kindling damage?

[flopper]

I've searched & have not yet found a source w/ the "common man's" explanation of kindling. Is it just a fancy way to say the drugs aren't working? How many seizures does it take to start the kindling process & how much damage can it do? Permanent or temporary damage.
Thanks!

[Ellie]

I feel so out of the loop, I have never heard that term used. I always thought kindling was a type of firewood! :D


I'm going to Google and get back to you on this once I read up some more.

[flopper]

This is the best explanation I came across, but it doesn't answer my questions.


homepages.nyu.edu/~eh597/kindle.htm

[Rocking4Epilepsy]

I have this listed in my thread above...
Terms Used In Epilepsy.

That was the first time I ever heard of it to unless I was startinga fire like Ellie said..lol

[Missyat]

Hi, I copied this from epilepsy.com's glossary:

Kindling: A process (demonstrated by experiments using animals) in which electrical abnormalities become more intense over time; for example, small electrical shocks are delivered to the brain once a day to cause a progressive tendency toward seizures; eventually, seizures may occur without the electrical shocks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From what I understand as kindling, is that your brain learns to seize by seizing. The brain teaches itself to seize (I am not sure as to if it is a pseudo seizure then or not), but it is still a seizure.

http://my.epilepsy.com/?q=node/960772


I hope that helps.

[Rocking4Epilepsy]

Missyat

It is so good to see you posting...
I sure hope you and Kevin are doing well


hugs

[Porkette]

I may be wrong but kindling damage may be like what happened to me. I started out having many absence (petit mal) sz. when I was a kid. I tried many AED's but nothing controled the sz. (I later found out I was drug resistant.) The more sz. I had the more brain damage it caused so I started having complex partial sz. along with absence sz. then came the simple partial sz. All of this happened because my neuros couldn't control my sz. with any AED's and it caused more brain damage. Here's wishing all of you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

[flopper]

Thank you Porkette. So I assume the "brain damage" only referes to the ability to stop the seizures?

[Porkette]

Thank you Porkette. So I assume the "brain damage" only referes to the ability to stop the seizures?

Hi flopper,
The brain damage started on the RTL and the more sz. I had the more "brain damage" it caused which lead to cp sz. and sp sz. If I had never had the brain damage I would have never had a sz. Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

[Hadleybay]

This is what my dr. told me. One side of your brain seizes and then, over time, that side of your brain teaches the other to seize. :confused:

Figures, my brain teaches itself. The darn thing won't teach me much though. What I do learn......I forget:rolleyes:

kitt00

[vodpop]

Let's see if this helps explain it. Muscle has memory (your brain is a muscle of sorts). When you start a fire with kindling you are really trying to get a small spark to start and catch to a piece of kindling right? That piece of kindling will then light and the flame will grow and continue, correct? The flame then gets bigger and hotter and continues, all from one little spark.

Seizure kindling is very similar. Your brain has one seizure, the brain "remembers" the seizure and is more likely to have another. Each seizure it has leaves it more susceptible to having another and another and another until you've got a total blaze on your mind. Does that make sense?

As for the comment of one side learning from the other that is actually what's referred to as a "Mirror Effect" not kindling. Both can definitely happen.

Kindling is pretty much what has happened in my case. I started with sp's that "grew" into cp's. I had the surgery. No seizures for several years and now some seizure activity has returned in the same lobe (what's left of it anyways). Hence the kindling effect. One tiny little spark is all it takes...

I hope this helps.
Stef