Entry 827 – Seizure And Epilepsy Theories

Anyone who reads this, please comment!!!  I basically wrote this out in something of a list format, so I’ll probably try to summarize things at the end.  I’m just gonna copy over what I wrote in my notebook a few days ago.  Anyway, these are the theories I’ve come up with.  Feedback is appreciated, but please, make it tasteful and intelligent.  And if you don’t think something’s reasonable, tell me why, okay?  These ideas are all open to interpretation.  I have some circumstancial evidence to support these theories, but nothing truly concrete.

GABA – brain’s inhibitory factor.
Can be imbalanced in epileptics.

Connects to seizures being triggered by lack of sleep or changes in sleepin patterns.

When a person stays awake for long periods of time, their blood alcohol level rises, (<–FACT!) therefore lowering inhibitory factors.  If these factors are already lowered/imbalanced, seizures are more likely.

Stress – also major factor.
Circumstancial evidence – Rob, not too long ago at work said that he felt ‘seizure-sick.’  (Dizzy, lightheaded, when he looks around, things seem to move in slow motion, etc.  Oddly enough, it doesn’t always mean he will have a seizure.)  ::Considering I’m writing this from the perspective and whatnot I get from Rob, ‘seizure-sick’ may not apply to other epileptics, or they may show different symptoms.  I’m just going from what he’s described to me about what he feels in specific.::  That day he told me that Staples had been non-stop busy, as well as him worrying about how I was going to react to him when I picked him up that night.

It was a Wednesday, maybe last week?  Anyway, I showed up at his house and he’d fallen back to sleep and was kinda grumpy when he woke up.  At one point, I went over and hugged him from behind and he said, "Do you have any idea how much time that takes up?"  I just kind of looked hurt and let go and walked back into their rec room, where their computer is.  He told me that night that he felt horrible for saying that and was worried I was gonna tell him off or break up with him or something.  (I didn’t do either.  In fact, I was afraid that he was trying to hint that he didn’t want to be with me anymore.)

Self-esteem – another major factor.
Circumstancial evidence – I got a more accurate idea of when he last had a seizure.  It was before I told him I liked him, which was back at the beginning of December.  He’s told me that before we started hanging out, his self-esteem was next to nothing, whereas since we’ve been hanging out and got together, he says it’s much higher.

Knowing someone believes in you – another major factor.
Circumstancial evidence – Once again, at work, Rob started feeling ‘seizure-sick.’  He held his hand over that I.D. bracelet I gave him, just saying to himself that I’d get him through this, I wouldn’t let something bad happen to him, etc.

What are seizures?

I believe that seizures are a natural mutation of the brain that are caused by a sudden conscious or sub-conscious need to change something about one’s personality.  Over the long-term, people who have seizures often exhibit personality or mentality changes.  So what if, when a seizure happens, the brain is making that change instantaneously?  Yet, I say ‘mutation,’ because whatever change has taken place in a person’s mentality/personality is not allowed to take root thanks to the outside world’s immediate reaction to a seizure.

Basically, all of my theories tie in with what I say about seizures being a natural mutation of the brain.  Because when someone discovers something about themselves that they don’t like, physically, emotionally, mentally, the right thing to do is to work to change that aspect.  Sometimes it’s done over a matter of days, sometimes weeks, maybe even months and years.  Now what if those emotional/mental changes, the body decided to change in a matter of seconds/minutes?  Because I do largely believe that seizures are the brain’s way of saying, "Nope, I shouldn’t be like this.  Okay, SCRAMBLE!"  Seizure happens, person’s brain gets rewired to whatever degree, yet it’s not able to stick because the immediate reaction when a peron comes to out of a seizure is, "Oh, my God, are you okay?"  "What happened?  Are you all right?"  Immediate concern, worry, and panic, leaving the seizure victim feeling bad, possibly feeling guilty that they made others worry, and whatever positive personality/mentality change that could have been there doesn’t stick.

The reason I feel that self-esteem and confidence and others believing in the person are such key factors is this: the better a person feels about themselves and the more a person is happy with who they are, then the more likely a person is to not want to change anything about themselves, or if they do want to, they do it in a healthy way.  Therefore, the better someone with epilepsy feels about themselves, the less likely their brain is to say, "Hey, I don’t like this.  Okay, SCRAMBLE!"

I know I have more thoughts, but this is a good start.  So I leave off here.  Please, leave thoughts, opinions, etc., okay?

Bye!