# Seizures and burnt toast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420 "2003-12-28T16:25:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9d8465/32.png) [@ElanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElanMan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/1 "2003-12-28T16:25:57Z")
Hey. Okay, my friends and I go to the bar and get really bored, so here’s our next inquiry… People who get seizures report smelling burnt toast before the onset. Does this trigger the seizure or is it a side effect? In other words, if a person suceptible to seizures really smelled burnt toast would it cause a seizure? Is it a two way street? Thanks, Bodi ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/2 "2003-12-28T16:54:28Z")
This is unfortunately not expert testimony, but I do have epilepsy so I hope that’s enough. The belief that one smells burnt toast is part of the aura, the time right before a seizure, but not everyone experiences this particular sensation. Other warning signs for a seizure include dizziness or a tingling in the skin.(that would be me). Really the aura phase is very similar to that which leads up to a migraine. See: [http://epilepsyontario.org/client/EO/EOWeb.nsf/web/What+is+Epilepsy+(Children)](http://epilepsyontario.org/client/EO/EOWeb.nsf/web/What+is+Epilepsy+(Children)) ---
**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:** [December 28, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/3 "2003-12-28T17:19:25Z")
Just to repeat what **percy** said. The smell of burnt toast is essentially a hallucination that _may_ precede a certain type of seizure (partial complex aka temporal lobe seizure). If a susceptible person is exposed to the smell of burnt toast, it does not trigger a seizure. ---
**Author:** ![ElanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9d8465/32.png) [@ElanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElanMan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/4 "2003-12-28T21:09:27Z")
thx for the link percy, I learned some stuff 🙂 , and Karl for the answer I was looking for ---
**Author:** ![Maxxxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/5 "2003-12-28T22:04:03Z")
**ElanMan** , I’ve never experienced this. The first thing I know about having a seizure is waking up on the floor, and repeatedly having to ask my girlfriend who she is. No burnt toast, sorry mate! Though I do wish I was one of those people who did experience the “aura” or some form of forewarning. Max. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/6 "2003-12-29T00:26:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maxxxie \* > \*\ ***ElanMan** , I’ve never experienced this. The first thing I know about having a seizure is waking up on the floor, and repeatedly having to ask my girlfriend who she is. > > No burnt toast, sorry mate! Though I do wish I was one of those people who did experience the “aura” or some form of forewarning. > > Max. \*\* Yeah, I gotta say that when I said I had an aura, I was talking seconds, maybe split seconds of warning. Not really all that helpful to date. Glad I helped. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/7 "2003-12-29T00:46:12Z")
Like \*\* Maxxxie \*\*, my aura surrounding seizures involved waking up and wondering what the hell happened and why my back hurt so much. Seizure disorders come in many varieities. Many, many varieties. ---
**Author:** ![BurntToast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BurntToast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurntToast)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/8 "2003-12-29T06:37:49Z")
hey! i don’t smell that bad :rolleyes: i’ve alwase heard it was rotten fruit not burnt toast anyway. I thankfully have never had a seizure though so i cant say for sure what they smell like. ---
**Author:** ![phraser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e4f/32.png) [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/9 "2004-01-01T10:52:01Z")
I have a friend who reports the olfactory hallucination of the smell of orange peel before she has a seizure or a migrane, but this is not a trigger. ---
**Author:** ![xayoz306](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xayoz306](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xayoz306)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seizures-and-burnt-toast/221420/10 "2004-01-01T10:57:10Z")
The “burnt toast” smell comes from a public service announcement that aired up here in Canada for years. It is about a Canadian neurologist who is considered to have developed the “road map of the brain”. During the commercial, he is performing brain surgery ona woman who has epilepsy, and just before her seizures, she always smells burnt toast. It shows the doctor poking away, looking for the neurons and synapses taht trigger the burnt toast sensation. He pokes one spot, and she exclaims “Doctor, I smell it. I smell burnt toast!!” Although epilepsy is no laughing matter, the extremely poor production values of the commercial made the phrase “I smell burnt toast” a playground classic for years.