Epilepsy & riding.

[terbang]

Hey Nudemetalz I stand in awe of you sharing your experience..
Young girlfriend of mine (16 yo) 29 odd years back used to have seizures and it was a stressful experience for her that also left her feeling very embarrassed. She got very down about it and it also was quite scary for me (at 17yo) as she had some shockers that made me feel just helpless and I did notice that it was getting worse. She was an awesome young lady though and for various reasons we both moved on. Dunno where she is now but I always hoped that she would come to terms with it being part of her life..She could not get a drivers license back then though perhaps medical technology has opened up some opportunity for her now.

[terbang]

I've heard that pilots of helicopters and sometimes prop planes have had siezures from the strobe effect of the sun through the blades. I've experienced a similar effect travelling quickly past a long row of tall trees on the bike when the suns quite low. Is this a concern? I understand there is some certain frequencies when this becomes an issue or is this a load of....?

Glad your riding Nudemetalz!

Yup its not that uncommon for the rotating blades of propeller aircraft or helicopters to bring on seizures in passengers. Most pilots are screened and tested for epilepsy at our medical stage and unfortunatly if there is any risk of it they get their licence pulled.

[gixermike]

My sister has epilepsy (and MS) and drives fine in London now. She had to wait 3 years symptom free before they would let her regain her licence. she only passed about a month before her first fit! It took longer to regain her confidence than for her to be allowed to drive.

As for triggers, her first Fit was the day after my fathers death, eating vegetable soup and she started telling us how it "tasted like fruit salad"...we all just though she was being flaky like normal...but no... Grande mal seizure on the lounge floor....another trip to A and E...made for stressful weekend.

To avoid the strobe affect, train tunnels are either unlit, or only lit sporadicly...the channel tunnel lights are at some daft spacing to avoid the 15 Hz flashing that it most likely to trigger fits etc..I'm amazed at some of the Shite I remember...
Mike

[nudemetalz]

Thanks for sharing, Terbang and Gixxermike.
It's lot more common than I thought..

Apparently 1 in 100 NZer's suffer some form of Epilepsy, whether they know it or not. That's a huge statistic !!

[crashe]

Thanks for sharing, Terbang and Gixxermike.
It's lot more common than I thought..

Apparently 1 in 100 NZer's suffer some form of Epilepsy, whether they know it or not. That's a huge statistic !!

Yep the most mild type is that someone can be chatting away to you and then they stop talking for a few seconds or slightly longer and then they will continue on with the conversation...
What has happened is that they have had a very mild type of seizure.. and they don't even know it.
It can only last for a few seconds on a regular basis.


Another one which was proved in the UK and all caught on videotape...
A guy kept breaking into people's places and couldnt recall it...
What was happening was he was having a type of seizure (sorry can't recall the name type) and he was breaking and entering....
This is a true story.... when he was videotaped and then the dr's proved it by tests... once he was on meds, he stopped breaking and entering.
He was embarrassed when he found out...

So there are all sorts/types of seizures.

[nudemetalz]

I sometimes have the small partial ones, where I go blank for a sec or 2,
but happens mainly in stressful situations, at work etc.
They're not an issue just part and parcel of the big E.

[Pixie]

I don't suffer from it ,but if everyone else is lying on the floor,twitching, after watching Battling Seizure Robots,on TV,I'll join in too.

[Colapop]

Epilepsy's a very interesting and scary condition. They know enough about it to medicate the f*ck out of people but not enough to help them long term. We had a neighbor who had really bad seizures. It freaked me out - he was yelling at our dog one day and I went out to tell HIM to shut the f*ck up when he just fell down and started convulsing and foaming. Jesus I thought I'd done something to him. I jumped the fence and just tried to stop him from banging into the concrete steps. He came right after awhile. I had a good talk to him about a couple of days later and told me that he'd had a couple of days off the meds.

[shazzygirl]

I suffer from epilepsy too and its not difficult as long as you take the meds and don't give up your licence! Cause it's not going to come back to you when you have 'done' your period. The car licence they give back not a problem but the bike licence needs medical intervention before being returned. Bloody pain in the arse.

[nudemetalz]

I suffer from epilepsy too and its not difficult as long as you take the meds and don't give up your licence! Cause it's not going to come back to you when you have 'done' your period. The car licence they give back not a problem but the bike licence needs medical intervention before being returned. Bloody pain in the arse.

Hi Shazzygirl,

Slimjim sent me an email telling me about yourself.
I had no issue with the bike licence, thank goodness.

I went to the quack today,...he told me that he wants me to up my meds....cool ay...:slap: . Ah well, if it means keeping the seizures at bay and still being able to ride the ZX-10, then it's a small price to pay.

NDMz