My seizure occurred "out of the blue." There were some signs that I was having neurological abnormalities because I had been having more ocular migraine headaches than normal. The doctor seemed to see this as a factor. It seemed logical to me because the seizure was preceded by "flashing lights" as I sat down in front of my computer in the garage and woke up 2 hours later with amnesia and sore muscles all over my body.
After that occurrence, I started thinking about what might have changed in my health to have caused this delay of epilepsy symptoms. One thing that occurred to me was my undergoing an allergy treatment for the previous year.
The allergy treatment. The reason I was doing it was to improve my voice. My voice, and vocal chords, had always suffered (off and on) from a chunkiness or thickness that I attributed to a swelling up because of my body's histamine reaction. As a kid I had hives from bug bites and a few times my whole body got hives, on my arms and in my throat; puffy eyes and itchy skin. So I thought I would visit an allergy clinic and talk to a doctor about it. I got an allergy test that showed I was allergic to dust mites (also cows and horses, but mostly mites). The doctor recommended a four-year treatment that had an 85% - 100% chance of eliminating my allergic reaction. The
treatment was to take weekly shots of a serum containing the allergen and then, for 3 more years, taking monthly shots. At the end of that time: no more allergies, maybe. It's kind of like getting your teeth straightened, only your immune system instead. At the time of the seizure I was done with the once-a-month shots. I was, but hadn't yet, started the monthly shots.
I asked all the doctors and the pharmacist, about the possible connection between these shots and the onset of epilepsy (or the seizure), and they all told me there was no connection. But somehow I couldn't get the connection out of my mind...what if it were possible that developing a resistance to allergic reactions somehow increased my vulnerably to epilepsy?
To explore the question I started with ChatGPT and got this response.
Question: What is the relationship between epilepsy and allergy?
There is currently no strong evidence to suggest a direct relationship between epilepsy and allergies. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the brain's electrical activity, while allergies are caused by the body's immune system overreacting to a foreign substance.
However, some studies have suggested that there may be a link between certain allergies and an increased risk of developing epilepsy. For example, a study published in the journal Neurology found that children with a history of eczema, a type of skin allergy, had a higher risk of developing epilepsy compared to children without eczema. Another study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry found that people with a history of food allergies had a higher risk of developing epilepsy compared to those without food allergies.
It's important to note that these studies do not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between allergies and epilepsy. More research is needed to fully understand the potential link between these conditions. If you have epilepsy and suspect you may have allergies, it's important to talk to your doctor to determine the best course of treatment.
I then asked the question: Can you show me the references in the last response?
Sure, here are the references for the studies mentioned in my previous response:
Teng, P. R., Chen, Y. H., Su, Y. J., Wu, C. Y., Hung, C. H., & Tsai, J. D. (2019). Association between eczema and risk of developing epilepsy: A population-based cohort study. Neurology, 93(10), e982-e991. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008076
Resource check:
- This article does not show up on Google Scholar. The DOI takes me to an article about "Reversible tongue atrophy in Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome".
- Volume 10 of Neurology 93(10) links to an article entitled: "Prevalence, clinical profiles, and prognosis of POEMS syndrome in Japanese nationwide survey." pg. e975-e983
- Pub Med search for the author string = No results were found.
- Pub Med search for the title = 3 unrelated articles
- Search of Pub Med for "eczema epilepsy" =
He CH, Zhao J, Zhu TT. Association between allergic diseases and epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Mar;116:107770. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107770. Epub 2021 Feb 6. PMID: 33556864.
Xu, W., Li, T., Gao, L., Zheng, F., Li, Y., & Li, Z. (2021). Food allergy and risk of epilepsy: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 92(2), 137-144. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2020-323586
- A search for the entire citation came up with the wrong article.
- Ellul, M., Varatharaj, A., Nicholson, T. R., Pollak, T. A., Thomas, N., Easton, A., ... & Michael, B. D. (2020). Defining causality in COVID-19 and neurological disorders. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 91(8), 811-812.
- I did find an interesting source on "idiopathic epilepsy," (the kind you inherit and has no known cause). Altaweel, Y. A. A. H., El, A. S. E. D. M., Motayam, K. A. E. S., & Ghonemy, M. H. A. (2017). Prevalence of Comorbidity of Migraine and Atopic Diseases among Patients with Idiopathic Epilepsy in Zagazig University Hospitals. International Journal, 5(1), 18-27.
