# Can Fatigue and Pain Cause a Seizure? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996 "2011-11-05T21:59:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/1 "2011-11-05T21:59:43Z")
Usual disclaimer: I’m not asking for medical advice. I’ve got an appointment with my doctor. Treat this thread as if I were asking about a character I read about in a book… So… Out hiking in the boonies with my sister. We hit a steep downhill bit with gravel, and, whoops, I faw down, go boom. Landed on my butt…and elbow. Dislocated my shoulder (partially: it wasn’t hanging loose or anything.) Shoulder pops right back in. Hurts. Pain. I blacked out for about a minute. Awakened normally, as if from ordinary sleep. (Even wondered for a moment, “Was it just a dream? Oh, crud…”) My sister puts me through some tests. Multiply and divide. Identify some historical characters. She looks at the pupils of my eyes, is satisfied they’re normal. At that point, and subsequently, I feel tired and sore, but have no mental aberrations.\* Her worry is caused by her observing me in seizure-like shaking, jerking, twitching, and spasming. (She has some training in this, as she is a caretaker for clients with such susceptibilities.) I couldn’t stand; when I tried, I would start to pass out again. So I rested for an hour, and, at that point, was able to walk back to the trailhead. So my factual question: could pain and fatigue lead someone to faint and exhibit seizure-like shaking? Or would the shaking inescapably point toward a concussion, however mild? My opinion is that it was just pain. But I don’t know enough to say for sure. Trinopus \*other than, y’know, being a looney nerd type fanboy! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/2 "2011-11-06T01:46:55Z")
Just for giggles, see your doctor. Seizures can be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. If you have had seizures in the past, yes, pain and fatigue can certainly trigger one. My concern is the fall beforehand. A seizure could be responsible for the initial fall AND the convulsing-type behavior afterwards. All seizures are not experienced by rigidity and convulsions. A blanking-out type behavior IS a seizure. Something’s going on upstairs. Get it checked out. IANAD, however: my husband was diagnosed with Seizure Disorder in 2005, at the age of 56. Today, he is well-controlled with medication. But it was a rough road to get to today. And his first seizure was something that literally came out of nowhere. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/3 "2011-11-06T03:14:50Z")
See a doctor, blah, blah, blah … But, in the setting of acute, severe pain, people can pass out from what is traditionally (though inappropriately) called a [vasovagal attack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_response). During a vasovagal episode, it is common for there to be a few [clonic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonic) movements which resemble those seen in a classic [tonic-clonic seizure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic%E2%80%93clonic_seizure) (convulsion). > [@Trinopus](#): > > I couldn’t stand; when I tried, I would start to pass out again. Getting light-headed upon standing is also common after a vasovagal faint. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/4 "2011-11-06T03:26:11Z")
Real life situation. MOved from General Questions to IMHO. **samclem** , Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/5 "2011-11-06T22:01:19Z")
Oops; apologies for posting in wrong forum. **KarlGauss** and **VOW** : thanks! Definitely am on my way to see my doc. I’d never heard of Vasovagal Attack! That’s one of the joys of this place: I learn something cool every day! P.S. Karl Gauss is one of my very favorite historical persons! He inspired me to study orbital calculations, a field in which I now know maybe a per cent of a per cent of what he knew! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fatigue-and-pain-cause-a-seizure/601996/6 "2011-11-07T01:19:55Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Karl Gauss is one of my very favorite historical persons! He inspired me to study orbital calculations, a field in which I now know maybe a per cent of a per cent of what he knew! But can you do it in your head [like he did](http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2007/06/johann-carl-friedrich-gauss.html)? > [@above link](#): > > "Gauss’ achievement with Ceres puzzled many, for it seemed a feat beyond possibility. He was asked how he had done such an intricate calculation. He replied: “I used logarithms.” When asked how he had looked up so many logarithms in so short a time, he dumbfounded them, by saying: “Who needs to look them up? I calculated them in my head.”