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Single Seizure caused by altitude changes
Wed, 01/23/2008 - 08:53Hi-
I saw an old post from 2005 from someone who had a 10 yr old daughter that had a seizure at Denver airport. My daughter's boyfriend has now had his second seizure after traveling to Colarado to go snowboarding. The first time was about 5 years ago and it happened on the airplane. Now it has happened again but he was in the car on the way home this time after the flight. He has never had any symptoms except for these two trips to Colorado and has not been diagnosed with epilepsy.
I was wondering if the little girl had any more episodes or if this was the only time it happened for her also. The original post had some links for altitude induced seizures that were no longer working.
It appears that the medical community does not have anything to say about this.
Any info would be appreciated-
Comments
Re: Single Seizure caused by altitude changes
Submitted by annika0001 on Sat, 2009-12-05 - 12:38
Hi craig, I understand your concern. My teenage son has epilepsy. We live in Calif., he traveled to Denver a couple of summers ago to go to the Outward Bound course for young people with epilepsy (great program by the way), anyway, they took them up to Leadville and then on up backpacking. My son subsequently suffered two seizures in one day which had never happened before. They had to take him back down to base camp for fear the altitude was making his seizures worse. Also, one other person on that trip had a seizure when they hadn't had a seizure in over a year.
Afterwards, I was talking to the NP at his nuro's office and come to find out she was from the Denver area and was aware about altitude being a trigger for neurological conditions. In my opinion, there is definately something to it.
Have you talked to your neuro about this being a possible trigger? Are there epilepsy specialists in the area that you could go to?
Take care and good luck!
Erika
Hi craig, I understand your concern. My teenage son has epilepsy. We live in Calif., he traveled to Denver a couple of summers ago to go to the Outward Bound course for young people with epilepsy (great program by the way), anyway, they took them up to Leadville and then on up backpacking. My son subsequently suffered two seizures in one day which had never happened before. They had to take him back down to base camp for fear the altitude was making his seizures worse. Also, one other person on that trip had a seizure when they hadn't had a seizure in over a year.
Afterwards, I was talking to the NP at his nuro's office and come to find out she was from the Denver area and was aware about altitude being a trigger for neurological conditions. In my opinion, there is definately something to it.
Have you talked to your neuro about this being a possible trigger? Are there epilepsy specialists in the area that you could go to?
Take care and good luck!
Erika
Re: Single Seizure caused by altitude changes
Submitted by craigith on Thu, 2010-04-15 - 17:36
Thank you for the reply!
I was having a hard time with my doctor back in Michigan, and since it has not gotten any better (I have now been here in Colorado for 7 months) and I am back on an insurance program, I am going to find a doctor that I can go speak with about this.
I also went home for a week and found that my seizures did lower. I still had more than I used to back in the mitten, but it wasn't every single day.
Your reply was helpful, I often hear that what I am saying is "goofy" but it honestly seems logical that having less oxygen, even a little bit less, would affect how my brain functions. Not so much causing the seizures, but having an atmosphere (pun intended) where it is easier for them to be caused.
I will be looking for a post about this in a moment, but do let me know if you are aware of a website I can go to to find good doctors.
Thanks again
-Craig
Thank you for the reply!
I was having a hard time with my doctor back in Michigan, and since it has not gotten any better (I have now been here in Colorado for 7 months) and I am back on an insurance program, I am going to find a doctor that I can go speak with about this.
I also went home for a week and found that my seizures did lower. I still had more than I used to back in the mitten, but it wasn't every single day.
Your reply was helpful, I often hear that what I am saying is "goofy" but it honestly seems logical that having less oxygen, even a little bit less, would affect how my brain functions. Not so much causing the seizures, but having an atmosphere (pun intended) where it is easier for them to be caused.
I will be looking for a post about this in a moment, but do let me know if you are aware of a website I can go to to find good doctors.
Thanks again
-Craig
Re: Single Seizure caused by altitude changes
Submitted by craigith on Thu, 2009-12-03 - 14:59
I just want to say that this is a new concern for me.
I had my first seizure just over four years ago, and went through a phase where I had many for a couple of years before getting settled. I was living in Michigan at the time.
Three months ago I moved to Denver and have begun having nearly as many seizures as I did back when I wasn't on medication. In addition, I am not drinking (my seizure began while attending college/drinking) nearly as much and am, in general, living a far healthier lifestyle.
I am thinking that it may have to do with the altitude. I have heard of it happening before, and it makes sense to me. I went from having maybe one or two seizures a month for over the past year (and maybe one every few months where I would "black-out") to having three or four seizures a week.
I am certain that some people with epilepsy are not affected at all by altitude, but this could be similar to how I am not at all bothered by bright, flashing lights and others are.
Let me know if you get anymore information!
I just want to say that this is a new concern for me.
I had my first seizure just over four years ago, and went through a phase where I had many for a couple of years before getting settled. I was living in Michigan at the time.
Three months ago I moved to Denver and have begun having nearly as many seizures as I did back when I wasn't on medication. In addition, I am not drinking (my seizure began while attending college/drinking) nearly as much and am, in general, living a far healthier lifestyle.
I am thinking that it may have to do with the altitude. I have heard of it happening before, and it makes sense to me. I went from having maybe one or two seizures a month for over the past year (and maybe one every few months where I would "black-out") to having three or four seizures a week.
I am certain that some people with epilepsy are not affected at all by altitude, but this could be similar to how I am not at all bothered by bright, flashing lights and others are.
Let me know if you get anymore information!