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Grand Mal seizures after night of drinking, advice please
Sun, 07/18/2010 - 22:12Comments
Re: Grand Mal seizures after night of drinking, advice please
Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Mon, 2010-07-19 - 11:14
Boy, you have to started being kinder to yourself!
Large amounts of alcohol are thought to raise the risk of seizures and may even cause them. Not to mention lowering your tolerence and seizure threshold.
The video game seizure could have been an indication of photosensitive epilepsy where certain types of flickering or flashing light can incite a seizure. The trigger could be exposure to television screens due to the flicker or rolling images, computer monitors, certain video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes, even alternating patterns of different colors, in addition to intense strobe lights.
And inadequate or fragmented sleep can set off seizures in lots of people. In one study, the lowest risk for seizures was during REM sleep (when dreams occur). The highest risk was during light non-REM stages of sleep.
So, it looks like you hit the trifecta of common seizure triggers. All you're missing is stress, cigarettes and caffeine. (Or are you?)
If it was me, I'd clean up my act and if the seizures continued, I would go to a neuro for diagnostic testing. But, it's not me, so you have to make your own choices. Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com
Boy, you have to started being kinder to yourself!
Large amounts of alcohol are thought to raise the risk of seizures and may even cause them. Not to mention lowering your tolerence and seizure threshold.
The video game seizure could have been an indication of photosensitive epilepsy where certain types of flickering or flashing light can incite a seizure. The trigger could be exposure to television screens due to the flicker or rolling images, computer monitors, certain video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes, even alternating patterns of different colors, in addition to intense strobe lights.
And inadequate or fragmented sleep can set off seizures in lots of people. In one study, the lowest risk for seizures was during REM sleep (when dreams occur). The highest risk was during light non-REM stages of sleep.
So, it looks like you hit the trifecta of common seizure triggers. All you're missing is stress, cigarettes and caffeine. (Or are you?)
If it was me, I'd clean up my act and if the seizures continued, I would go to a neuro for diagnostic testing. But, it's not me, so you have to make your own choices. Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com
Re: Grand Mal seizures after night of drinking, advice please
Submitted by Jk606 on Mon, 2010-07-19 - 11:51
I have had the same problem as you, the solution: quit drinking alcohol. It took me a while to realize that drinking triggered my seizures also the lack of sleep and not getting the proper hydration after a night of drinking.
If you think about it this way, its not the alcohol itself that triggers the seizures, but what the alcohol converts to when its metabolizing in your system, alcohol (or ethanol) first converts to acetaldehyde which is extremely toxic for the body in high concentrations (it is this chemical, not ethanol, that causes issues such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and can lower anyone's seizure threshold). The body can get overwhelmed with acetaldehyde and may not be able to convert it fast enough to a less toxic substance: Acetic Acid (the same chemical which gives vinegar that awful smell). The body has to break this down even further to make a substance that your system can tolerate: Acetyl CoA. Then after that the body reduces the Acetyl CoA to carbon dioxide and water. Too much carbon dioxide in you system can also have negative effects along with a high concentration of acetaldehyde (if the body cannot metabolize it fast enough). If your on AED's, then drinking will lower your threshold even further. People who suffer seizures already have a hypersensitive system (chemically speaking), and push this hypersensitive system over the edge by drinking and lack of sleep is just asking for trouble.
Sorry for such a long explanation, but I think its important that the more information people know about how toxic drinking can be to their system the better, especially if a side effect of drinking can be tonic clonic (grand mal) seizures.
On a side note: If your friends give you a hard time or a guilt trip about not drinking (which was a problem for me), screw them, they are not your real friends.
Take Care!!!!
I have had the same problem as you, the solution: quit drinking alcohol. It took me a while to realize that drinking triggered my seizures also the lack of sleep and not getting the proper hydration after a night of drinking.
If you think about it this way, its not the alcohol itself that triggers the seizures, but what the alcohol converts to when its metabolizing in your system, alcohol (or ethanol) first converts to acetaldehyde which is extremely toxic for the body in high concentrations (it is this chemical, not ethanol, that causes issues such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and can lower anyone's seizure threshold). The body can get overwhelmed with acetaldehyde and may not be able to convert it fast enough to a less toxic substance: Acetic Acid (the same chemical which gives vinegar that awful smell). The body has to break this down even further to make a substance that your system can tolerate: Acetyl CoA. Then after that the body reduces the Acetyl CoA to carbon dioxide and water. Too much carbon dioxide in you system can also have negative effects along with a high concentration of acetaldehyde (if the body cannot metabolize it fast enough). If your on AED's, then drinking will lower your threshold even further. People who suffer seizures already have a hypersensitive system (chemically speaking), and push this hypersensitive system over the edge by drinking and lack of sleep is just asking for trouble.
Sorry for such a long explanation, but I think its important that the more information people know about how toxic drinking can be to their system the better, especially if a side effect of drinking can be tonic clonic (grand mal) seizures.
On a side note: If your friends give you a hard time or a guilt trip about not drinking (which was a problem for me), screw them, they are not your real friends.
Take Care!!!!
Re: Grand Mal seizures after night of drinking, advice please
Submitted by Sammishakes on Mon, 2010-07-19 - 00:33
Its probably in your body's best interest to not drink. It's just too risky with seizure threshold.