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The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
First-Ever Example of a Computer Hack Attacking People's Brains
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reddingofish
09/03/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
So are they saying that trans gender people are actually epileptics? Can the same be said for religious zealots?
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MonstersAndRockets
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
I sometimes have a moment of total alienation from myself. It's not quite amnesia, I know who I am in the abstract, but that's just it, it's abstract - a jamais vu of the self. Sort of like, "Wait, who am I? Oh yes, this is my name and this is my address. I am apparently the person who fits that profile." It's incredibly eerie. Other people have told me of a similar feeling. Sometimes I wonder if it's a tiny stroke or seizure or something. I guess our identities are so complex, it's no great surprise that they could slip away from us on occasion.
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Gann
09/03/09

@MonstersAndRockets: I know exactly what you're talking about. I've had the same thing since I was a kid, way before I'd ever tasted alcohol or any other mind altering substance. It's always accompanied by a sense of cloudy spaciousness for lack of a better description.
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MonstersAndRockets
09/13/09

@Gann: There's a moment in "Life, the Universe and Everything" where Arthur Dent is in great danger on the side of a mountain and he suddenly has what Douglas Adams describes as "one of those 'self' moments", in which he disassociates from himself and ponders his place in the universe. Reading that as a kid tripped me out, because I'd never heard anybody talk about it before. But it made me feel a little weird about the whole thing.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
I have friends who get similar symptoms after a few drinks... :/
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IWNH - Grey is the New Black
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
My brother has seizures of the grand mal variety. He used to have them at least twice a day or more, but now its mostly when he wakes up from sleep (can either attribute this to the medication or vagus nerve stimulation implant).

After having a seizure, he has absolutely no clue who/where he is, and can sometimes be incredibly violent afterward. Other times he just starts trying to talk, but is unintelligible.

Edit: spelling
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MISS MERCY STREET promoted this comment Edited by IWNH - Grey is the New Black at 09/02/09 3:31 PM

GollyGeeGosh
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
Now I feel sad that my epilepsy is so normal. Just regular left-temporal lobe epilepsy.
Actually, I think it would be terrible to have the more 'interesting' kinds of epilepsy, if only because they would affect your life more.

I am sad that I'm neither a creative or tactical genius like some famous epileptics were though.
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twophrasebark
09/02/09

But maybe you're actually insane and your left-temporal lobe epilepsy seizures make you normal.

(hope it's OK to joke about this and you enjoy my humor :)
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CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard)
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
my best friend is epileptic and shes had many seizures that dont lead to anything more than a visit to the hospital, her GP and then given stronger medication. But this year she changed doctors and for some strange reason he thought she was better and took her off her strongest pill. Now this woman drives for a living and having her wits about her is integral to her job. So yu can imagine how bad this year has been when her worst seizure came on and she was found zoned out in her bathroom. Now shes finding it hard to drive, infact she finds it hard to even open a car door. She just stands there and scratches her head! The human mind is a very strange thing, I suoppose having seizures is like constantly throwing little spanners into the machine, one day its going to break. Like this poor woman in io9's news.....
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Edited by CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard) at 09/02/09 2:55 PM

Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
09/02/09

@CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard): Why hasn't she gone back on the stronger pills, then?!

She's lucky they allow her to drive -- many places have antiquated ideas and don't allow epileptics to get licenses. Which of course means that people with seizure disorders don't mention them to their doctors lest they get reported.
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CoffinDodger (If the typos crap. Blame my keyboard)
09/03/09

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Shes back on the pills now. But the damage is already done. Luckily here in the UK its a bit bette for epeleptics to get a liscence! There is a bufferzone in which they have to prove theyve not had fits/seizures in a long time period. Its all red tape and PC police!
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burlybax
09/02/09

In reply to The Strange Case of Seizures That Turned a Woman Into a Man
I don't know any people that suffer from seizures,but I used to have a dog that suffered them. After seizures she would get violent and attack me, she had no idea who i was and would run from me. It always reminded me of a computer rebooting, after a few minutes everything was back to normal.
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nagumi
09/02/09

@burlybax: That's actually pretty much what a seizure is. The brain gets buggy and goes bluescreen, and then reboots. Like a computer, before the crash it often gets buggy (some have deja vu, some experience weird smells, etc) and then crashes. Depending on how it crashes, there can be convulsions (or not), memory loss, brain damage (generally if the seizure lasts too long) and so on.

I've cared for epileptic animals in my work (I own and run a dog boarding business) and after a seizure they're usually just really confused. They wander around, bonk into walls, fall over etc. When a dog has had a LOT of seizures, that weird state can last for hours or even days. What you describe isn't unheard of, but it's not the rule. If you have an epileptic pet, ask your vet about keeping a vial of valium handy in case of seizure. The vet will tell you to use a pre-prepared syringe to push the valium into the animal rectally (it'll be absorbed really fast that way, and needles around a seizing animal aren't safe). Even if given right after the seizure, it'll help to prevent more seizures as they often come in groups.
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IraeNicole
09/02/09

@burlybax: Aww poor pup. Was it treatable?
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NerD: Blattella
09/02/09

@nagumi: I love how when the worlds technical paradigms shift, the medical explanations change to accept the new terminology.

130 years ago, you would have explained this using steam pipes, and 100 years ago it would have been electrical. 60 years ago it would have been vacuum tube technology.

Edit: BTW, I'm not snarking. I love the analogy.
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Edited by NerD: Blattella at 09/02/09 2:59 PM NerD: Blattella was starred NerD: Blattella was unstarred

Anekanta - Go Play!
09/02/09

@burlybax: Sounds like a dog I had once. His eyes would roll back and he'd start swinging his head around and trying to back up. It would go on for several minutes and when it was over he'd be sort of confused and really, really tired.
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First-Ever Example of a Computer Hack Attacking People's Brains

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