Pyrotechnic Shows Could Trigger Seizures

In what's called reflex epilepsy, the seizures can be sparked by things patients see or hear, even sense in the environment around them. A small percentage of people with epilepsy -- somewhere between 3 and 5 percent -- are considered photosensitive, because light can trigger their seizures. The source could be a computer monitor, a television or even sunlight reflecting off water in a certain way.

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Doctors often can determine whether patients are photosensitive by having them look at a strobe light to see if it sets off a seizure. This photostimulation exercise is routinely done during a common diagnostic test for epilepsy, in which technicians use an electroencephalogram, or EEG, to monitor patients' brain waves for unusual electrical activity.

"There are literally thousands of different triggers for seizures," says Dr. John Gibbs, a neurologist who now treats Damon Thorne in Greeneville, N.C. "[Fireworks] certainly can mimic photostimulation."

Diagnosing photosensitivity is important because it can guide the type of medication patients get and help them identify a potential trigger to avoid, helping prevent further seizures.

A Different Ballgame

"They've never pinpointed exactly what it is with him," says Cindy Mitchell, referring to her son, Robert, who had his first seizure at 2 1/2 years old. Doctors diagnosed him with idiopathic generalized epilepsy -- epilepsy with no apparent biological cause.

"His seizures are totally unpredictable," says Mitchell. "It definitely affects his quality of life, and it affects the whole family."

One study determined that children with idiopathic epilepsy have a more than 67 percent chance of becoming seizure-free by the time 20 years have passed since diagnosis. Robert Mitchell is now 20 years old; the seizures haven't stopped.

"He's got easily between seven and 10 tonic-clonic seizures per month," Mitchell says. Tonic-clonic, or grand mal, seizures describe the dramatic, convulsive type of seizure usually depicted in Hollywood films.