the smell of a seizure.

[Tarkus]

Alright, some background information first should be helpful. A few years ago my brother had a seizure in High School band class. Before this happened I noticed he had a slightly different smell about him. Nothing bad, just interesting, and something I have never smelled before. He then had a seizure in class, I was there and went with him to the hospital. I rode up front in the ambulance and the guy in the back was having major problems keeping my bother on the gurney. My brother is a pretty big guy, and he was thrashing around like crazy. Almost had to stop the ambulance so the guy driving could help strap him down. Anyway, when he was in the hospital recovering, I noticed the same smell. Very weird smell, not like anything I have ever come across. Burned in my memory too.
Well I went in to work today, and my boss walked up to me and started telling me what he wanted me to do. We are gutting apartments that got hit by a tornado, and redoing them. When he got out of the car I smelled it again. Years have passed, but it was the exact same smell. It was coming from my boss. So ok, I put it off in my head as him using a strange cologne or something. Not 10 minutes later, another employee comes in and says "Gary is having a seizure in the street." I did not believe him at all. I eventually went outside and damn, firetruck and ambulance and no Gary. I walked up to someone and inquired and sure enough, "Gary had a seizure." This blew me away. I could smell it on my brother and on my boss. I have never heard of anything like this, and it is still a bit odd to me. My boss is fine, it turns out his blood sugar dropped horribly low and he had a seizure, and hit his head on the street real good a few times. He is fine now though.

I have heard of some dogs being able to tell when a seizure is about to hit, but I am not sure if it is by smell or something else entirely. I was rather weirded out about it, and it still strikes me as odd.

Oh, and he was bitching to me this morning (right before it happened) about leaving a mask laying around. In my head I said Ahh, why don't you go play in the street? I was not really mad at him, or him at me, but you know. Sometimes you just think these things anyway. Next thing I know, seizure in the street. Just a very odd thing in my opinion.

 

[Papulz]

thats a nice ability to possess my man, next time me thinks you should tell the unfortunate soul.

 

[miss nycdf]

thats freaky... what did it smell like?

 

[Zesty]

The power to smell seizures aye......been near any kryptonite recently? or maybe you actually give people seizures and when you smell that scent your kinda "hulkin up"

 

[Widow Maker]

sounds like a pretty weird super power you have there tarkus. One of my friends once told me his grandfather could smell when a woman was getting her period, down to the minute!

 

[marx2k]

Did it smell like burnt orange peels by any chance?

 

[marx2k]

One of my friends once told me his grandfather could smell when a woman was getting her period, down to the minute!

That could be helpful when one slips past the goalie

 

[Tarkus]

I cannot describe the smell, it is not really comparable to anything I have smelled before. It was not a particularly powerful smell, but I noticed it right away. One of those smells that immediately gets pulled to the front of your consciousness and makes you go "What the hell is that?"
I am sorry I cannot compare the smell to anything, but I would know it again in a heartbeat. It did have an underlying smell of blood to it now that I think about it...

 

[Guest]

This I believe completely, and I'll tell ya why.

I was in hospital yrs ago as a kid, and the guy who I shared the room with had brutal head injury, and was prone to bad seizures.

I could feel / sense, like there was a sound or odor, when he was about to seize.

I thought I was the only one...

ws

 

[Tarkus]

Yes!!!! WallStreet! That is cool, I thought I was just an oddball.
And this is gonna sound bizarre, but when I noticed the smell, I couldn't hear anything else. Just my boss talking. And it is noisy in a city this size, there were cars zipping by and everything. I chalked it up to just wanting to pay attention since I noticed the "seizure smell," but who knows???

 

[diggle]

That's crazy. I wonder if there will be any science coming out to confirm this? I've always thought that smell is a much more powerful sense than we tend to give it credit for.

As weird as it sounds, I can almost always tell when my girlfriend is on her period. It's not a distinct smell, or a bad one either, but there is a definite change in the way her skin/body smells and I always seem to pick up on it. Drives her crazy.

 

[Guest]

Seizure Alert Dogs:
By Justin Fox
A Seizure Alert Dog is a dog that can predict when his or her owner will have a seizure. No one knows how a seizure dog can tell when there master will have a seizure but many scientists believe that the dog can smell a seizure. When being warned a person can get to safety( a place where they can not hurt themselves or anybody else) and not get hurt during the seizure. Seizure dogs are a big help to people that have seizures. If it weren't for seizure dogs, people could get serious injury during a seizure.

http://library.thinkquest.org/5859/Seizuredogs.htm

Dogs trained to detect seizures by smell
http://www.workingdogs.com/vcepilepsy.htm

Researchers in the UK reported in the January 1999 and January 2001 issues of Seizure on dogs they had trained that could detect seizures 15–45 minutes prior to the episode’s beginning

http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=27862

Apparently there's something to this, as they know dogs can smell and detect seizures before they happen. You simply have a dog's sense of smell - you should be able to find out everyone who's growing in your neighborhood
With that said, I wouldn't go around sniffing people's butts, they might take offense to it (or invite your over for a nightcap).

 

[youngdro]

That's crazy. I wonder if there will be any science coming out to confirm this? I've always thought that smell is a much more powerful sense than we tend to give it credit for.

As weird as it sounds, I can almost always tell when my girlfriend is on her period. It's not a distinct smell, or a bad one either, but there is a definite change in the way her skin/body smells and I always seem to pick up on it. Drives her crazy.

same here

 

[bluebublelove]

maybe we're still evolving

 

[guineapig]

Indeed this "seizure smelling" is amazing!!! There's got to be a phenomenon going on
here......i have heard of dogs detecting imminent seizures (as well as cancer cells),
but WOW in humans!!!!

There is a wonderful book called "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" about all
sorts of unique and bizarre phenomena that have been recorded in scientific papers
and medical journals. Most of the stories contained in the book are about strange
neurological events that cannot be explained. One is about a man who suffers a
brain injury and then suddenly develops an unbelievably keen sense of smell. The man
could recognize individuals by their unique smells and was even able to navigate his
way through the city ENTIRELY BY SENSE OF SMELL!!! After a few weeks, this ability
disappeared.....

I figure that the brain has many amazing abilities that we have somehow lost over the
course of evolution for some reason......kinda like how everyone could potentially have
a photographic memory or the mathematical abilities of genius savants, if they could
only access these parts of the brain......

Tarkus and WallStreet, you guys should get together and contact a neurologist- maybe you could get MRI scans right next to an epileptic person having a seizure so
they could identify which part of the brain is responsible for this "seizure sense"...

kind regards from guineapig

 

[Tarkus]

Hmmm, but can I smell if a dog is about to seizure??? There in lies the question.

 

[Guest]

Generalized seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity that occurs over the entire brain simultaneously. This group of seizures affect the level of awareness and muscle movement of all extremities. Following are the main types of generalized seizures.

Absence Seizures: This type of seizure is also known as “petit mal”. They are described as staring spells. At times they are difficult to distinguish from normal daydreaming spells. These seizures typically start in childhood and are often outgrown by adolescence, although adults can occasionally also have absence seizures. They can happen dozens of times a day but are very brief, usually lasting just a few seconds, so they are not always noticed. The child may get a dazed look on their face, have some eye blinking or head bobbing and not respond to any type of stimulus. After the seizure is over, the child usually continues his previous activity as if nothing happened. An EEG is very helpful with diagnosing this type of seizure. Patients usually respond very well to medication.

Myoclonic Seizures: These are characterized by sudden brief jerks of a single muscle or muscle group. You may see a sudden jerk of the hand or arm that will cause them to drop or knock things over. It may appear as if they have been startled. You may see the head or body suddenly bend forward or backward. At times the jerk can be so strong that the child can be thrown to the ground. These seizures are not the same thing as the periodic muscle spasms one often experiences when falling asleep.

Atonic Seizures: These are also very sudden brief seizures, but they involve loss of all muscle tone. The child will suddenly go limp and fall to the ground. There is significant risk of head injury during the fall. So, many children with this seizure type wear helmets for protection.

Tonic Seizures: These seizures involve stiffening of parts of the body or the entire body, sometimes causing the child to fall down. Unlike tonic-clonic seizures, there is no progression to a clonic phase (see below).

Tonic-Clonic Seizures: Also known as “grand mal”, these are very intense and can often be very frightening to witness. They generally start with a tonic phase with stiffening of the entire body. The eyes may roll back in the head, the back arches, and arms and legs stiffen. The muscles in the chest can also stiffen so it may appear that the person is not breathing and you may see blue around the lips. There may be an increase in saliva or “foaming at the mouth”. The clonic part is described as rhythmic jerking of the entire body. Once the seizure is over, they may feel worn out and may even sleep for a period of time. They may also experience some confusion.

Partial Seizures

Partial seizures, also called focal, are those seizures that begin in one part of the brain instead of all over. Depending on which lobe of the brain the seizure comes from will determine the way the seizure looks. Partial seizures can be classified based on either the symptoms of the seizure or the part of the brain where they start.


Based on the symptoms of the seizures, partial seizures can be divided into simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures.

Simple partial seizures: Simple partial seizures are noted for staying in just one area of the brain and not interfering with the level of consciousness. Depending on the area of the brain affected, these seizures could be expressed as shaking of a small part of the body, an unusual tingling or numbness of a localized body part, or even an unusual smell, visual hallucination, or ill-defined feeling. Simple partial seizures are often also called “auras”. Regardless of the specific symptom, in all simple partial seizures, the person remains completely aware and alert during the seizure.

Complex partial seizures: A complex partial seizure happens when the abnormal electrical activity involves parts of the brain that affect level of consciousness. Thus, the critical feature of the complex partial seizure is that the person has altered consciousness, so that he may be confused or staring unresponsively. There may also be subtle, repetitive and stereotypical movements of the face or extremities (automatisms). Although complex partial seizures can look similar to absence seizures, they usually last longer, typically 1-2 minutes. In addition, unlike absence seizures, complex partial seizures often are preceded by an aura and are followed by a state of sleepiness. Sometimes a complex partial seizure can start in just one area and spread throughout the entire brain, resulting in a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. This type is known as complex partial with secondary generalization.

Following are descriptions of the different types of seizures and how they typically appear depending on where in the brain they take place. However, sometimes only detailed testing by a neurologist can determine with certainty where seizures are originating.

Frontal lobe: These seizures are usually very short and often occur during sleep. They may be described as twitching or a funny feeling in the face, a finger or leg. The person may be aware all of this is happening (simple partial seizure). Sometimes the head will turn to one side, and the arm on that same side will stiffen. In other cases, very bizarre or complicated movements of the entire body can occur. The seizure may spread causing awareness to be affected and jerking of extremities may happen.

Temporal Lobe: This type usually involves complex partial seizures with staring and repetitive movements that seem to happen without purpose. These movements are called automatisms. There may also be a complaint of a funny feeling around the mouth, be unable to speak, and have increased saliva and twitching of the mouth. You may also see twitching, jerking, or stiffening on one side of the body. At the beginning of the seizure, they may experience a funny smell, a sensation of fear or a funny feeling in the stomach or chest.

Parietal Lobe: There may be a feeling of electricity or tingling sensation that may start in a certain area, or may spread. They may complain that one part of the body feels like it is moving. Sometimes there is a feeling of sinking, choking or nausea, or pain.

Occipital Lobe: These classically begin with visual problems, such as seeing flashes of light or hallucinations. Often the child will complain that they can’t see and have rapid eye blinking. The loss of vision is temporary and will return after the seizure is over.

 

[Guest]

A Seizure Alert Dog is a dog that can predict when his or her owner will have a seizure. No one knows how a seizure dog can tell when there master will have a seizure but many scientists believe that the dog can smell a seizure. When being warned a person can get to safety( a place where they can not hurt themselves or anybody else) and not get hurt during the seizure. Seizure dogs are a big help to people that have seizures. If it weren't for seizure dogs, people could get serious injury during a seizure.

You can pay different amounts for dogs from different schools. Some dogs can tell people when they are about to have a seizure. They can smell a chemical reaction in a person's brain. These dogs are lifesavers. Some dogs are trained to keep people calm and so on.

 

[Guest]

Hmmm, but can I smell if a dog is about to seizure??? There in lies the question.

Or if it's goin' into heat...

lol

ws

 

[Duppy]

Hmmm, but can I smell if a dog is about to seizure??? There in lies the question.

YES. But you don't want to know where you have to sniff.