Brain Fog vs. Air Pressure or Light levels?

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G.Ross - 19 Jan 2005 14:32 GMT

I posted this a couple of times before but there might be some newly
diagnosed people who might have, but not notice, this side effect if they
were having it.
When I was first having Temporal Lobe (Complex Partial) szrs. in 1993-5, I
started looking for 'what was triggering these' or making them worse, since
they were so frightening. They also were disruptive when I had one with
little or no warning.

*Some of mine seemed to have been made worse by drops in Air Pressure.
It's snowing here, and I still get a mild Brain Fog as rain or snow
approaches and first starts. After an hour or 2, the sensation clears,
even when the snow continues.
My theory was the drop in air pressure caused blood vessels (including
inside my head) to 'puff up' so produce the fog I have now. But in 1993-7,
this produced a stronger Aura that if not paid attention to, might progress
in 1-4 hours to Full Complex Partial seizure. It was like a circuit breaker
resetting if a *full szr. occurred, as when I came out, it didn't seem to
matter what the air pressure was doing.
If a szr. didn't occur, the fog would tend to clear over next 3-6 hours,
as I adapted? to the changed external conditions?

(It's also relatively darker here more of the time (cloud in day, shorter
days), so more time is either in reduced light, or by *artificial light. (I
changed a bunch of our house light bulbs to new 'neon spiral' type bulbs to
save power use. They don't have a refresh flicker like the long tubes used
in some Shopping Centres, but the 100 Watt replacement uses only 23 Watts,
but same light level. These didn't seem to produce any ill effects wrt.
Auras or Seizures etc. when I gradually installed them over 2 weeks last
Fall. I haven't had enough Electric bills yet - bimonthly- to show if they
have started to pay for extra cost of the initial bulb. They're supposed to
last 10x as long, although one failed within 30 days, but combined Watt
reduction plus bulb life is supposed to recover the ~3-4x extra cost - 4 for
$5-6, vs. 4 for $2.) G./

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Satch - 22 Jan 2005 12:08 GMT

> I posted this a couple of times before but there might be some newly
> diagnosed people who might have, but not notice, this side effect if they
> were having it.

Hi Gaross,

You always answers thousands of other's postings but now you have a
question, no one answers? Though I cannot help you with this question as I
do not suffer from this, I wanted to reply anyway. Maybe someone is now
being triggered to answer to this posting :-)

Signature

Thanks.

Marco
The Netherlands

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Sofia - 22 Jan 2005 16:45 GMT

> When I was first having Temporal Lobe (Complex Partial) szrs. in 1993-5, I
> started looking for 'what was triggering these' or making them worse, since
> they were so frightening. They also were disruptive when I had one with
> little or no warning.

I've never heard of any kind of seizure caused by air pressure, as I
don't have it either, but I have heard of something that could be a little
similar you could ask your specialist about called "hyperventilation".

Although it's very rare, it's when over-breathing can play a significant
part in absence seizures, though mainly in children. It's very rarely seen
in adult tonic-clonic seizures, but rare doesn't mean never.

I would ask your specialist about this, as you have to begin somewhere.

Sofie

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G.Ross - 22 Jan 2005 23:19 GMT

>> When I was first having Temporal Lobe (Complex Partial) szrs. in
>> 1993-5, I
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> I would ask your specialist about this, as you have to begin somewhere.
> Sofie

Last seizure I had was June 1998. The sensation I described (above) also
included an intense 'inside' headache also, but many times were just what I
called 'Brain Fog' where things appeared as though I were feeling or viewing
them through a Foggy window. The 5-6 headaches and auras I recorded at the
time over ~3 months all occured ahead of Rain or Snow (low air pressure
moving in), and with a minor medication adjustment, and also being knocked
unconscious during One seizure (not sure which caused change, I assume the
first), the feeling passed, and I can no longer predict the weather. :-<
(I think drop in air pressure would cause blood vessels to dilate, so
affect blood pressure + possibly rate blood would flow through body, and
hence the brain too.)

I was also concerned a year ago whether flying in a pressurized aircraft
might aggravate those (complex partial type) seizures. I didn't have any
effects there.

I put up the earlier post in case others might react to those effects
too. I've noticed more discomfort lately from e.g. trying to read using
some new low-energy lights. Once I increased the wattage of some of the
lights (from 15 to 23 watts) of this particular light bulb, that
'discomfort/ aura' feeling seemed to subside too. /G.

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CyberCafe - 22 Jan 2005 22:53 GMT

> I posted this a couple of times before but there might be some newly
> diagnosed people who might have, but not notice, this side effect if they
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> If a szr. didn't occur, the fog would tend to clear over next 3-6 hours,
> as I adapted? to the changed external conditions?

It's probably just coincidence. If that was happening, all the blood vessels in
the body would be involved, and most likely there would be some serious problems
associated with it not only in your brain but your eyes and other organs and
tissues. Another issue is that once blood vessel capacity is reduced, there are
going to be some problems that aren't just going to clear up in just a few
hours. Platelets are usually trapped at or near the reduced or blocked blood
flow (often times near a blood vessel valve), and those generally just continue
to build up or back up further in the vessel.

If you really think something in your environment is contributing to your foggy
feeling, look at more things. I mean, look at just everything. Another thing
to remember, and this happens to me once in a while, is that the seizure
activity (even if you're not having full-blown seizures) might be involved in
your thinking or belief about the causative factors here. Hey, it's a problem I
have had.

Some ideas on looking at the environment: Because you are probably indoors or
inside a particular environment more now that it is winter, what in that
environment might be contributing to the problem. You've already identified
different lighting conditions. How about changes in routine such as hot tub
baths (only addressed here because of the potential of blood vessel
constriction), changes in medications, foods, amount of sleep, etc. Are you
sitting at the computer for longer periods of time, listening to more music,
reading more, etc. I'm assuming your level of activity is a little different
too. So things probably are different at various times of the year, but that is
not to say any one of them is playing a role in any of this stuff.

GR, I saw your posts at another forum regarding the neon issue. I did find some
reference to the color of neon output as a possible problem. There is a link
here about lighting: http://icc.skku.ac.kr/~won/electro/lights.html#neon

I think you should remove the neon lighting until you/we know more about their
effect on epilepsy. Sometimes we have to go the more expensive route on some
things (like the savings on your electric bill) if not doing so will result in
something even more expensive. In my case, I don't have sick time, and if I
don't work because of seizures, I don't get paid. For me, it would be more
economical to use more expensive lighting than to lose a day of work. Do you
get what I mean?

When was the last time you had a blood level?

Barb

> (It's also relatively darker here more of the time (cloud in day, shorter
> days), so more time is either in reduced light, or by *artificial light. (I
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> reduction plus bulb life is supposed to recover the ~3-4x extra cost - 4 for
> $5-6, vs. 4 for $2.) G./

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