Stress, seizures, and epilepsy: Patient narratives.
Epilepsy Behav
; 80: 163-172, 2018 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29414547
ABSTRACT
In epilepsy, individual seizures can be triggered by a variety of external and internal stimuli. One of the most common trigger factors reported by patients is stress. However prevalent, stress-related triggering of episodes seems underappreciated in epilepsy for various reasons, and its misinterpretation often leads to other diagnoses, e.g., psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) or normal reactions. This article illustrates the significant role of stress as a seizure-provoking factor by referring to nine patient narratives. From this perspective, it appears that there are characteristic patterns of stress triggering, e.g., stress-induced sleep disruption, forms of acute stress, or relaxation after stress. Sometimes seizures are mistaken as symptoms of stress. Patient narratives contain interesting clues relating reports about stress and seizure histories to different epilepsy syndromes as well as nonepileptic episodes in a way that can strongly support the diagnostic process. A narrative approach is particularly valuable in this context. Therefore, accounts of stress triggering in seizures and other episodes should not be neglected, but rather taken seriously, sought and actively explored as a crucial element when taking clinical histories in patients with episodic attacks.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtornos Psicofisiológicos
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Convulsões
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Estresse Psicológico
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Eletroencefalografia
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
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Etiology_studies
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Prevalence_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Epilepsy Behav
Assunto da revista:
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
/
NEUROLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha