Abstracts

RATIONALE: There are similarities between experiencing epileptic seizures and being in an earthquake. Both involve shaking, are unpredictable, and often precipitate feelings of helplessness, fear, and loss of control. We performed a random survey of the experiences of epileptic (EP) and psychogenic non-epileptic seizure patients (NES) during the February 28, 2001 Nisqually earthquake in the Seattle metropolitan area. Our goals were to develop a better understanding of the subjective experience of having a seizure and to uncover differences in the experience between EP and NES patients.
METHODS: Forty-eight patients with epileptic or non-epileptic seizures documented by EEG telemetry monitoring at the Regional Epilepsy Center between 1/98 and 2/2001 were randomly selected for telephone interviews. Patients outside western Washington at the time of the earthquake were excluded. The questions were given in this order:
What was your experience of the earthquake?
Did you think that you were having a seizure?
How was the earthquake similar to or different from a seizure?
How long did it take you to realize that it wasn[scquote]t a seizure?
Did you have an increase in seizures following the earthquake?
RESULTS: 23% of EP patients spontaneously stated that they thought they were having a seizure during the earthquake as compared to 0% of NES individuals (Fisher[scquote]s exact test, p=.025). When directly asked if they thought they were having a seizure, 35% of EP and 23% of NES patients responded affirmatively (n.s.). EP patients reported an average of 42s to realize that the earthquake was not a seizure compared to 105s for the NES group (Mann-Whitney, p=.063). EP patients felt that the shaking was similar to their seizures (100% of epileptics, 80% of NES). NES patients felt that the loss of control was analogous to their events (100% NES, 67% EP). Many stated that the fear experienced was similar (60% NES, 56% EP). Seizures were occasionally increased after the earthquake (11.5% EP, 9.1% NES).
CONCLUSIONS: EP patients were more likely to mistake the earthquake for a seizure than NES patients. EP patients had a tendency to describe the similarity between their seizures and the earthquake in physical terms such as shaking and moving while NES patients described the similarities in emotional terms such as losing control. The fear, uncontrollable shaking and sense of losing control were the main similarities between the two phenomena. This provides a glimpse into the subjective experience of epilepsy for those of us who have never had a seizure but have experienced an earthquake.