Seizures and Sean Paul

If you’ve ever read this blog you probably know I have seizures. I’m not shy about the whole thing and find it, while somewhat annoying, rather interesting. Today I read a seizure-related story that completely fascinated me and is an early contender for Best Headline of the Year. The headline is from a January 18th New York Post article and I can't believe I haven't heard this story until now:

HIP-HOP OP FIXED MY HEAD
Grand “Paul” Seizures Cured

The story is about a young woman from Queens who would drop into a grand mal seizure every time the rapper Sean Paul’s music would play, specifically the song “Temperature.” Of course, just to make matters worse, Sean Paul happened to be one of her favorite musicians and she was having up to ten seizures a day from listening to his music. Ten. I’ve had two seizures in one day a couple times and that put me in the hospital and wiped me out for days.

Eventually she made the connection, took her ipod to a doctor who was, of course, “skeptical,” dialed up some Sean Paul and promptly hit the deck.

Apparently it’s called musicogenic epilepsy and somewhere between 50 and 100 people have been diagnosed with it…ever. Her doctors removed a small, about 3-inch section, from her right, frontal lobe and everything’s okay now…she can listen to Sean Paul all she wants and nothing happens. Hasn’t had a seizure since.

I’ve been trying to identify all the things I was doing when I’ve had seizures to see if there is any pattern…once in the car with my mom, once while taking photos on the streets of Denver, in a girlfriend’s apartment, in a taxi, in the office…nothing seems to tie them together. So, I went to You Tube, found the video for Sean Paul’s “Temperature,” turned up the volume on my computer and hit play.

And while I can see how that song might give somebody a seizure, it didn’t work for me. Too bad.

The New York Post article is here, as well as a couple others here and here.