who are seizure free for a few months on day. One day.
Lots of love,
lisa
To touch base on everything….Caffeine can def increase your seizure activity. Because it is a neurological disorder of over active brain functions, what does caffeine do? It gives you more..it in a sense sends more charges through your body..if you have multiple cups a day try bringing it down to 1 and see if you notice the difference..Missed meds.. taking your meds every day is soooo important ..every single time I miss them my body hates me! Do you have yourself on a schedule or do you take them whenever? Most of us have a set time to take them me 8am and 8pm so I never miss them and even then I slip up but not as often and I use the RxmindMe app on my phone to remind me to take the meds and Even to refill the prescriptions. Stress is one of those things that is hard to control but I find when I spend 30 min of prayer before starting my day it actually goes by smoother and I’m more relaxed 🙂 Yes the monthly women’s issue every single month I have an episode .. My neurologist looks at my seizure diary every appt and sees around the same date I have one..it’s called Catamenial Seizures ..when your hormones are sending the wrong signals to your brain it can send you into an epileptic episode.. I often have my seizures in the waking stages of sleep..of course any seizures in any phase of sleep are known as Nocturnal Seizures..check out my blog post from December: I CAN do this…Safety First though it talks about it … As for driving yes I still drive I also have written a blog about that daze while driving November Archive: Epilepsy will NOT defeat me.. No worries Lisa you will be seizure free and I will do everything I can to help! I’m here for every question you may have any time..I’m off to work on new blog post..chat with you soon 🙂
With Love,
Whit