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Triggers and Prevention of Seizures
Mon, 02/12/2007 - 10:30This thread is not recommending that people try anything listed here.. it's just a place to capture what people are thinking and doing. This thread also does not mean that these issues have been tested - just that someone has found it to be important for their situation.
Your input will help stimulate researchers to look into this area more!!
Thanks for your help!
Epi_help
Comments
Re: Re: Triggers and Prevention of Seizures
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2007-03-06 - 11:31
1. Review medicine schedule with the nurse or doctor - are there meds that may wake you up taken too late at night? can meds that make you a bit sleepy be taken before bed time? How consistent are you with times that you take meds?
2. Review seizures with the doctor/nurse - are they happening during sleep and causing sleep disruption, or are you having more than you realize? Are you sleeping more during the day after seizures, and then not able to sleep at night? (sleep wake patterns get turned upside down!)
If any of these things may be happening, talking to doctor about ways to improve seizure control may help sleep. Sometimes testing to look at what is going on during sleep is recommended.
3- Track sleep/wake schedule - note when you go to bed, when you get up, how many times you may wake up at night, how long it takes you to fall asleep. Share this with the doctor as is good baseline data.
4- Work on improving sleep habits -
-set consistent times to go to bed
-simplify evening schedule, do more relaxing activities rather than busy stuff
- try exercising in early evening (but not right before bed)
- keep your bed for sleep and sex only! don't read in bed if you can help it, no tv watching etc...
- when ready to go to bed, lights out.. if you can't fall asleep after 15-20 min, get up, go in another room and read (something simple - not a good novel!) or do something for a short while until you feel sleepy again. Then go back to bed.
- if you keep waking up, keep going in another room until you get sleepy, then retry falling asleep. (this may help train your brain to use your bed for sleeping)
5. Limit naps during the day. People who are daytime nappers, may need to reset their internal clock on when to sleep and when to stay awake. Limit naps to an hour or less. Stick to this! If you are more tired than usual in the evening, go to bed earlier.
6. Look at what you eat. Avoid foods/drinks with lot of caffeine.. coffee, soda, chocolate. People who drink large amounts of coffee should try to taper off it. Avoid coffee from mid-day on.
7. Eat regular meals- and not too late in the evening.
8. Learn relaxation exercises of any kind to help you unwind at the end of the day.
Okay.. got to go.. sure there are other ideas that people can think of!
Epi_help
1. Review medicine schedule with the nurse or doctor - are there meds that may wake you up taken too late at night? can meds that make you a bit sleepy be taken before bed time? How consistent are you with times that you take meds?
2. Review seizures with the doctor/nurse - are they happening during sleep and causing sleep disruption, or are you having more than you realize? Are you sleeping more during the day after seizures, and then not able to sleep at night? (sleep wake patterns get turned upside down!)
If any of these things may be happening, talking to doctor about ways to improve seizure control may help sleep. Sometimes testing to look at what is going on during sleep is recommended.
3- Track sleep/wake schedule - note when you go to bed, when you get up, how many times you may wake up at night, how long it takes you to fall asleep. Share this with the doctor as is good baseline data.
4- Work on improving sleep habits -
-set consistent times to go to bed
-simplify evening schedule, do more relaxing activities rather than busy stuff
- try exercising in early evening (but not right before bed)
- keep your bed for sleep and sex only! don't read in bed if you can help it, no tv watching etc...
- when ready to go to bed, lights out.. if you can't fall asleep after 15-20 min, get up, go in another room and read (something simple - not a good novel!) or do something for a short while until you feel sleepy again. Then go back to bed.
- if you keep waking up, keep going in another room until you get sleepy, then retry falling asleep. (this may help train your brain to use your bed for sleeping)
5. Limit naps during the day. People who are daytime nappers, may need to reset their internal clock on when to sleep and when to stay awake. Limit naps to an hour or less. Stick to this! If you are more tired than usual in the evening, go to bed earlier.
6. Look at what you eat. Avoid foods/drinks with lot of caffeine.. coffee, soda, chocolate. People who drink large amounts of coffee should try to taper off it. Avoid coffee from mid-day on.
7. Eat regular meals- and not too late in the evening.
8. Learn relaxation exercises of any kind to help you unwind at the end of the day.
Okay.. got to go.. sure there are other ideas that people can think of!
Epi_help
Re: Triggers and Prevention of Seizures
Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2007-02-14 - 06:38
As you can see, people frequently report sleep deprivation or problems with sleep as a trigger. This is pretty well accepted by medical community. We know that seizure activity comes out more clearly on EEG when a person is sleep deprived - that's why a sleep deprived EEG is often ordered when trying to diagnose epilepsy.
Some people find that their seizures are very connected to sleep. Some seizures do tend to occur at night or early morning hours. Some occur if sleep is disrupted or a person doesn't get enough.This can happen if someone has very irregular sleeping patterns, going to bed at crazy times or different all the time, not getting enough (most of us don't!), or if there's a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea prevening you from getting good sleep. Here's a link to sleep and seizures. sleep and epilepsy
I'll add some tips for helping sleep and preventing seizures later.. also there's a great book titled - "Saying Good Night to Insomnia" by Benson and Jacobs that offers behavioral strategies to help sleep. Here's a link to it at Amazon.com or you can search for it directly.
Say Good Night Insomnia
Epi_help
Sleep deprivation - a common trigger Okay, here's a link to comments from users on sleep and seizures. There are lots more on the site as well. link to sleep deprivation threads
As you can see, people frequently report sleep deprivation or problems with sleep as a trigger. This is pretty well accepted by medical community. We know that seizure activity comes out more clearly on EEG when a person is sleep deprived - that's why a sleep deprived EEG is often ordered when trying to diagnose epilepsy.
Some people find that their seizures are very connected to sleep. Some seizures do tend to occur at night or early morning hours. Some occur if sleep is disrupted or a person doesn't get enough.This can happen if someone has very irregular sleeping patterns, going to bed at crazy times or different all the time, not getting enough (most of us don't!), or if there's a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea prevening you from getting good sleep. Here's a link to sleep and seizures. sleep and epilepsy
I'll add some tips for helping sleep and preventing seizures later.. also there's a great book titled - "Saying Good Night to Insomnia" by Benson and Jacobs that offers behavioral strategies to help sleep. Here's a link to it at Amazon.com or you can search for it directly.
Say Good Night Insomnia
Epi_help