Page 1 of 1 [ 10 posts ]
14 May 2013, 8:21 pm
Soooo I'm a bit upset right now so it's rambly and venty but would really like it if someone who knows about epilepsy could answer some questions.
There was a MASSIVE thunderstorm earlier today. I felt electrical prickling all over my arms and then the tingling feeling suddenly focused at the back of my head and got more and more intense until it felt like lightning going down my spine and my entire body stiffened and bent and my back arched backwards for a fraction of a second! Just a few minutes after that lightning hit our house (or the ground just next to it) and it was like a minor earthquake+explosion and things fell and the windows clattered!! !
The only thing I found that describe something like what happened was in a paper from 1965 who called this lightning seizures (they don't happen during thunderstorms but named so because they look like being struck by lightning). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... -0088d.pdf They only talked about babies who were born with it as from what I gathered that was either because they were the only research subjects or because you might not live long if you have it as they said the prognosis was very poor (then) or because it might develop to something else by the time they've grown up. Though I guess an adult can acquire a light version of it? Surely by now there must be another name for this, and more information? What's that called? Could the electric field created by thunderstorms cause seizures? Isn't it weird to get a "lightning seizure" just before actual lightning struck? Was this some weird phenomenon of electricity or a seizure? It's happened before, or something similar, there wasn't a thunderstorm involved then, but still... I also have lots of other kinds of seizures and it's getting more frequent, together with headaches and aphasia etc. I started with opiates for my chronic pain some years ago and they lower the seizure threshold - I didn't have problems like this before, but I experienced some mild seizures in my childhood that was never brought to the attention of a doctor. My health is not that great either so the worsening of anything can come from that...
Also I seem to fit into how a child experiences epilepsy, with petit mals and "lightning seizures" etc (among other types)? Could that be because this is newly acquired (for whatever reason) or what is going on?
To anyone possibly having an answer or can point me to some good resources: I'm very new to this but you don't have to simplify as anything too advanced I'll just look up 
Last edited by Anomiel on 14 May 2013, 10:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
14 May 2013, 8:29 pm
14 May 2013, 8:43 pm
14 May 2013, 9:48 pm
Also a small clarification is that I have some experiences (clearly identifiable seizures) that are common to epilepsy other than that weird lightning-thing, but it is probably coming from some underlying illness. It's seizures anyway and I figured WP might have a higher rate of people with epilepsy than somewhere else. Or some people really into electricity that could explain what that was about 
So I changed the title
15 May 2013, 6:48 am
15 May 2013, 6:53 am
15 May 2013, 10:14 am
pensieve wrote:
There have been studies heightened magnetic activity and seizures. I could find you a link later. I don't think I'm capable of searching right now.
Basically the changes in atmosphere and in Earth's magnetic field can disrupt synapses in a person's brain leading to changes in behaviour (fatigue, hyperactivity, stress, anxiety) and even seizures in people without epilepsy. If you have epilepsy though it's more likely.
I've wondered for a long time if I have some form of epilepsy. Doctors don't believe me. I get tremors that can spread and I can become clonic tonic (grand mal), I get a lot of temporal epilepsy symptoms (hallucinations, changes in emotion), simple partial (looks like uncontrolled stimming) and any flashing light will give me anything from rapid eye blinking, convulsions, hallucinations and something that looks like a meltdown.
Now I have changes in emotions during thunderstorms. I am a cranky person person. I become fatigued and I've got sound sensitivity anyway. I will have more convulsion-like activity. Actually I'm so sensitive to atmospheric changes I become very hyperactive during solar storms and full moons. The major solar storms can actually make me extremely lethargic as well. I monitor solar activity and all this behaviour falls on dates of minor, moderate and high Earth directed CME activity.
Even Dr William Persinger (inventor of the God Helmet - to prove if religious experiences is nothing more than anomalous activity in the brain) says magnetic activity can lead to mass hallucinations. UFO sightings are often seen before an Earthquake or during a meteor shower.
I can't look at lightning or I will seize. Can't enjoy fireworks or even look at motion during changes in the barometer. And the tinnitus kicks up.
I've heard of the type of seizure you have described and it's not fatal. Gran Mal is the most fatal. It does sound very serious though.
I'll look into some epilepsy resources for you.
Basically the changes in atmosphere and in Earth's magnetic field can disrupt synapses in a person's brain leading to changes in behaviour (fatigue, hyperactivity, stress, anxiety) and even seizures in people without epilepsy. If you have epilepsy though it's more likely.
I've wondered for a long time if I have some form of epilepsy. Doctors don't believe me. I get tremors that can spread and I can become clonic tonic (grand mal), I get a lot of temporal epilepsy symptoms (hallucinations, changes in emotion), simple partial (looks like uncontrolled stimming) and any flashing light will give me anything from rapid eye blinking, convulsions, hallucinations and something that looks like a meltdown.
Now I have changes in emotions during thunderstorms. I am a cranky person person. I become fatigued and I've got sound sensitivity anyway. I will have more convulsion-like activity. Actually I'm so sensitive to atmospheric changes I become very hyperactive during solar storms and full moons. The major solar storms can actually make me extremely lethargic as well. I monitor solar activity and all this behaviour falls on dates of minor, moderate and high Earth directed CME activity.
Even Dr William Persinger (inventor of the God Helmet - to prove if religious experiences is nothing more than anomalous activity in the brain) says magnetic activity can lead to mass hallucinations. UFO sightings are often seen before an Earthquake or during a meteor shower.
I can't look at lightning or I will seize. Can't enjoy fireworks or even look at motion during changes in the barometer. And the tinnitus kicks up.
I've heard of the type of seizure you have described and it's not fatal. Gran Mal is the most fatal. It does sound very serious though.
I'll look into some epilepsy resources for you.
Thank you thank you thank you! That was the best answer I could even hope for.
So some of my emotional dysregulation might be because of epilepsy
I suspect mine might be temporal lobe epilepsy too... Ditto on the flashing lights thing, they get me in such a bad mood (and that's to put it mildly) no matter how happy I actually am. I have lots of deja vu and occasional tics.
Sometimes I have episodes where everything feels very small and far away and everything feels weird and sometimes that's coupled with some pretty serious vertigo. Often I'm inexplicably anxious the whole day before that happens but feel better afterwards, and when I looked it up it had something to do with temporal lobe epilepsy but I have not done much reading on that it as it scares me. I'm going to do some now. Thank you for the link and explaining that a tonic isn't fatal
I get more tinnitus when those things are frequent but I hadn't known they were linked!
I'm sad doctors don't listen to you either, they should know by now autistics often know what we're talking about.
The magnetic field thing was very interesting and now that I know it's a known phenomenon it explains so much! I've always loved thunderstorms, and felt kind of weird during them. The other time a similar tonic seizure happened was after a major solar storm, now that I think about it! Maybe I should keep even more tabs on space weather
What sites do you use?I hurt a lot after the slightest change in atmospheric pressure so not that keen on thunder anymore.. It's not even just weather changes now, sunrises and sunsets hurt a lot and just about when the house starts creaking and clicking my joints do the same, even more than usual.
So I did some more reading on the neurological part of autism and this is what I found:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2011/05/25/scientists-find-molecular-similarities-in-brains-of-those-with-autism wrote:
Frontal, temporal lobes in cortex were different in [neurotypical] tissue, but the same when [autism] was present
[...]
"In a [neurotypical] brain, the frontal and temporal lobes can be differentiated," said principal investigator Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a distinguished professor of neurology, psychiatry and human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "But in autism we didn't see that. Instead, the frontal lobe closely resembles the temporal lobe."
[...]
"In a [neurotypical] brain, the frontal and temporal lobes can be differentiated," said principal investigator Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a distinguished professor of neurology, psychiatry and human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "But in autism we didn't see that. Instead, the frontal lobe closely resembles the temporal lobe."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16130096 wrote:
Autism severity and temporal lobe functional abnormalities.
The more severe the autistic syndrome, the more [cerebral blood flow] is low in this region (left superior temporal gyrus), suggesting that left superior temporal hypoperfusion is related to autistic behavior severity.
The more severe the autistic syndrome, the more [cerebral blood flow] is low in this region (left superior temporal gyrus), suggesting that left superior temporal hypoperfusion is related to autistic behavior severity.
So hmmm... According to new research/consensus autism is not a disordering of the brain but a reorganization.
As the temporal lobe is an older part of the brain, we might actually be in the process of upgrading those functions to be in the evolutionary newer outer part, as we have twice the amount of neurons in specifically the frontal lobe, and we get some issues when the temporal lobe shrinks as it's not finished yet. And schizophrenia (which is genetically linked to us) might in part be because they don't have an as upgraded frontal lobe but still have a smaller temporal lobe (according to studies)... Or because it has shrunk/changed too much no matter how good the upgrades are.
Or maybe the temporal lobe isn't shrinking compared to our direct ancestors as they go by neurotypical measures to how big it should be.
I might have I just realized why are so sensitive. We have twice the number of bronchioles (structures in our lungs) and they are twice as small. We have (at least) twice the number neurons and they are probably twice as small because that's how branching off works. So that's confirmed from new research. People here have reported never breaking bones even after accidents, as bone structure is fractals just as lung structure and brain structure are that is probably also affected.
And as the membranes in the nose is fractals they might be twice as complex as well, which is why we have such good sense of smell (except those with no smell at all).. And nerves might be twice as many as well which might be why we are so sensitive (except those that are hyposensitive...).
Simply put: If we are smaller inside, then we get more affected by things like pressure!
16 May 2013, 11:32 am
WOW 
So, there is an article today about a breakthrough about epilepsy, autism and the temporal lobe! Also it is supposed to explain why people with temporal lobe epilepsy have autistic traits... The timing is very scary, to say the least.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z2TSzWoyIH
The articles say absolutely nothing about what that breakthrough was, though - just that it's supposed to be "a previously undiscovered link".
I just want to clarify that when I said the frontal lobe is taking over functions from the temporal lobe, I meant that in a long term evolutionary sense. I guess that what they'll argue (as I can't find the actual paper) is that in epileptics it is taking over those processes too, but because of brain-injury related to temporal lobe epilepsy, and during a persons lifetime. Or it will just say that the temporal lobe is damaged, without mentioning the frontal lobe. That might be the case for some epileptics, but many might as well be autistic to start with...
We at least have too many genetic and morphological differences for it to be only brain-injury related.
And as this is my thread I'll re-post from another thread exactly why it could be related to evolution:
Quote:
The thing is, evolution hasn't stopped. Ask any scientist if they think we're the only animal in the world exempt from evolution. But it doesn't jump from one species to the next without any intermediary.
Humans have evolved tremendously fast, especially the brain - it's gotten much bigger on a very short time scale. The way we did it was in part because we could revert to the already existing blueprint for the younger human, who have different body-proportions with a bigger head and thus a bigger brain compared to body size. They didn't need to acquire all the mutations needed to develop a bigger head as that is much harder than just using what the body does already. This is already confirmed that it happened in humans evolutionary history and it's called neoteny. An example is the domestication of dogs by humans - they have the body proportions of fetal wolves in some cases and are much more childish behaviorally than their wolf ancestors - a fun side-effect of neotenalization is that you don't get the (body-proportionally) adult versions instincts even when you're an adult, you're stuck in child/juvenile-mode forever, even though you have a bigger brain
Does that sound familiar to anyone else?
Body-proportions according to age in modern day humans:
Humans have evolved tremendously fast, especially the brain - it's gotten much bigger on a very short time scale. The way we did it was in part because we could revert to the already existing blueprint for the younger human, who have different body-proportions with a bigger head and thus a bigger brain compared to body size. They didn't need to acquire all the mutations needed to develop a bigger head as that is much harder than just using what the body does already. This is already confirmed that it happened in humans evolutionary history and it's called neoteny. An example is the domestication of dogs by humans - they have the body proportions of fetal wolves in some cases and are much more childish behaviorally than their wolf ancestors - a fun side-effect of neotenalization is that you don't get the (body-proportionally) adult versions instincts even when you're an adult, you're stuck in child/juvenile-mode forever, even though you have a bigger brain
Does that sound familiar to anyone else?
Body-proportions according to age in modern day humans:
And here is the extended version of that, and other musings, from my conversation with littlebee:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5400564.html#5400564 wrote:
littlebee wrote:
Anomiel wrote:
littlebee wrote:
There are many different causes for autism and also different types of autism, and people with certain kinds of brains are more likely to encapsulate, meaning close themselves off from life in certain ways by focusing inwardly and kind of withdrawing to some degree from the outside world. Also the tendency to do this can be caused by childhood trauma and/or certain kinds of parenting and/or even brain damage..Think of how many toddlers probably have had concussions, maybe more than one. This could even account for the incidence of more autism in boys....I do not know if anyone has ever thought of this but me, but it does make sense...
In any case, people from one family can have similar brains, for instance be smarter than the average population (but it would not be possible to isolate a gene for this---that is too ridiculous--there are probably sets of genes that interact to affect brain function), but because of social patterns in that family certain or all members would tend to encapsulate as a psychologically protective device (overly focus on 'oneself' in general as perhaps represented by certain interests, or an exaggerated sensitivity around various sensations),whereas another family with the same kind of brain might be socially adjusted so there would not be this kind of encapsulation in general, except if one person was brain damaged or experienced some kind of unusual trauma. You could call these other people with genetically similar brains who have not encapsulated and are socially more adjusted "nt's," but the way they fit in to society probably has nothing much to do with genetics, though maybe in some way they just are just a tad smarter than those other smart people who psychologically encapsulate:-)
I have a theory that the brains of people who are really smart have a genetic tendency to process data a little differently, and this works around encapsulation of data in certain ways,so that is a good thing but when such a tendency becomes psychological then it is a disorder..
It might interesting to look at studies of ashkenazi jews (and perhaps also asians), though I myself do not have the inclination to do so.)
In any case, people from one family can have similar brains, for instance be smarter than the average population (but it would not be possible to isolate a gene for this---that is too ridiculous--there are probably sets of genes that interact to affect brain function), but because of social patterns in that family certain or all members would tend to encapsulate as a psychologically protective device (overly focus on 'oneself' in general as perhaps represented by certain interests, or an exaggerated sensitivity around various sensations),whereas another family with the same kind of brain might be socially adjusted so there would not be this kind of encapsulation in general, except if one person was brain damaged or experienced some kind of unusual trauma. You could call these other people with genetically similar brains who have not encapsulated and are socially more adjusted "nt's," but the way they fit in to society probably has nothing much to do with genetics, though maybe in some way they just are just a tad smarter than those other smart people who psychologically encapsulate:-)
I have a theory that the brains of people who are really smart have a genetic tendency to process data a little differently, and this works around encapsulation of data in certain ways,so that is a good thing but when such a tendency becomes psychological then it is a disorder..
It might interesting to look at studies of ashkenazi jews (and perhaps also asians), though I myself do not have the inclination to do so.)
I agree that it's very complex with so many different factors interacting, and those are not fully understood yet, and you are right this is a question of families being genetically different from the norm.
I see your definition of encapsulation, but do you mean when that happens in "low-functioning" classic autism, or just when we "higher-functioning"(/more NT) are withdrawn or introverted? I do agree withdrawing into the self can be a response to trauma, but being very extroverted and directed towards the external world is not the natural way to be for everyone. Being introverted could even be beneficial as it facilitates deeper thinking. Introverts are just valued less in modern day society. I have some thoughts surrounding introversion and extroversion - it is almost like extroverted people need others to be able to think. Feedback and discussion can be good for deep thinking (and as always I enjoy talking to you), but to not be able to think deeply if they are not surrounded by others is a bad thing. But the primary difference/definition of introversion and extroversion is not how much we socialize, it is if we gain energy be being alone or by being with others. But there have been almost no research done on extroversion as it is assumed to just be "natural" and not something that has to be explained.
Anyway I agree totally that those that are able to learn how to fit into society might be more intelligent, but then there are others that are able to, but do not want as it is so different from what they find valuable. And there are others that are not given the resources needed to be able to learn. I guess that NTs are more easily culturally influenced and that is where our biggest difference is, as NTs learn whatever is appropiate in their culture and it is not innate...
Concerning jews and asians, yes - that is fascinating, they and women of any ethnicity are more neotenized than the rest of the worlds population.
Hi Anomiel. I enjoy talking with you,. too.
Anomiel wrote:
I see your definition of encapsulation, but do you mean when that happens in "low-functioning" classic autism, or just when we "higher-functioning"(/more NT) are withdrawn or introverted?
It could happen in either, but obviously if it happened in the latter, it might tend to function more around interests and ideas. It really is a little difficult to completely grasp the concept of autistic encapsulation, but one can sort of intuit how it works especially if one can see oneself doing it. Also, the way I am looking at it can be related to psychoanalytic object-relations theory.I am not as big on psychotherapy as people may think,though I am study object relations theory now, but it was from a psychoanalytic journal I found in a free box at a book store that I got turned onto this, and it was a big eye opener (about myself)..
Well if someone have such extensive knowledge (and original ideas) as you do it is easy to assume things, but I understand what you mean.I'm very interested in psychology, but I read a bit here and there and then extrapolate on that and put something of my own together, as I'm sure you do too. I was not really aware of object-relations, thought I've heard about it, but I've read about it now (I plan to read other sources after I've responded to this - the beauty of the internet). Wow! Thank you for mentioning it! It explains a lot about me and my personality (and also why I use the word "thing" so much)
They even mention the detail focus/interest that comes with not putting objects together into a whole... This is probably more complex than they think though... It does have some connection to the older "blame the parents for all autism"-thinking, almost. But... If our brains are structurally "younger", than NTs that might cause us to stay in these states and they might affect us up to an older age than NTs! Or forever. See below for an extended explanation about neoteny (which explains how the juvenile states are extended into adulthood).littlebee wrote:
Anomiel wrote:
Concerning jews and asians, yes - that is fascinating, they and women of any ethnicity are more neotenized than the rest of the worlds population
I looked up this word, neotonized, but still have no idea what you mean in the way you used it. By looking at ashkenazi jew and asians, I meant because they have a much higher IQ then other populations. I cannot see that it has anything to do with juvenile development. Well, actually when writing this last sentence just now I did have a flash of what you might mean. That is interesting. You're thinking is way out there, girl:-) You seem to me to have a deeply intuitive and insightful way of processing data..
I explained the concept of neoteny in this post http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5398657.html#5398657 and it's role in human evolution, but I should go into more detail. Please ask if there is something I missed. Basically it's about that evolution is not a guided process, as we all know (though I love to personify it when I talk about it), and when the mutation that caused humans to retain their more youthful body proportions into adulthood appeared (either by deleting or never switching on the genes that cause us to change proportions with age), it also caused us to have a bigger brain relative to body size. This is correlated to intelligence amongst other things (some of the other being "cuteness", "youthful behavior" and probably more creative thinking), and as such was beneficial for the survival of those that carried it. It is proven that it's how humans have evolved from our earlier versions (species) into what we are today, and evolution is still happening. The changes we see in autistics (and women, and jews and asians) is because the same process is happening to us now, the families (but really: family) that carry this, in time dividing us fully from what Homo sapiens was. Why this is not talked about even though it is confirmed this is how we evolve, maybe because it is distasteful to speak of someone as "being more evolved" even though that does not always lead to only good things, as we can see; but different, yes. And it should be "more neotenized" rather than "more evolved"...
Thank you! Lucky I can use being this weird for good and stumble upon things like this that other people are not weird enough to consider (though I like how you describe it, and yours seem to be as well)
Did you know what you did when you lobbed this to me? Thank you.So this explains how epilepsy and autism both probably have what they call "immature brains", though they are fully adult.
Last edited by Anomiel on 17 May 2013, 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
17 May 2013, 1:12 am
17 May 2013, 1:25 am
pensieve wrote:
It's going to take some time to get my head around that.
Here are two links about solar storms:
http://earthchangesmedia.com/publish/ar ... 521861.php
http://neurotheology.50megs.com/whats_new_10.html
They are kind of from New Age sources but I've noticed the pattern so much that I don't think there is any denying it. It's particularly prominent in people with sensory issues/epilepsy. I actually have about 3 apps on solar storms and get alerts. I can get a screen from it and post it here.
You can pretty much go here for space weather updates:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
I did read up about the temporal lobes being just like the frontal lobes in autism. I'm not sure about next step in evolution kind of things but I think epigenetics may change the course of humanity and it is pointing in the direction of HFA/ADHD. I can elaborate when I don't feel as tired as I am now.
Here are two links about solar storms:
http://earthchangesmedia.com/publish/ar ... 521861.php
http://neurotheology.50megs.com/whats_new_10.html
They are kind of from New Age sources but I've noticed the pattern so much that I don't think there is any denying it. It's particularly prominent in people with sensory issues/epilepsy. I actually have about 3 apps on solar storms and get alerts. I can get a screen from it and post it here.
You can pretty much go here for space weather updates:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
I did read up about the temporal lobes being just like the frontal lobes in autism. I'm not sure about next step in evolution kind of things but I think epigenetics may change the course of humanity and it is pointing in the direction of HFA/ADHD. I can elaborate when I don't feel as tired as I am now.
Thank you a lot! Oh, I don't mind if it's from new age sources if I can find the scientific explanation of it on my own, but thanks for the warning
I do have a meteor app but solar storm apps are new to me, will get some of those! I'm very into space, even though it might not seem like it if I miss things like that
I didn't mean to add to your tiredness in any way if I did, I am collecting bits of my information here which is why the posts are extra-long. Hope you can feel better soon.
I know it's a big thing to consider, the whole evolution thing etc. The neurological differences surprised me too initially, but it makes sense considering the functions the temporal lobe have is what we excel at, and we can't do that if those functions for us only come from our smaller temporal lobe!
Oh btw, I added another piece to the above post that talks about how it's not necessarily this dramatic next step of evolution as it doesn't come with only good things. What it is though is confirmed neotenizing of our bodies and brains compared to the rest of the world's population, and as humans have evolved primarily through neotenizing in our evolutionary history, yes we might call it "evolution".
Page 1 of 1 [ 10 posts ]
| Similar Topics | |
|---|---|
| Lightning storm strikes and destroys a solar panel facility |
16 Dec 2024, 9:34 am |
| Autism and alcohol: questions and concerns |
26 Dec 2024, 7:57 pm |
