Heat - Is it a seizure trigger?

So this week, me and my family are at the beach! We've gone down to good ol' South Padre Island, Texas and we're having a ball. We're staying in a really nice condo with a private pool, pleasingly hot sauna, and the beach is right across the street.

Unfortunately, my seizures have not stopped to let me enjoy vacation like I hoped they would. My Epileptologist is slowly moving my Xanax dosage down, while in turn putting me on Klonopin. The Klonopin has helped quite a lot with my sleep, but the lack of Xanax is sending me into seizure after seizure. This happens especially if I don't take my medicine everyday at the same time. I can usually afford to be an hour late, but lately, it's 8:00am and 8:00pm or it's a seizure attack.

Stone Massages

Very recently I went with my mum to get a massage. It was my first massage, and I was a little nervous for whatever reason. I was expecting it to be a bit painful. When I got to the spa, I was taken care of very nicely. The spa was even having a special, and added on free stone massages with every new "welcome massage". I have to say that out of the entire massage session, the stone massage was the best.

The day we went in I had a huge migraine. My massage therapist said that the massage would really get rid of a headache, but I was skeptical and didn't really believe her. First, I got a full body deep tissue (including scalp and face). Even after this my headache was not really relieved which concerned her.

After the deep tissue massage, she pulled out her hot and cold stones. First, she placed one large hot stone on my forehead. This, in itself was really starting to alleviate pain. After she placed a hot towel underneath my neck, she also pulled out a bowl of the coldest stones in the world! It sure woke me up!
The massage therapist moved the stones across my sinus areas and I felt my nose just open up like never before. She was also as kind as to integrate some eucalyptus and peppermint oils as well, but not until after the massage was over. When she moved the stones over the area where my pain was, I could feel the headache slowly lessen.

By the end of the massage, my head pain was completely gone.
I signed up for the membership, but unfortunately it is only once a month. With the prices of massages, who could really afford a weekly one? Nonetheless, I was very intrigued by this stone massage. I had never heard of it in my life. I knew sometimes hot stones were used on the back, but never the face or head. In the car my mother said "I wonder if we could learn to do our own stone facials? We have some stones like the ones they use at the house."

So later on in the week when I had free time, I sat down and read up on stone massages for the body and face. You would be amazed how easy they are to do yourself. Even YouTube has some great videos if you search "Stone Massage". All you really need are some quality stones. They can be made of marble, basalt, or granite. Basalt are the most recommended because they hold cold and heat for longer periods of time. I would imagine it's best to have a partner to do this all for you, but I managed to do my own facial massage.

Unfortunately, this isn't one of those "How To" blogs like I usually do. But I do think you should try a stone massage if you haven't already. I just put the stones in a plastic baggy in my freezer along with some ice. Every time I've get a headache, I just pull out the cold stones are start working on my face... and it's gone! Just like that!

More articles soon!

Photo: "K is for Kaleidoscope" by Steve Kay on Flickr.com

Hey everyone! I just wanted to keep in touch and let everyone know that I have two new really awesome blogs drafted, and they will be up in a few days. It's been busy in my house lately because this week it's my brother and sister's (they're twins) 10th birthday! Other than that I've been having a somewhat difficult time in my life and I wasn't even in the mood to be awake, much less online. So I apologize for that.

My seizures have been extremely more frequent and I am now constantly on my toes waiting for a grand mal. It seems that I always have that feeling that one is coming on, but Mr. Grand Mal is a no-show for now. I guess this is a good thing, but that anticipation is just killing me. I have noticed a significant increase of migraine headaches and nausea in the past three weeks. It seems that they come every night. I've been relying on peppermint oil, green tea, Excedrin and cold bags of frozen veggies... and it's not a fun routine! I'm praying to God that these headaches are not back for good ):

Anyway, I am about to jump into bed for the night because the headache I currently have is getting worse by the second, and staring at the computer screen is not helping! But thanks for the feedback and the sweet e-mails from all of you! God bless you all with the best of health!

- Mandy Krzywonski

Day #21 - Headaches Come Back

Last night I was just about fed up with my insomnia, so I bought some over the counter sleeping pills and amazingly they worked...for three hours. But it was still tons more sleep than I ever get these days. I woke up feeling refreshed, but out of nowhere around noon I got attacked by one of the most horrible migraines you could imagine. It's been so long since I've had one that it seemed more painful than it usually was. I was a bit happy and sad about this. Happy, because it's been a while since my headaches have come around. Sad, because it hurt like heck!



Did you know?

- Women have migraines three times more often than men, according to the National Headache Foundation (NHF).

- Of migraine sufferers, 6% are epileptic, a value that is more than ten times the prevalence rate for the general population.

- In another epilepsy study, 20% of epilepsy patients also suffered from migraine headaches. About 16% of these people experienced epileptic seizures before or during migraine aura.

- A new strand of Epilepsy that links chronic migraines and Epileptic seizures is currently being researched.

My seizure activity has been very rare, which is great. No noticeable staring, difficulty thinking, or visual seizures. However, I have been getting a bit of those pre-seizure auras where you taste things such as metal or a sweet peanut-buttery taste. These weren't often but I was getting them this morning a few hours after waking up. Luckily they vanished by noon and the magnet seemed to stop them on contact.
Speaking of my magnets, they seem to not be working or losing strength? I'm not sure exactly what the problem is but they seem to not be activating my VNS magnet setting when I use them. It's becoming extremely difficult. I'm just about to have to call my doctor tomorrow to see what the problem is. Magnets don't lose their strength unless heated or dropped very hard...and I treat them like newborn children. I hope nothing serious is wrong because that would mean ANOTHER surgery which I can't possibly stand for... too much stress and too much pain!
I haven't blogged in a few days, so I apologize. But don't worry, nothing amazing happened. It's just hard to balance blogging, 1,000 sheets of homework pages, my boyfriend, my family, my rascal dogs, and sleep! I promise to blog whenever something new happens, though. Can't let my readers down.
If you haven't read or heard already, please join my facebook group called "Your Epilepsy Blogger". It's just starting out but there are some cool pics and daily Epilepsy facts! The more people we get on Facebook, the more connections are made, and once we do that - information gets out! Today's most recent fact is:

Epilepsy Fact #8:

Blink and you'll miss it! Some types of epileptic seizures are so brief, they go unnoticed. Absence ("petit mal") seizures can last only two to 15 seconds, during which time a person might stare blankly, blink or pick at his clothes. Then he'll resume his business, having no recollection of the seizure.

Anyway, the group is nothing amazing, just something to make connections and hopefully send out information. So if you have a Facebook... get on and add it ASAP! Well, my loves, I'm going to go do some research for a paper I'm writing and then hit the sack. Sweet dreams and blessings to you all.

- Mandy