Hello all
I became Type I in 1983, started on a rapid-acting insulin, and for the following 20 years or so I had hypoglycaemia-induced seizures on an estimated average of every 18 months or so. Apart from one, which occurred during sleep, the others had two prominent factors in common (which would occur separately or combined): one factor was sunlight on the back of my neck shortly after injecting before a meal, or following a meal in which I had taken too few carbs; the other, which was much more common, was exposure to fluorescent lighting during a hypo (when I’d gone into a corner shop or pharmacy in search of sweet carbs that I should have been carrying in the first place) – I would wake up in an ambulance or in hospital. Please note that these seizures were always experienced during a hypo and almost all were due to exposure to fluorescent lighting during the hypo.
There are additional symptoms. I would typically be outside, BG dropping, hypo coming on, feeling a bit wobbly, light-headed, vision not perfect etc. If I then needed to obtain sweet carbs and went into a shop, those sensations would be massively intensified within a few seconds. If I couldn’t find cola or similar for a quick purchase and exit, I would try to read product nutrition labels and find that I could not focus well enough to make out the words – it would help quite a bit if I put a hand over one eye. The focusing symptom and the sudden, severe intensification of other symptoms only ever occurred in shops with fluorescent lighting and did not occur in daylight. In a corner shop I could usually manage to buy a can of cola and get out before a seizure took hold, but a supermarket or busy Boots was a trickier prospect.
The sun on the neck is something that I learned to deal with quickly. The fluorescent lighting-induced seizures I eventually managed to cut out by changing to a slower-acting insulin in 2002, so that any hypos would occur more gradually.
After the seizures ceased, I did eventually have another one in 2017. I had made a train journey in the morning and tested on arrival late morning – my BG was under 3, although I had not taken an injection and was running on background insulin only. I ate some glucogel and BG came up to 4.5 within a few minutes. I then went into a supermarket to buy some carbs, queued at the checkout 10 mins later and woke up in an ambulance. I remember the seizure starting and it was the same old story: fluorescent lighting. So that seizure occurred when my BG was 4.5 and rising. So I was either extremely sensitive to fluorescent lighting at that point, even though my BG was apparently rising above 4.5 a few minutes earlier, or the lighting lowered my blood sugar and thus induced the seizure. I learned 20 years ago to ask strangers to go into a shop for me, but in 2017 it had been so long since I'd had a seizure that I'd forgotten my own protocol.
Whatever the case, I have enquired with Diabetes UK's doctors, my own diabetes consultant, and epilepsy associations. They all say that they are unaware of any association between fluorescent lighting and hypoglycaemic seizures.
I would like to know if anyone else with diabetes has experienced hypoglycaemic fluorescent lighting-induced seizures. I can’t find any info on this online. The significant factor would not necessarily be whether you have had seizures that seem to be induced by fluorescent lighting, but whether your hypo gets worse when you enter a shop, or are already in a shop, that has fluorescent lighting.
I don't really need to know what the link with fluorescent lighting is; I'm just curious and believe there must be others with similar experience, but I've had no luck so far in tracking them down.
Best to all
Pablocity
I became Type I in 1983, started on a rapid-acting insulin, and for the following 20 years or so I had hypoglycaemia-induced seizures on an estimated average of every 18 months or so. Apart from one, which occurred during sleep, the others had two prominent factors in common (which would occur separately or combined): one factor was sunlight on the back of my neck shortly after injecting before a meal, or following a meal in which I had taken too few carbs; the other, which was much more common, was exposure to fluorescent lighting during a hypo (when I’d gone into a corner shop or pharmacy in search of sweet carbs that I should have been carrying in the first place) – I would wake up in an ambulance or in hospital. Please note that these seizures were always experienced during a hypo and almost all were due to exposure to fluorescent lighting during the hypo.
There are additional symptoms. I would typically be outside, BG dropping, hypo coming on, feeling a bit wobbly, light-headed, vision not perfect etc. If I then needed to obtain sweet carbs and went into a shop, those sensations would be massively intensified within a few seconds. If I couldn’t find cola or similar for a quick purchase and exit, I would try to read product nutrition labels and find that I could not focus well enough to make out the words – it would help quite a bit if I put a hand over one eye. The focusing symptom and the sudden, severe intensification of other symptoms only ever occurred in shops with fluorescent lighting and did not occur in daylight. In a corner shop I could usually manage to buy a can of cola and get out before a seizure took hold, but a supermarket or busy Boots was a trickier prospect.
The sun on the neck is something that I learned to deal with quickly. The fluorescent lighting-induced seizures I eventually managed to cut out by changing to a slower-acting insulin in 2002, so that any hypos would occur more gradually.
After the seizures ceased, I did eventually have another one in 2017. I had made a train journey in the morning and tested on arrival late morning – my BG was under 3, although I had not taken an injection and was running on background insulin only. I ate some glucogel and BG came up to 4.5 within a few minutes. I then went into a supermarket to buy some carbs, queued at the checkout 10 mins later and woke up in an ambulance. I remember the seizure starting and it was the same old story: fluorescent lighting. So that seizure occurred when my BG was 4.5 and rising. So I was either extremely sensitive to fluorescent lighting at that point, even though my BG was apparently rising above 4.5 a few minutes earlier, or the lighting lowered my blood sugar and thus induced the seizure. I learned 20 years ago to ask strangers to go into a shop for me, but in 2017 it had been so long since I'd had a seizure that I'd forgotten my own protocol.
Whatever the case, I have enquired with Diabetes UK's doctors, my own diabetes consultant, and epilepsy associations. They all say that they are unaware of any association between fluorescent lighting and hypoglycaemic seizures.
I would like to know if anyone else with diabetes has experienced hypoglycaemic fluorescent lighting-induced seizures. I can’t find any info on this online. The significant factor would not necessarily be whether you have had seizures that seem to be induced by fluorescent lighting, but whether your hypo gets worse when you enter a shop, or are already in a shop, that has fluorescent lighting.
I don't really need to know what the link with fluorescent lighting is; I'm just curious and believe there must be others with similar experience, but I've had no luck so far in tracking them down.
Best to all
Pablocity
