Presently I am unable to sleep due to the noise from the fridge's motor. Ticking clocks, rave music /repetitive, heavy bass as well as people talking loudly (esp in confined area such as elevator) or with a high pitch affect me negatively. The sound of the road whilst driving annoys me. I find listening to classical music helps. I have had epilepsy since I was 12. I have had less seizures as an adult. I was also advised by an ENT(ear, nose and throat specialist) to have a septoplasty/ surgery to correct my deviated septum as this causes severe sinusitis which in turn causes uncomfortable pressure build -up in my ears.
I have bought several pairs of blue tinted polarised glasses without fully knowing why I found this colour to be so calming. I always switch the fluorescent lights off in my office, and allow natural light in through the windows. I try not to look at pc monitor for too long - for this nauseates me due to subtle flicker. I grin and bear arduous meetings held in venues with such lighting.Shopping malls are a veritable nightmare in terms of sound and lighting. This is exacerbated by poor dietary habits causing my blood sugar levels to plummet. Also have hypotension.
I have motion sickness - I cannot look at google earth without feeling dizzy.
I believe that understanding is as crucial as sharing experience/advice.

Hi Ash,

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you may be photosensitive to some light just like I am. A study was done and they found blue lights and the scent of lavender to help some people reduce their sz. A few yrs. ago I had a special e.e.g. done where the tech was flashing different color lights one at a time and when they flashed florescent green, amber, and bright white each time it triggered a sz for me. Later on I had brain surgery to help reduce my sz. and since that time I know longer have problems with looking at certain color lights or strobe lights. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!
Sue

Ash,

It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. Please, just let us know how we can help you out. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

Please keep us up to date on your situation. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I thought I would share my experience and what seems so far to be helpful for me.

After a motorcycle accident (first time out on the road....but I was covered head to toe in gear...ripped up my left arm (6 surgeries) and a slight mark on my helmet), I noticed that there were times when a quick sound or a fast movement on the TV caused very short duration convulsions for me. The video seemed to lessen over time as well as audio causing issues.

A year later after being prescribed Zoloft (200mgs/day) I suffered my first Grand Mal. I did not notice any major outside sources (audio/video) prior to the seizure....just woke up to having my back broken in 3 places.

The seizure was finally attributed to Serotonin Syndrome and my Zoloft was changed to Lexapro at 10mgs/day with success.

About 7 months later, while at a drum and bugle corps competition I had another Grand Mal.

Since that time I've noticed that as the day goes on and sound starts to build, I become more sensitive.

I decided to experiment with .5mgs of Xanax and all of my symptoms disappeared. 1mg of Xanax prior to attending a concert or movie, and I have no myoclonic activity at all and have been seizure free for two years.

I know that my case is my own....and am certainly aware we are all different.

I just figure if I could calm my CNS down just a tad that perhaps the volume might not be as much of an issue.

Just my two cents from my experience.

Bob

Bob,

It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. Please, just let us know how we can help you out. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

You might want to ask your family Dr. to refer you to see a Epileptologist (Dr. specializing in epilepsy.) You can usually find an Epileptologist at a big hospital or a University hospital. These Drs. know how to treat both epilepsy and other neurology disorders. These Drs. will do tests on a person and find the cause of the epilepsy, keep them on the least amount of sz. medicine, they are updated on any new treatments for epilepsy.

Try taking vitamin B12 once a day, also if you go to a theater to see a movie afford looking at bright flashing lights during the show, just turn your head during that time.

Please keep us up to date on your condition. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

My wife is so ill it boggles the mind.
she had epilepsy when she was young, slow wave spikes.
she was recovered with the kito diet.

then one day few years after, she was skipping in the garden, and she felt suddenly dizzy a sudden and very painfull headace and then a head tremor started, (i was going out with her at the time) we all expected it to just dissapeer, it didnt, instead the tremor spread through her whole body, she would randomly lash out hitting pillers, throwing stuff at walls, etc. because of this she was kept in hospital in a bed for many days, she asked to get up and walk and they point blank refused to let her, when she was finally aloud to go for a walk she found that had forgotten to walk, her walk had become strange, all of the docters in britain could not work it out, they described her as like a puppet on string. thankfully the walking issue was fixed with therapy, but by this point the symptons were much worse than just tremors.

she now runs out of energy very quickly, her memory is worrying, she has seizures whenever a mower, strimmer, motobike goes past.
she has seizures when she sees particular kinds of lights, whenever she has a seizure like these it will effect her energy and general ability to cope that day,..sometimes that week!!!

she was diagnosed with "functional movement disorder"
are docters here are useless they refuse to scan her or give her an eeg, they say basicly its all in her head and are sending her on "awareness courses" to try and fix the symptoms, and this is making her feel useless freak of nature and worthless, she has felt suicidal many times, and i am at a loss of what to do.

please someone help me

It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. Please, just let us know how we can help you out. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

My advice to you is have your family Dr. refer you to see a Epileptologist (Dr. specializing in Epilepsy) and go to a Epilepsy Center. These places are found at large hospitals or university hospitals. These Drs. will do a series of tests on you and this will help the them fine exactly what's going on with your situtation. One other thing to do is taking vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day for adult. Afford being around strong flashing lights like at theater, you could wear sunglasses. Also at the theater just make sure you turn your head and shut your eyes during flashing back grounds.

Please keep us up to date on your situation. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

Hi jimi,

I'm sorry to hear what's happened to your wife. My advice to you is to get her to see an Epileptoloigist and get her on vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day.
It sounds like your wife is having audio and photosensitive sz. which means certain sounds and certain colors of light are triggering her sz. In regards to her memory sz. meds. can cause short term memory loss and also if a person has many sz. over the yrs. it can shrink and harden a persons hippocampus which is the short term memory area of the brain and it turn this causes memory loss.
When your wife has thrown things this tells me it's the frontal lobe of her brain which controls a persons temper. Is there any chance that your wife could be getting MS because that would explain the problems with her walking and epilepsy can happen when a person gets MS.
My advice to you is to get your wife to see a neuron surgeon and look into having surgery to stop or reduce her sz. this will make her life much better. I've had surgery done twice to reduce the sz. and it has done wonders for me. I would also ask the Dr. to do a SPECT scan PET scan and wada test. Depending on your wifes age if she's old enough to be going through menopause this could be what has started her sz. up again. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and May God Bless the both of You!
Sue

Google "Exploding head Syndrome" my sister recently diagnosed with this. Came as a real surprise to us all but explains so much, in particular her reluctance to sleep at night and strangely, the giggling!!