Health & Medicine
Reflex Seizures Are To Blame When This Patient Solved Sudoku
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 19, 2015 03:07 PM EDT
A new report published in JAMA Neurology investigates a case involving a man who had a seizure while trying to solve sudoku.
The 25-year-old patient was buried by an avalanche during a ski trip, enduring 15 minutes without enough oxygen--otherwise known as hypoxia. The right-handed individual survived the accident, but with some brain-damage from the loss of oxygen. Because of this, he now struggles with occasional mouth and leg twitches when speaking or walking. However, he did not seem to have any issues with his arms, until health officials saw him completing this logic-based puzzle.
While working on the game, he experienced quick muscular contractions of his left arm--or clonic seizures, which stopped instantly after the game ended.
Though such a case has never-before been documented, researchers believe that it may have something to do with reflex epilepsy-seizure that can be triggered by various external stimuli. These types of seizures are estimated to only occur in about 5 percent of the population.
Researchers found that oxygen deprivation had caused damage throughout the brain, particularly to the U-fibres--resulting in a very intense three-dimensional perspective whenever he worked on the puzzle.
"When these kinds of neurons are dying, then you have not enough inhibition, so a loss of U-fibres leads to an overactivation," co-author and neurologist Dr. Berend Feddersen, via TIME. "For him, luckily it was this kind of Sudkoku thing which was the activation, and not another one he does in his daily life."
Since the event, the patient has stopped solving sudoku puzzles and has been seizure-free for more than 5 years.
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TagsHealth, Human, epilepsy, Seizures, Reflex Seizures, Puzzle, Trip, Vacation, Hypoxia, Contractions, Arm, Speech, Control, Walking ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Oct 19, 2015 03:07 PM EDT
A new report published in JAMA Neurology investigates a case involving a man who had a seizure while trying to solve sudoku.
The 25-year-old patient was buried by an avalanche during a ski trip, enduring 15 minutes without enough oxygen--otherwise known as hypoxia. The right-handed individual survived the accident, but with some brain-damage from the loss of oxygen. Because of this, he now struggles with occasional mouth and leg twitches when speaking or walking. However, he did not seem to have any issues with his arms, until health officials saw him completing this logic-based puzzle.
While working on the game, he experienced quick muscular contractions of his left arm--or clonic seizures, which stopped instantly after the game ended.
Though such a case has never-before been documented, researchers believe that it may have something to do with reflex epilepsy-seizure that can be triggered by various external stimuli. These types of seizures are estimated to only occur in about 5 percent of the population.
Researchers found that oxygen deprivation had caused damage throughout the brain, particularly to the U-fibres--resulting in a very intense three-dimensional perspective whenever he worked on the puzzle.
"When these kinds of neurons are dying, then you have not enough inhibition, so a loss of U-fibres leads to an overactivation," co-author and neurologist Dr. Berend Feddersen, via TIME. "For him, luckily it was this kind of Sudkoku thing which was the activation, and not another one he does in his daily life."
Since the event, the patient has stopped solving sudoku puzzles and has been seizure-free for more than 5 years.
Related Articles
Could A Seizure Medication Also Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer's?
Pregnancy And Epilepsy: Premature Birth Risk Higher With Seizures
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone