Seizures occur when electrical activity in your brain is abnormal. In a partial seizure, only a limited area of the brain experiences such abnormal activity. In some cases, partial seizures can generalize to affect the whole of your brain. Food and eating patterns can affect your seizure activity. A diagnosis of epilepsy is made when a person experiences recurring seizures. Consult your doctor for medical advice regarding seizure control and anti-seizure medications.
Simple Partial Seizures
Simple partial seizures are also known as simple focal seizures, because they are focused in one area of the brain. Simple partial seizures do not affect your awareness or your memory, meaning that you will be conscious throughout the seizure and will have no memory loss associated with the seizure. Some common symptoms of a simple partial seizure include an involuntary physical jerking action, repetitive motions such as picking at your clothes, abnormal muscle contractions or mouth movements, abnormal physical sensations, numbness, tingling, nausea, facial flushing, dilated pupils, fast pulse or hallucinations.
Complex Partial Seizures
Complex partial seizures, also known as complex focal seizures, involve a change in your consciousness or memory before, during or after the seizure. If you experience a complex partial seizure, you may not remember all or any of what happened during the seizure. Like simple partial seizures, complex partial seizures may involve a range of symptoms ranging from hallucinations to repetitive or automatic physical actions or behaviors, together with altered consciousness, loss of consciousness or a memory blackout.
Eating and Seizures
Seizures provoked by eating are relatively rare. A 2008 letter published in the "Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry" reports that eating-related simple or complex partial seizures are observed quite often in specific regions of India and Sri Lanka. In the U.K., a case study was reported in which a 67-year-old man would experience both simple partial and complex partial seizures immediately after eating. In Brazil, a young adult patient was found to experience complex partial seizures during eating.
Trigger Foods
Certain foodstuffs and beverages may act to lower your seizure threshold, making it more likely you could experience a seizure. Different foods have the potential to act as triggers for different people. Keeping a seizure diary together with a record of what you eat can help to identify whether there are common foods that are triggering your seizures. Some common seizure triggers include foods containing caffeine, such as coffee, tea, chocolate and coffee bean snacks, or alcohol.
References
- MedlinePlus: Partial (Focal) Seizures
- "Overview of Epilepsy"; Robert Fisher, M.D., et al.; 2010
- "Archives of Neuropsychiatry"; Eating Epilepsy; M.S. Haddad, et al.; September 1991
- "Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry"; Trouble at Dinner: An Unusual Case of Eating-Induced Seizures; I. Rosenzweig, et al.; 2008
