Last night I went with some of my friends to some salsa lessons at a dance club. After the lessons were over, the lights were turned off, except for some very bright flashing colored lights. The music was very loud as well.
After about 10 minutes of this, my head started hurting a little. Then I became confused and sleepy. At one point, I felt almost panicked, as if I were being attacked. I've always been sensitive, to the point where intense light and sound are physically painful, but I haven't felt confused before. Has anyone had an experience like this?
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Shigosei, There was a thread about this, or about strobe lights. Some people have a terrible reaction to them. I will see if I can find the thread. It might have been Raia? Someone who acts.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Here is the thread, Shigosei. I am pretty sure there is discussion of why this happens.
Hmm...I don't think I had a seizure, since I was aware of my surroundings the entire time. And the lights weren't going fast enough to be strobe lights--they moved around and turned on and off a lot, but it wasn't exactly a strobe effect.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Still, it's something to keep in mind in the future.
Scary stuff, I know.
Dagonee
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Doesn't have to be a Grand Mal seizure, and there are many types of sensitivity to light that can affect you.
Also, any type of light can trigger seizures, its just that strobes are the worse form most people.
That is why there are disclaimers on video games....a small percentage of people playing them will have problems due to the colors and sounds.
Kwea
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I have heard something about kids playing Nintendo and having seizures/reactions. No, that is wrong. It is that Japanese style of cartoon, like Pokemon. It is something about the light.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I have this same reaction at Fuddruckers.
Seriously.
It's like, sensory overload.
I do okay Chuck E. Cheese, though.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Well, I guess I'll be staying far away from dance clubs in the future.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
While I was assisting a laproscopic OB-Gyn surgery, the video screen had flashing red strobe-y issues, and it triggered a migraine for me. I almost vomited into the face mask.
(Ewwww.)
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
I've had migraines in the past, and this felt a little like pre-migraine symptoms, except I didn't have a visual aura and I never actually developed a migraine (perhaps because I came home and went to sleep).
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
There are all sorts of migraine variants with similar pathophysiologies. I'd avoid that situation in the future, if I could. (And in my case, I do, with a passion. No more wombs with a view for me. )
[ September 06, 2004, 07:46 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by DocCoyote (Member # 5612) on :
Sara, you're wonderful. Womb with a view. Hehe!
For me, a fluorescent light with a faulty ballast is unbearable. I have to leave the room or risk something resembling an anxiety attack. Instant claustrophobia. I don't know if it's physiological or psychological.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
It actually was an episode of Pokemon that caused all those seizures in Japan. The Porygon episode.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
But it is well documented that video games can trigger all sorts of seizures and migranes.
A lot of games/game systems are from Japan, and some of the studies are from there as well, so they might be all lumped in her memory....
Kwea
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
It COULD have been a mild seizure. It in a known fact that strobe lights, under certain situations, can trigger seizures in otherwise normal people without a seizure history. Some of my seizures are mild (or petit mal) in which I suffer from severe virtigo, difficulty in breathing etc.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
So....should I go see a doctor then? If this was a seizure, am I at risk for more even if I avoid strobe lights?
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
Seeing a dr. might not be a bad idea. However, even if it was a seizure, there is an excellant chance that an EEG will not pick up any seizure activity at this time. My daughter had seizures for years - including grand mal ones - and her EEGs never picked up anything. But, it never hurts to be checked out!
space opera
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
It wouldn't hurt to see one. The tricky thing about diagnosing seizure disorders is it is hard to pin them down. You can have 8 normal EEGs and the 9th one show the problem. In my case, all the regular EEGs WERE normal. It was only during a 24 hour sleep deprivation Holter monitor type EEG did my spike show up. Your caution to avoid strobe lights would be, in a lot of cases, futile. School buses, ambulances, police cars, stores (Walmart for one) mail trucks, wreckers, Store 'security' cars, roadside signs, sand trucks (in the winter) fire trucks ALL have strobe lights. Even sitting at home watching TV will subject you to strobe effects in commercials, movies... life for an epileptic can be hell. And I would wish that on no one.
Also, I will note that people can have one seizure and never have another
[ September 07, 2004, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: BookWyrm ]
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
Heh, SO replied while I was typing saying some of the same things Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
Well said, BookWyrm. Many people do in fact have no reoccurance of seizures, and seizure disorders are incredibly difficult to diagnose at times. Sometimes, in fact, drs. are leery of diagnosing them. You can get checked out, but I wouldn't be overly worried at this point. No doc is going to diagnose you with a seizure disorder and put you on meds because of one incident that may or may not have been a seizure.
space opera
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
Adam:
The case with the Pokemon WAS in a theater in Japan during a Pokemon movie.
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