My son was first diagnosed with epilepsy at three and a half years old after having over half a dozen seizures, the first being when he was only eighteen months old. Between the ages of four and five, I noticed that the seizures seemed to increase, and no matter what
medication, it wasn't really helping, and I couldn't really pin point what was the cause and neither could the doctors at the time, so we just kept experimenting with his medication.
Many times if epileptic seizures become more frequent, it could be because your child is becoming unwell and the medication isn't working efficiently, or they could just be not getting enough sleep. With my son at the time, none of these were the case.
It didn't even dawn on me that every time I had found him in a seizure or just after one, he was watching the television, or near the television. He was also having them in kindergarten, and when he was found there he was ALSO near a television which was attached to an old BBC computer. It wasn't until I mentioned it to his paediatrician that she said that he was self inducing his seizures whilst looking at the television. Then we were able to monitor him more closely. Then one day I caught him - there he was with his face right up against the television screen trying to induce a seizure. I pulled him away, but it was too late, he went into a seizure right before my eyes.
As my son is also autistic,as much as we explain that it's harmful for him to do that, it just hasn't sunk in. The paediatrician also explained that he gets a "buzz" out of it....in his brain it feels good, but unfortunately, he suffers the bad consequences later. Because of this, he is not allowed to watch television unsupervised, so where television can be a parent's "best friend", to me it can be a nightmare.
I was hoping that he would grow out of it, and for years he hadn't induced a seizure, so I thought it would be fine to get a television for his own room. Unfortunately, he went back to inducing again, so now the television is put in the dining area, where it is still his, but he can use it when I can see him at all times. I make him sit at least a metre and a half away from the television as any closer he can still have one without his face pushed right up against the screen.
Not only can seizures be caused by watching television or playing games (most games have seizure warnings in them) but they can be by other ways also, such as:
1. Flickering lights, such as strobe lights at a night club.
2. Through mesh with the sunlight streaming through, for example, mesh on tent windows, or on screen doors or windows.
3. Through trees with the sun shining through on a sunny day, especially whilst driving in a car where the movement is quicker to the human eye.
Even if you don't have epilepsy, this can still happen to your child or yourself. I know of someone who had two seizures on two different occasions whilst playing poker machines at a pub, but has never had another one since, and was tested for epilepsy and the results were clear. Although if your child does have a seizure as a result of one of these instances, I do recommend that your child has an EEG just to be sure. Many times, it can just be something that only happens once, like a febrile seizure where a child has a seizure due to high temperatures, but for peace of mind, it's best to know whether that is the case or not by having an EEG. That way you will know for sure whether your child has or has not got the abnormal brain activity that causes epilepsy.
(July 2007) (
Lexi xxx
) and since I split up with their father nearly three years ago, the television isn't on 24/7 so we are more aware of when it IS on and less instances like that happen.
