pain causing seizures

[baci2]

Please be patient while I explain my circumstances. I was born premature and they stuck me in an incubator and put a needle in my head.  I still have the scar but it did not show up on the MRI.  When I was a year old, at a department store, I hurt my finger and had a grand mal seizure.  My mother took me to the pediatrician who yelled at her for letting me hurt myself.  After that, every time I would have an injury, I would have a grand mal seizure.  Examples, when I got bit by a dog, when I fell down a flight of stairs, when I get a really bad charlie horse in my leg.  They thought that I would grow out of it but I'm 31 and I've had 52 grand mal seizures.  In July, I had one when my back popped out in my family doctor's office (I had gone because my back had already started to hurt, then I sneezed and I heard it pop, and then it became extremely painful.)  When this happened, I had a GM right in front of my doctor.  He asked me to see a neurologist as well as a cardiologist because I have a strange heart beat as well.  The cardiologist did an EKG, a stress test and an echocardiogram.  While on the treadmill, my pulse was up to 200 after 6 minutes and they made me get off.  A week later they called and said that everything looked fine.  I decided not to see a neurologist at the time because having seizures when I hurt myself was something that I've always done and they just said that it was my body's response to pain.  Then, in November, I had a seizure out of the blue with no injury to provoke it.  My husband witnessed it.  I remembered feeling extremely dizzy (like always), and it kind of seems like the lights get a bit brighter. I layed on the floor and he said that my eyes rolled back in my head.  Then I started convulsing and a few minutes later when I woke up my pupils were fully dilated and I had urinated.  I was not awake for any of this, for this is just my husband telling me what happened.  Nor was I awake at the doctor's office, for he described the same exact thing but of course, I was unaware of what happened after the dizziness.  Because I had never had one without pain causing it, I went to the ER.  They did a cat scan which turned out normal and referred me to a neurologist who in turn referred me to an epileptologist.  The epileptologist did an EEG and an MRI.  All came back normal except he said that there is something rhythmically wrong with my heart and that I need to have more tests done.  My heart rate kept bouncing between 60 and 110 as I was laying there for about 30 minutes during the EEG.  But my epileptologist said that pain is not a trigger for seizures and that he does not want to set me up for seizure monitoring since I only have seizures 3-4 times a year on average.  He does not want to completely diagnose me with epilepsy because nothing showed up on the tests.  He did up my dose of Lamictal and told me that I cannot drive for a year or take baths alone.  He wants me to go back to the cardiologist for more tests.  Am I the only one out there with pain causing seizures?  Thank you for any patience and expertise in this area.  I feel as if I'm the strangest human being on earth. It seems as if everyone else just yells or says "ouch" when they hurt themselves.  What I wouldn't give for an "ouch" instead of a seizure.  Thanks again.

[Nutters22000]

I also have a seizure following severe cramping in the calf muscle. Not very nice.

[Shoom40]

Maybe this reasoning would help.  I know that pain medications - narcotics - mimic the same endorphins released naturally in fight or flight cycles AND narcotics LOWER the seziure threshold -- meaning it is more likely that one would experiance a seziure while taking pain medications, possibly the same is true when a situation is first presented in childhood where the child feels like they have no control and no information to resolve an incoming threat -- especially a painful one.  


When we perceive a significant threat to us, then our bodies get ready either for a fight to the death or a desperate flight from certain defeat by a clearly superior adversary.

Endorphins, which are the body's natural pain killers, are released (when you are fighting, you do not want be bothered with pain–-that can be put off until later.)


Physical changes

Fight or flight effects include:
•Our senses sharpening. Pupils dilate (open out) so we can see more clearly, even in darkness. Our hairs stand on end, making us more sensitive to our environment (and also making us appear larger, hopefully intimidating our opponent).
•The cardio-vascular system leaping into action, with the heart pump rate going from one up to five gallons per minutes and our arteries constricting to maximize pressure around the system whilst the veins open out to ease return of blood to the heart.
•The respiratory system joining in as the lungs, throat and nostrils open up and breathing speeding up to get more air in the system so the increased blood flow can be re-oxygenated. The blood carries oxygen to the muscles, allowing them to work harder. Deeper breathing also helps us to scream more loudly!
•Fat from fatty cells and glucose from the liver being metabolized to create instant energy.
•Blood vessels to the kidney and digestive system being constricted, effectively shutting down systems that are not essential. A part of this effect is reduction of saliva in the mouth. The bowels and bladder may also open out to reduce the need for other internal actions (this might also dissuade our attackers!).
•Blood vessels to the skin being constricted reducing any potential blood loss. Sweat glands also open, providing an external cooling liquid to our over-worked system. (this makes the skin look pale and clammy).
•Endorphins, which are the body's natural pain killers, are released (when you are fighting, you do not want be bothered with pain–-that can be put off until later.)
•The natural judgment system is also turned down and more primitive responses take over–this is a time for action rather than deep thought.

Might be a starting point to research anyway, hope it helps : )

[mbfrosty]

I had a TBI from a 80 ft fall and broke my neck and back 22 surgies over 10 years 4 years to learn to walk talk eat ect...I lived that was a miracle they say I was put on kepra for them but the years went by they came back worse I know its from the conic pain if I turn my head the wrong way I get pain shoot up my neck in to my head and them it starts I also get a taste in my mouth and then I know I going to have one they think I am nuts they do not belive me and the meds do not work they have to fix my back that is total compressed from l1 to l5 also 3 fracted disk my back and neck r a wreck I aslo lost my leg I have had 31 surgies in 15 years I am 55 this started when I was 39 and it gets worse as I am aging

[suemlou]

I Have been having sever pain with arthritis .made an appoiment with doc ,for this week.in the meantime i have had 2 seizurs.so very scary.as i live alone .

[drriley]

question, have had gran mal seizures since I was 17 they stopped at 21 and didn't return  til I was 27. then i was diagnosed with epilepsy and have been now for many years. I am 53 now and still have seizures. meds seem to partially control them. Mostly brought on by stress or lack of enough sleep which is under 9 hours. eeg recently showed no  activity but mri came back with scaring. The neurologist  first sayed I had a benign tumor but then said it
was the scaring and with my past seizure activity their might be a procedure I might be eligible for.  scary for me. any thoughts

[Lex27]

When I was in 1st or 2nd I fell and hit my head on the floor in wall mart, woke up and seemed to be ok and days after went to school and bent my middle finger back to far and just passed out with my head down, woke up sitting with all the kids on the floor still and the teacher was still talking. Never thought about it again. Then Years later im 16 I started smoking cigs and one day my boyfriend barley hit me in my side, just enough to hurt a little and knock the air out of me. I went down to my knees and dreamed I got up but I really woke up in his arms and he said I looked like I just had a seizure. I fell out of a lifted truck one night lol and twisted my ankle a little and I got really hot and dizzy and I could tell I was about to go into a seizure so I told my sister see you in a minute lol, i shook just a little they said and Woke up and was a little tired but I was fine. I walked around in the tx heat trying to find this place and it was like 5 in the afternoon and i hadnt eaten a single thing all day but i was smoking a cig while in the heat, got to where i was suppose to be and then had this pain in my stomache and then all the sudden i got dizzy and hot like always grabbed my sister and crouched down and had one for no damn reason. Had a few more incidents but only one with pain not being involved. I thought the cigarettes triggered this weird pain seizure thing when i was 16 so after 3 years I'm now 19 and I quit smoking finally, I recently cut my foot and started to get really hot and dizzy and felt like I was going to go into one but my adrenaline just rushed and made me feel kinda sick and eventually I cooled down and could aid my foot which wasn't that bad. I have not had one lately but I also have not been hurt badly. I've never urinated on myself or had violent or long seizures, but pain definitely is the cause no doubt! Maybe my head injury when I was younger and the cigarettes triggered it or maybe I was bound to get them when I got older because of the head injury, idk. But yall are not alone and im glad to know im not either, But I'd like help so these can end, it is embarrassing and scary to be alone.

[kole95]

I've had seizures since I was ten, I am currently 18 and never took any medicine for them. They had seemed to have stopped after the 5th grade but after about 4-5 years I started having them again. The doctors have done tests and redone some of them and found nothing wrong that they can tell. So far the triggers have been sever pain, stress, or  illness like the flu. The last couple of times I've had a seizure I have actually stopped breathing. I do not think the doctors even believed I had them until I got sick and had one in the doctors office while the were checking my blood pressure. I can usually tell a couple of second (long enough to notify someone nearby) before I have one. Before I have one I usually get a funny feeling similar to the kind of feeling you get by standing up to fast. Then I black out and according to my parents and sister who have been present during most of these 'episodes' I start twitching and lose bladder control, and stop breathing. When I come to Its as if I am waking up from a dream I slowly become aware of the world getting hearing back first then vision and controlled movement of my arms, legs, and head. Afterwards I am exhausted for hours and sometimes its even days before I feel like myself again. I would like to know if anyone with a similar condition has found a way to completely prevent them so that I can have a normal life. I would also like to know if it would be safe to have children or if it would be to great of a risk for both myself and the child. Also to those who say it is impossible for pain to be the trigger that is because you have not experienced it. People also used to say it was impossible to land on the moon yet we have. Think about all the deseases that have gone undiagnosed for years until resent advances in medicine.