Can Eating Disorders Cause Seizures

Anorexia Can Lead To Malnutrition That Causes Brain Damage Learn How Eating Disorders Can Trigger Brain Damage

The body needs sufficient nutrients to function properly. Maintaining healthy amounts of vitamins and minerals can increase energy levels and promote cognitive functioning. However, failing to receive enough nutrients can be detrimental to the brain.

Anorexia is a mental health condition that involves compulsively restricting food intake. Because of a restricted diet, many people with anorexia experience cognitive problems. In extreme cases, anorexia can cause brain damage.

Research has shown that starvation caused by anorexia can lead to brain damage. A 2007 study published in the McGill Journal of Medicine examined the effects of anorexia in a 17-year-old girl.

The studys authors stated that severe weight loss can deteriorate both white and gray matter in the brain. They also explained that while white matter typically returns to healthy levels upon weight restoration, loss of gray matter can persist. A separate study, found that the loss of gray matter can bring about depression, schizophrenia and addiction.

Medications That Can Trigger Seizures In Dogs

Believe it or not, a dogs medications can sometimes trigger seizures as well. These include vaccinations, heartworm medications, flea and tick preventative medications and some other prescription medications. If your dog has a seizure shortly after beginning a new medication, you should make af note of this when you see your veterinarian.

What Are The Risk Factors For Anorexia

People most at risk for anorexia include those who are young and female. They may have a history of being depressed, anxious, or having obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those at risk may have family members with eating disorders, mental illness, or substance abuse.

Some personal traits may contribute to anorexia. People at risk may feel that they must try to be perfect. They may have poor self-esteem and rigid ways of thinking about food and other issues in their lives. They may feel pressure to be thin. Taking part in certain sports or activities in which they are expected to be thin, such as gymnastics or ballet, could contribute to this feeling.

Also Check: Psychology Behind Eating Disorders

Do Vitamin Deficiencies Cause Or Worsen Seizures

The only vitamin deficiency known to cause or worsen seizures is a deficiency of vitamin B6 . This deficiency occurs mainly in newborns and infants and causes seizures that are hard to control. In some cases, the doctor may give the baby the vitamin through an IV while recording the EEG. If the EEG improves dramatically, that shows that there is a B6 deficiency. Some doctors may also try vitamin B6 in older children with difficult-to-control seizures, but there is no solid evidence that it will be helpful.

Learn More About Anorexia Nervosa Treatment Today

Recognized as one of the leading eating disorders treatment centers in the U.S., Clementinetakes a holistic, integrated approach to addressing the many mental and physical issues affecting adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa. We also focus on treating dual diagnosis disorders with professionally developed therapeutic programs personalized to exceed the needs of individual patients. Our comprehensive biopsychosocial model supporting a variety of experiential and cognitive behavioral therapies works to improve a patients physical wellness, mental health, self-esteem and relationships with parents, siblings, and friends. for more information about our residential treatment centers.

Don’t Miss: Feretrophobia Define

Seizures Sometimes Misdiagnosed For Tic Disorders

Tic disorders are constant presence of tics. These tics are repetitive involuntary movement and sounds that has been depicted as caricatures of common physical acts.

Seizures especially the grand mal/tonic clonic/generalized seizures are sometimes misdiagnosed with tic disorders. Some brief and rapid seizures imitate tic disorder as tics also produce repetitive involuntary movements. Many of the time it goes very difficult to say whether the disorder is a tic or a petit mal or a grand mal seizure when frequency reaches up to 30 or 40 times a day.

Triggers Of Dog Seizures Around Your Home

Your dogs environment involves more than just whats outside it also includes your home. Dogs, like humans, are both physically and emotionally sensitive creatures. Something like photosensitivity can trigger a seizure in dogs just like it can in humans. Photosensitivity refers to flashing or bright lights.

Other factors considered household items that can potentially trigger seizures in dogs include scented candles, perfumes, loud music, and cigarette smoke. Popular household products are also potential triggers. These include Pine Sol or any other cleaners with pine oil, kerosene, camphor, eucalyptus, borax or boric acid, deck and wall stains, polyurethane fumes, paint fumes and Swiffer chemicals.

What you can do: Since none of the items listed above are absolutely necessary to maintain a home, you can choose to eliminate them entirely from your dogs environment. Otherwise, try and keep them to a minimum, or remove the dog from the area when you use one of the harmful products or items.

Try not to use any products with strong aromas around your dog and dont do home projects with your dog nearby. Dogs are curious creatures and are bound to get into whatever it is that you are working on or working with.

You May Like: What Are The Three Stages Of Schizophrenia

What Health Problems Can Anorexia Cause

Serious health problems that occur with anorexia include

• . Heart problems, such as abnormal heart rhythms or heart failure
• . Dehydration and malnutrition, which can lead to fainting, seizures, or pancreatitis
• . Anemia
• . Tooth decay and/or gum infections

Serious health problems also can occur if a person who has been starving starts taking in too many calories too quickly . These problems can include heart failure, serious breathing problems, seizures, and even sudden death.

Some people can also have mental health problems, such as thinking about or attempting suicide.

Psychiatric Disorders In Children And Adolescents

Children with sleepwalking disorder sometimes have seizures when they grow older. These children are not exactly a victim of sleep disorder but they have problem similar to sleepwalking. One of them is psychiatric disorders. The psychiatric disorder is basically a mental disorder that affects the behavior and living of a person. The psychiatric disorder is also known as mental health illnesses. This mental disorder is very common in United States and have affected almost one fifth of population at some point of their life. In the psychiatric disorder the patient rarely get violent and are generally not advised to be institutionalized.

Children who undergo psychiatric disorders may also have petit mal/absence seizures as these disorders not only affect their mental states but also the activities that are connected with brain and may cause seizure.

You May Like: Is Tequila A Stimulant Or Depressant

Anxiety Disorder And Seizure

In this disorder children adversely respond to some situations or things. They show some fear or dread. You may notice excessive sweating and rapid heartbeat. The anxiety disorder occurs with the excessive formation of stress hormones . Non epileptic seizure when there is too much anxiety due to increased level of stress hormones in the brain.

Foods To Limit Or Avoid

If your doctor encourages a ketogenic diet, work with them to determine the best foods for you. In general, here are some high-carb foods to leave out of your epilepsy diet menu, per the Mayo Clinic:

• Breads and pastas
• Baked goods and other sweets
• Starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn
• Legumes
• Most fruits, like bananas, pineapples, grapes and apples

Choose Healthy Fats

The ketogenic diet includes a lot of saturated fats, which in excess can contribute to other health problems like high cholesterol and heart disease. Prioritize healthy sources of fat by limiting your saturated fat intake to no more than 7 percent of your daily calories, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

Depending on your sex, here are the recommended amount of calories from saturated fat per day based on the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

• AFAB: 126 to 168 calories
• AMAB: 168 to 210 calories

Also Check: Phobia Mean

How Does Anorexia Affect Hormone Health

Anorexia can lead to low bone density, meaning weak bones. When growing teenagers have weak bones, they may end up with weak bones for life, even if they recover from anorexia. Their risk for fractures may increase.

Other hormone problems include

• . Delayed puberty and/or growth failure in preteens and teens
• . Amenorrhea
• . Too little estrogen in women, causing vaginal dryness and reduced fertility

Epileptic Disorders And Connecting To The Appropriate Treatment

If you are struggling with both an eating disorder and epilepsy, know that you are not alone. There is comprehensive treatment available to help support you through the many complex issues you might be facing.

It is important to seek out appropriate specialists who can collaborate together for your treatment. Having a neurologist who can also interface with an eating disorder treatment team will offer the comprehensive care needed to address both of these crucial issues at hand.

Never try to take matters in your own hand, especially when it comes to medication management, as epilepsy is something that should be monitored by a qualified physician.

If your eating disorder is more problematic, it may be helpful to seek out the care of a treatment team, who can also help address the medical concerns you are facing.

You May Like: What Are The Three Stages Of Schizophrenia

Extracranial Causes Of Seizures In Dogs

Extracranial causes of seizures are the causes that originate elsewhere in the body but are still able to affect the dog’s brain and cause seizure activity. The seizure occurs because either the metabolism or the electrophysiology of the brain is changed by the disease.

In most extracranial cases of seizures, the entire cerebral cortex is affected resulting in a generalized seizure rather than a focal or partial seizure. The most common extracranial causes of canine seizures are:

• Hypoglycemia
• Liver disease
• Hypocalcemia
• Hypothyroidism
• Poisons, including organophosphates, chocolate , caffeine, strychnine, and others
• Hyperthermia
• Toxoplasma

Can A Dog Eating Chocolate Cause Uti

The toxic compounds in chocolate are methylxanthines, which include theobromine and caffeine. These stimulants are fine in people, but in dogs it will negatively affect a dog’s central nervous system, heart and urinary tract.

9 other answers

For most people, the only danger of overindulgence is an expanding waistline. But for dogs, eating chocolate can cause seizures and death. Since chocolate tastes as good to Fido as it does to us, it’s easy for your pet to quickly swallow a dangerous amount.

We did not have the internet in those days and so it took years for me to make the connection between chocolate consumption and canine seizures. Today, almost everyone knows that chocolate can cause not only seizures, but other serious neurological disorders in dogs.

But if your dog consumes a large amount of chocolate or if you have a small dog who consumes chocolate, then they may develop the following signs of chocolate toxicity: Seizures Tremors Irregular heart rate Heart attack Internal bleeding

Dark chocolate. Rodenticides/Insecticides. Metaldehyde. Bifenthrin. Strychnine. Zinc phosphide. 4-Aminopyridine. Illicit Drugs. Cocaine. Amphetamines. Cannabis. Synthetic cannabinoids. Miscellaneous. Ethylene glycol. Mycotoxins. Bee sting envenomation. Homemade play dough or salt dough. More Lifesaving Resources. Most common toxic causes of seizures in cats

Also Check: What Is The Meaning Of Phobia

How Eating Disorders Affect The Neurobiology Of The Brain

Our physical and mental health, relationships, and day-to-day life are all affected and challenged by disordered eating habits pervasive nature. When someone suffers from an eating disorder, the risk of health consequences, such as brain damage, could occur. Disrupted eating behaviors negatively affect adequate nutrition absorption thus, the brain does not get the nutrients it needs to function properly. This is especially concerning in adolescents, as brain development occurs through early adulthood meaning that significant periods of growth could be disrupted.

Eating disorders and neuro-damage

Scientists, doctors, and psychologists are discovering more about how eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder affect our brain. While there is still much to be learned, it is very clear that a patients nervous system is negatively impacted when they have restrictive behaviors. Research has found that eating disorders may cause:

Does it get better?

Given all that our brain does for us, research like this is scary to read. There is hope, however, in the fact that many scientists believe that at least some of what was lost can be restored. Health organizations such as the Mayo Clinic or the National Institutes of Health hold opinions that vary on the subject, but all maintain that damage reversal is attainable.

The type of eating disorder, however, does not influence levels of neuro-disruption or amount of damage reversal possible.

Giving it time

Immediate Physical Signs Of Anorexia Nervosa

Food deprivation has a range of physical effects as the body struggles to cope with insufficient nutrients and calories.

Anorexia sufferers can suffer some or all of the following:

• Constipation
• Poor circulation resulting in feeling constantly cold
• Dry, yellow coloured skin
• People with anorexia often develop long, fine downy hair on face and body
• Disrupted menstrual cycles or no periods at all

Recommended Reading: Phobia Of Vomiting Treatment

Dog Food Causing Seizures: Understanding

Dogs are usually cheerful and active, especially when around their owners. This precedent makes a sudden change in their demeanor alarming. It could be terrifying for a pet owner to witness their dog switch from energetic and attentive to confused and unstable. When your dog suddenly drops to the floor while shaking uncontrollably, it could be that a seizure is occurring.

Most owners wouldnt know what to do, especially if there are no easily identifiable causes, and your dog has no known health conditions. If such a situation happens to you, are you prepared to execute the necessary measures to save your dogs life? Do you know the possible causes of dog seizures and how to avoid them? This article will tackle all of that and more.

Causes And Signs Of Dog Seizures

Several reasons can cause seizures in dogs. If its an existing condition, you may have heard your vet refer to these episodes as epilepsy. Caused by sudden and irregular electrical bursts in the brain, it is similar to what happens when humans experience seizures. This condition in dogs is characterized by uncontrollable shaking or twitching that may last one whole minute or even more.

Symptoms of seizures in dogs may include jerking, loss of consciousness, drooling, stiffening of muscles, chomping, tongue chewing, and foaming at the mouth. In some cases, you will also see dogs that fall on their sides while making paddling motions with their limbs. Witnessing your dog like this, especially if its their first seizure, is both disheartening and terrifying. Additional behaviors during an episode may sometimes include uncontrolled pooping or peeing.

In other cases, dogs will exhibit a dazed or confused state before having a seizure. After the episode, the dog may seem unsteady, disoriented, and temporarily blind. Such an experience may confuse or frighten your pet, urging him to go into hiding. The confusion might also cause your pet to bump into things accidentally or move in circles uncontrollably. Do not aggravate your pets further by invading their space or touching them.

Also Check: What Is A Phobia Of Spoons Called

Similarity Between Pervasive Development Disorders And Absence Seizures

The Pervasive development disorders or PDD is characterized through confused state or delay in recognizing the world around them. Its symptoms include understanding languages, events or people. Absence seizure has been closely associated with language regression in acquired epileptic aphasia. Children with pervasive development disorders may have unprovoked seizures or petit mal/absence seizures.

Ketogenic Diet For Seizure Control

Some doctors recommend the very-low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet to help manage seizures, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Though the trendy diet is typically touted for weight loss, it’s been used to treat epilepsy since the 1920s, per an October 2019 review in Nutrients. Today, it’s still used to reduce seizures, especially in children with drug-resistant epilepsy, per a January 2018 review in Current Neuropharmacology.

The idea behind the diet is to train your body to burn fat for energy instead of carbs, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of fuel. But when you significantly decrease your carb intake on the keto diet, your body instead burns fat to create ketones to use for energy.

This focus on fats may alter your brain’s “excitability,” which may in turn lower your risk for seizures, per the Cleveland Clinic. In fact, the Cleveland Clinic reports that about half of children who tried the keto diet had a 50 percent reduction in seizures though it’s important to note that this is a link, not necessarily the cause.

However, the keto diet is restrictive and can be difficult to follow long-term, which is why it’s typically only used under medical supervision as an anti-seizure diet for children. Otherwise, following such a low-carb diet can lead to nutrient deficiencies, liver and kidney problems and trouble thinking, according to Harvard Health Publishing, so it’s best to only try keto if your doctor recommends it.

Also Check: Is Tequila A Stimulant

Schizophrenia Treatments And Petit Mal Seizures

This is uncommon but a serious psychiatric illness that shows strange thinking, abnormal feeling and also very abnormal behavior. Absence or petit mal seizures symptoms such as:

• smelling something different
• feeling of unease
• speech disorders

mimic the symptoms of schizophrenia may lead the physician to suspect a diagnosis for the schizophrenia. However, petit mal seizures may happen as a side effect of the drug recommended treating schizophrenia.

Eating Disorder Health Problems And Complications

Eating disorder health problems and complications are more common, and more deadly, than many people think. Both anorexia and bulimia can cause serious eating disorder health problems including heart failure and rupturing of the intestinal area, either of which can result in death.

Unfortunately, because eating disorders are constantly glamorized by society, many aren’t even aware of the internal and external eating disorder health problems that inevitably occur from these mental illnesses. Hopefully, this list of eating disorder health problems will help you, or someone you know, see why it’s important to get help for an eating disorder as soon as possible.

Don’t Miss: What Are The Three Stages Of Schizophrenia