Using reiki to treat psoriasis and meditation for psychogenic seizures ...
Vania Mahon has been using daily meditation to control her seizures for about two years. She doesn't take any medication.
But her seizures, which came on suddenly in the summer of 2009 after a bout of bad headaches, are not typical seizures.
Mahon, 41, of Willowick, has psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, or PNES, a diagnosis that is surprisingly common and can lead to many people being misdiagnosed with epilepsy.
Thirty percent to 40 percent of epilepsy patients in hospital monitoring units actually have PNES. While those patients often appear to be having seizures, there is no abnormal electrical activity in the brain, meaning that the seizurelike activity, while not consciously controlled, is psychological in origin.
Like Mahon, these patients are diagnosed by in-hospital observation with brain-wave and video monitoring during seizure events.
"We don't hear more about this because there's a huge stigma attached to it," says Dr. Tanvir Syed, a neurologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center who has been treating Mahon and others with meditation for the past eight years.
"All of a sudden, someone tells them that this is all in their head, and they think they're crazy, but they're not," he says. "They're sick; it's a condition just like schizophrenia, just like depression."
Mahon, who was adopted at a young age and spent time in foster care, says she didn't realize there was anything wrong with her when she got the headaches.
"I had to store a lot of [trauma] when I was young, apparently, and I didn't realize that I did that," she says.
"These seizures are mimicking what you are feeling -- your body is expressing it," she says. "As a child somewhere you suppressed a trauma, and now that your life is finally in order and you feel good about yourself, your body is telling you to look back inside -- there's still something that you have to deal with."
Syed says many PNES patients have a hard time with the diagnosis because they expect something physical, not psychological, is wrong. Mahon didn't have that problem, fortunately. She was happy to try a drug-free way of treating her PNES.
For six months, she met weekly with Syed for 15-minute meditation sessions, during which she learned to relax and focus on one thing at a time. First, she learned to breathe, then to slowly focus on one problem from her past.
"Like a computer with a recycle bin, I can look at the problem I'm having and then click it away," she says. "Then on to the next one.
Non Epileptic Seizure - News
Women with epilepsy were also at higher risk for vaginal bleeding early in pregnancy (3.8 times more likely than non-epileptic women), of needing a Cesarean section or induced labor (1.8 times), of giving birth prematurely (nearly 6 times),
But her seizures, which came on suddenly in the summer of 2009 after a bout of bad headaches, are not typical seizures. Mahon, 41, of Willowick, has psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, or PNES, a diagnosis that is surprisingly common and can lead to
A staff analysis opens with this sentence: "This bill would allow non-medical school personnel who undergo voluntary training to administer the drug Diastat to a pupil suffering an epileptic seizure." A few words stand out: voluntary, training and
A sudden drop in blood sugar will almost always result in a typical epileptic seizure. It was bringing on seizures that seemed to help some types of mental illness. So as an intern it was the writer's job to start IV's, protect the patient from biting
Researchers believe some dogs are able to sense when someone is about to have an epileptic seizure – either through electromagnetic changes, the scent of certain body chemicals or subtle neuromuscular cues, says the University of Missouri's Johnson.
Innovative ways to treat psychogenic nonepileptic seizures ...
Innovative ways to treat psychogenic nonepileptic seizures
Brie Zeltner: Vania Mahon has been using daily meditation to control her seizures for about two years. She doesn’t take any medication.
But her seizures, which came on suddenly in the summer of 2009 after a bout of bad headaches, are not typical seizures.
Mahon, 41, of Willowick, has psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, or PNES, a diagnosis that is surprisingly common and can lead to many people being misdiagnosed with epilepsy.
Thirty percent to 40 percent of epilepsy patients in hospital monitoring units actually have PNES. While those patients often appear to be having seizures, there is no abnormal electrical activity in the brain, meaning that the seizurelike activity, while not consciously controlled, is psychological in origin.
Like Mahon, these patients are diagnosed by in-hospital observation with brain-wave and video monitoring during seizure events.
“We don’t hear more about this because there’s a huge stigma attached to it,” says Dr. Tanvir Syed, a neurologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center who has been treating Mahon and others Read the rest of this article… with meditation for the past eight years.
“All of a sudden, someone tells them that this is all in their head, and they think they’re crazy, but they’re not,” he says. “They’re sick; it’s a condition just like schizophrenia, just like depression.”
Mahon, who was adopted at a young age and spent time in foster care, says she didn’t realize there was anything wrong with her when she got the headaches.
“I had to store a lot of [trauma] when I was young, apparently, and I didn’t realize that I did that,” she says.
“These seizures are mimicking what you are feeling — your body is expressing it,” she says. “As a child somewhere you suppressed a trauma, and now that your life is finally in order and you feel good about yourself, your body is telling you to look back inside — there’s still something that you have to deal with.”
Syed says many PNES patients have a hard time with the diagnosis because they expect something physical, not psychological, is wrong. Mahon didn’t have that problem, fortunately. She was happy to try a drug-free way of treating her PNES.
For six months, she met weekly with Syed for 15-minute meditation sessions, during which she learned to relax and focus on one thing at a time. First, she learned to breathe, then to slowly focus on one problem from her past.
Non Epileptic Seizure - Bookshelf
The treatment of epilepsy
Similarly, the epidemiology of non-epileptic seizures has not been adequately ... [3] have suggested the term 'non- epileptic attack disorder' to refer to ...Neuropsychology of Epilepsy and Epilepsy Surgery
Nonepileptic Seizures Nonepileptic seizure is the current preferred term for a ... Nonepileptic seizure patients are fairly commonly encountered on epilepsy ...The Neuropsychiatry of Epilepsy
Nonepileptic attacks (nonepileptic seizures) Most centers have been reluctant to operate on patients with epileptic seizures which occur in association with ...Fits and Faints
EPILEPTIC AND NON-EPILEPTIC SEIZURES: WORDS AND MEANINGS 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean ...Falls in epileptic and non-epileptic seizures during childhood
NEFs may occur in children affected by epileptic seizures as well. Finally, pure psychological mechanisms have to be considered as a possible cause of NEFs ...Web Information Directory
Non-epileptic seizure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Non-epileptic seizures are paroxysmal events that mimic an epileptic ... A wide spectrum of phenomena may resemble epileptic seizures, which may lead to people who do not have ...
Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures - Wikipedia
User-created article on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
Non-epileptic Seizures - Care Guide
Care guide for Non-epileptic Seizures possible causes, signs and symptoms, standard treatment options and means of care and support.
Psychogenic (Non-Epileptic) Seizures
Psychogenic (non-epileptic) seizures are attacks that look like. epileptic seizures, but ... times called pseudoseizures, but "psychogenic non-epileptic ...
Nonepileptic Seizures
Nonepileptic seizures are behavioral events that resemble epileptic seizures but are not ... Epileptic seizures of frontal lobe origin are those most commonly mistaken for ...