#ictal

[i-eat-worlds]

Whumpcember Day 22-Seizures

@whumpcember

cw: seizures, whump of a minor (17), medicinal drug use, medical stuff

“Hey, Pat, it’s me, Joseph,” he said as he knocked on her door. “It’s time for your bandage change.

There wasn’t any noise from the other side, none of the normal shuffling to the door. It was dead silent.

“Pat?” he tried again, a little louder. Maybe she was just asleep, but the nerves started to build anyway. “You’re allowed to say no, but I want to make sure you’re okay.” Still no response. “Pat?”

He let a beat of silence pass, waiting for a response. “Are you okay? If you don’t want me to come in I won’t, but can you tell me that you’re okay?”

Once again, his questions went unanswered. He sighed, placing his hand on the handle. “I’m gonna come in, okay?”

He opened the door just a crack, peeking in. He’d promised her privacy, and he was going to do his best to keep that promise. When he looked through the crack, he saw Pat convulsing on her bed.

Immediately, he shoved the door open. “Henle!” He called down the hallway as he rushed to her side. “Pat’s seizing!”

He carefully turned her onto her side, checking his watch. Who knew how long she’d been seizing for.

Henle came as quick as they could, a medical bag hanging off their shoulder. “How long?” they asked, digging the midazolam out the bag.

“Don’t know,” he said, moving his arm out of the way. “Have you called the medbay?”

“Pushed the emergency button, they’ll want details though.” They inserted the syringe into her nose and pushed the drugs.

It took a minute, but the convulsions slowly started to taper off. She slowly started to return to consciousness, groaning as she opened her eyes. “Wh-what happened?”

“You had a seizure,” Joseph said, “Henle’s also here, he’s talking to the medbay right now.”

“M’ head hurts,” she grumbled, reaching out her hand towards him.

He took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “I know it sucks. Have you ever had a seizure before?”

She nodded slowly. “Bu-but not since McIntryre.” Her voice was slowly and shaky. “Please, ‘m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” he comforted, then turned to Henle. “Think the seizures might be caused by the restrictor cuffs.”

“Me too,” Henle said, relaying the information over to medbay.

Pat mumbled something, and Joseph turned back around. “What was that?”

“I-I feel like ‘m gonna throw up,” she said, squeezing her eyes closed. “Cn I sit up?”

“It’s okay, yeah. You want help?” Hopefully, the desire to move meant she was feeling better.

“I’m okay,” she said, using her elbows to prop herself up before sitting all the way. After she sat up, she slumped forward, obviously exhausted.

Henle put their phone down. “They're nearly here.”

“Do I have to go to the medbay?” she asked sleepily. “I’m tired.”

“Yeah, I know it sucks,” he said. “It’s important we get you checked out, yeah?”

“Okay,” she mumbled, pulling her knees into her chest.

“Hey, me and Henle got your back, kid,” he squeezed her shoulder.

“Thank you,” she sniffled.

“Always kid, always.”

Taglist: @pigeonwhumps @rainydaywhump

[healingskywalker]

Hello it's @clone-anon

Tech comm'd you as he was headed home with his brothers and Omega. He was concerned when you flat out told him about how you'd been feeling over the last day. Once he landed, he said goodbye to his siblings and headed to your home. He knew the code to the door, of course, and let himself in. He found you on the sofa, feeling queezy and holding your head.

"Cyare," he said softly, taking off his armor and sitting next to you. An exhausted smile made its way onto your face. He pulled out a medpatch to help your headache and applied it. He sat down on the other end of the couch and pulled you into his arms. After a few minutes of simply holding you, he asked, "What do you need? Have you eaten?"

You shook your head. You weren't sure about eating right now, but also knew you needed to have something.

"Just stay with me," you asked.

"Of course," he replied.

You relaxed against him, nearly falling asleep. Your headache was better and this helped your other symptoms. When you felt ready, Tech got you some food that would be easy on your stomach, not wanting you to over do it. You ended up spending the night on the couch together, falling asleep on his chest and feeling glad he was back.

Ugh, oh my God, I love you so much. You always write the cutest and sweetest little drabbles, and they make my heart feel better 😭💜 brain is soup, but I appreciate you so so much, sweetheart

[caffeinatedopossum]

I just realized that for some reason whenever I have a seizure, all of my thoughts stop EXCEPT the music?? Which is odd. Like my brain went "ope- we're getting a different caller please hold" *queue the hold music*

[mycological-mariner]

Pre/Post ictal depression can die

[lifblogs]

Why do I never see anyone talking about the main character in Fourth Wing having EDS because the author does? Like, come on, that’s a big deal!

[kissmefriendly]

I just wanna see something

[sjweminem]

each day and night when i take my 1000 prescriptions the back of my mind says "you should stop taking your seizure medications just to see what happens" as if i don't know What would happen if i stopped taking my Seizure Medications..i'd suddenly find myself getting hauled out of my bedroom and into an ambulance AGAIN where the EMTs will dunk on me for my gay ass posters AGAIN

[izanyas]

Hello. I just saw your post about the epilepsy surgery 🥺 I'm very sorry you have to suffer like this and cannot get rid of the illness for good without damaging your life... is there no other method available? Some type of intervention/therapy that can help?

In the mean time, are you alright? Like, tge medicine that you are taking now is it working?

I hope i dont come across as too nosy. Wish you all the best! 💝

aw you are so sweet... my treatment works very well, the only issue is that if i forget to take it even for just one or two days, the withdrawals trigger seizures, including grand mal ones. i hate depending on meds like this which is why i'm in a dilemma haha

unfortunately therapy is no use for epilepsy since it's a neurological disorder, not a mental illness. my brain just fries itself sometimes for no reason. youve never seen a rave as epic as my neurons when the seizure starts

but i'm fine! i've had this illness since 2018, got diagnosed in 2020, and since then it's definitely improved. i used to get up to 3 seizures a day, now i almost never get any except if i'm excruciatingly tired or stressed or if i forget my meds. there's still symptoms outside of the seizures unfortunately (sleep issues... i sleep for hours any time i lie down) but it's manageable.

sorry for babbling i'm always wordvomiting about epilepsy because 1) i hate having it 2) i am so fascinated by it my neurologist has to give me full lectures every time i see him before my curiosity is satisfied

here if you're curious about the kind of seizures i get. epilepsy is insane

[theyellowrosecollective]

I wish my body would stop falling apart... 3 days of confusion... no memory of it... thinking you are waking up on Tuesday morning after going to bed on Monday and really it's mid was through Thursday? It's terrifying

[valcaira]

i hate you if you not tag flashing images correctly fuck you fuck you

[cripplecharacters]

I searched your blog and didn't find this, so if it's already been answered I'm sorry!

I'm writing a character who has photosensitive epileptic seizures and I was wondering if you have any tips on describing the experience of having a seizure?

My sister has them so I know what hers look like, but I've never had an epileptic seizure myself. Is it a painful experience? Is it more like fainting? What does the post-ictal phase feel like?

I know seizures can look different for everyone so rest assured this will not be my only source :)

Hello!

You're right that seizures are different for everyone, especially considering how many different types of seizures there are.

My last (Confirmed) seizure was several years ago. I have had some... "episodes" (For lack of a better term) that we're unsure if they were seizures or something else more recently but I'll be answering this with my confirmed seizures in mind.

I has epilepsy as a child and mostly had grand-mal/tonic-clonic seizures from what I've been told. For me, I experienced an aura anywhere from 5-10 minutes before the "main" seizure itself. This aura was usually a strange feeling in my head (Almost a tightness or pressure but feeling very loose as well? It's difficult to explain) with a rubbery taste in my mouth.

I can't say much about when the "main" seizure was actually happening as, for me, I wasn't really aware during it.

As somebody who faints... embarrassingly often, however, I can say confidently that it doesn't feel like fainting (At least for me). With fainting, I can feel myself starting to 'go' (My ears begin to ring and I feel almost like I'm fading out) and then I faint and it feels like I wake up almost instantly, even when it's been several minutes. For my seizures, it felt more like a blurred passage of time. I was an aware to an extent, I think, but not in the way it's usually defined (As being aware of your surroundings), it just wasn't like I was unconscious/asleep.

For me, I hated the postictal period the most. My seizures were usually accompanied by a loss of control over my bladder and would occasionally make me... not throw up, really, but almost spit up a bit. I'd usually wake up feeling incredibly tired and grumpy and usually ended up crying. The crying wasn't tied to any particular feeling, it was more of a physical response. And though I can now acknowledge that it's nothing to be embarrassed about, as a kid it was all pretty humiliating for me.

Just as a side note, my boyfriend also has seizures currently but not from epilepsy. I've been with him during his periods after the seizure before and he usually ends up acting like a kid, for lack of a better term. He cries a lot and is very disoriented but he's also very easily distracted. There have been several occasions where he's played with my keys for a few minutes before he comes back to it. He doesn't experience the same grumpiness and deep exhaustion that I did, though he has said that they make him feel very sleepy.

Although I didn't find the seizures themselves to be painful at all, there were several occasions where I ended up hurting myself during one. Usually this was hitting my head when I fell or during the actual jerking of the seizure but there have been other times when I had bruises or sore muscles afterwards. Given how young I was when I was having these kinds of seizures, I don't fully recall how the sore muscles/injuries felt as they didn't have as much of an impact on me as the seizures themselves.

After a seizure, I'd end up sleeping for anywhere from a couple hours to the rest of the day. I think part of it was the emotional exhaustion of a seizure while another part was the physical.

Now, I did speak a lot about the grand-mal seizures I experienced but I did also (And actually may still) have absence seizures as well.

A few years ago my seizures came back briefly and, despite my neurologist's best efforts, we couldn't figure out why. I'm not entirely sure how to classify them now but I was mostly aware during them and, from what's been described to me, my head was nodding up and down (To the point where it was all the way back), my eyes were rolled up into my head, and my eyelids were fluttering. I didn't experience any of the side-effects of my grand-mal seizures (Ex: Peeing myself, spitting up, crying, etc.) during these and I also don't know if I fell or not because when I had them, I was generally sitting down somewhere.

During these, my vision was flashes of colour/shapes and just generally what you'd expect from having your eyes rolled up and your eyelids fluttering. I was still aware that things were happening around me but I couldn't really process it the same way. I could hear people speaking but couldn't understand what they were saying.

You did mention looking into other sources for this and I'd definitely recommend doing that. These are just my (And, briefly, my boyfriend's) experiences and there are so many different experiences of seizures and epilepsy in general.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

Hi lovely asker!

I have absence seizures and myoclonic ones so I'll add on my two cents as well (Cover more of the seizure spectrum here 😁).

For absence seizures for me its mostly just a complete blank space of time. There's one moment where I'm walking, talking, doing whatever and then the next thing I know I look around and usually like 30-ish seconds has past. If I was having a conversation and the person I'm talking to kept talking, I'm not aware of any of what they said when I was having the seizure. It's kinda like someone turns my brain off for a quick restart and then turns it back on again.

If there is nothing physical around me indicating of a passage of time. (Ex. Someone talking, I looked at the clock right before it happened, any living object that moves around) then I most likely won't know I had the seizure. Sometimes I have a little feeling because I often get headaches leading up to my absence seizures but other than that they're painless and more so there is that panic feeling of losing track of time. I'm usually just disoriented because of that sudden missing frame of time. I'll kinda look around, try to get my bearings, see what happened, if anything's changed etc.

Myoclonic ones really depend on how aggressive they are. They can be big (a whole side of my body will twitch) or itty bitty baby ones (my fingers twitch or I can feel certain muscles twitching). Kinda like with Tonic-Clonic seizures, all the muscles involved will contract on me and it's painful. Often times they're more annoying and frustrating than painful (trying to eat breakfast one time and let's just say my eggs ended up across the room).

They can cause my legs to jerk too which if I'm walking will make me just suddenly fall as my legs give out. Sometimes they can just happen as one, or they can cluster and that means that multiple happen in a row. When they cluster, they're often more painful because my muscles are contracting so many times. If I fall like I mention I often hurt myself because I just completely fall to the ground (not like fainting, I'm conscious and alert and I can move my arms and torso, it's usually just my legs that are the problem.)

Leading up to my myoclonic seizures sometimes I get really really really bad tremors that worsen with movement to the point where If it's my legs then I can't stand or walk (trusty old wheelchair). And if it's my upper body than my hands have very little use to me so things like eating, changing (buttons my enemy), writing, and pressing buttons is very hard to do (also I will add that I just have very clumsy dexterity in general so the tremors certainly don't help but yeah XD)

For all my seizures in general I get very light sensitive afterwards and my lovely doctors and nurses have told me it's because my pupils get completely blown and then constrict and they do this rapidly and it's often paired with nystagmus. So my Post-ictal is usually more just being sore, my head hurts, my eyes are very sensitive and usually the nystagmus is what lingers on the longest.

For tonic-clonic seizures (which I won't go into much because Icarus already did) they're the most painful for me and it usually hurts to move afterwards. I usually start to mumble and can't talk when they're about to happen it's just a lot of "um's" and "uh" and I can't form any words. I start to rub my hands over my body because my skin gets this tingly feeling, and I start to kinda look around frantically because again my anxiety does no help. During the seizure I'm usually in and out of consciousness so it's black and then I'll hear or see something for a split moment and then black again and yeah so on and so forth but I can remember bits and pieces (that I'm conscious for that is). Everything usually sounds really far away like I'm under water and my vision of what I can see is very blurry and there is usually like ten of the same person.

Very rarely i've stopped breathing during my Tonic-Clonic and with those they're usually not as painful (don't ask me why) but they are. Granted that initial struggle to breath again is a bit jarring but in my opinion these are a lot more traumatizing for the people around me than me myself.

Alrighty, hopefully this is of some help lovely person! As Icarus said this varies very wildly person to person and seizure to seizure so yeah. Have fun writing!

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

The Grand A-Z List of Whump 2/3

This list contains ~174 items listed I to Q

As always, I heavily encourage people to research topics thoroughly when writing as it is important to avoid stereotypes/misinformation. This list's intention is not to glorify/romanticise sensitive topics in any way.

This is a comprehensive list of injuries, Illnesses and tropes - including those from the Whumptober 2023 trope vote!

All submissions are listed in italics, and those who wanted to be tagged will be included at the end. If you have any more submissions: please send them via DM/my ask box.

[A-H] [R-Z] [NSFW List]

List below the cut:

I

ICU

Identity reveal

Ignorance is Bliss

Ignoring an Injury

Immersion foot syndromes (Prolonged exposure to damp and cold)

Immobilization

Immortal healed wrong

Immunodeficiency

Impalement

Improvised medicine/treatment

Indigestion

Infected (Blood, Wound, Tattoo etc)

Infested

Injured caretaker carrying an even more injured whumpee.

Injured whumpee instructs caretaker how to treat them.

Injury Discovery

Injury Revelation

Insecurity

Insomnia

Insults

Internal Bleeding

Interrogation

Interventions

Intimate whumper

Intubation

Involuntary whumper

Isolation

Isolation/Quarantine

Itching

J

Jailed

Jamais vu (The experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar.)

Jealousy

Jet Lag

Jumping (to safety, forced to jump)

Just dying in general.

K

Keeping quiet because the enemy is nearby

Keeping the whumpee awake

Ketosis (body burning fat for energy)

Kidnapped by the opposing team

Kidnapping

Kidney Stones

Killed! (Again and again and again for the lovely immortal whumpees<;3)

Kneeling

Knife through hand and into wall/floor

Knocked Out

L

Lab Rat

Laryngitis

Late realisation

Left for dead

Leprosy

Lichenberg scars/Lightning strike

Limited Medical Supplies

Live-Streamed/Broadcast torture

Lobotomy

Locked Up and Left Behind

Losing a Bet

Loss of appetite

Loss of reality

Lost (In the woods, city etc)

Lost voice

Low Blood Pressure

Lumbago (lower back pain)

Lupus

Lured into a trap

Lying

Lyme's disease

Lymphoma

M

Magical exhaustion

Magical healing

Magic whump (using spells to harm someone)

Manhandling

Major Character Death

Makeshift Splints

Malaria

Malnutrition

Manhandling

Mauled

Measles

Medical trauma

Medieval Torture

Memory Loss

Meningitis

Menstrual Cramps

Mental illness after being kidnapping (and addressing it)

Migraine

Military lovers

Military whump

Mind control/Manipulation

Miscommunication

Missing

Missing Person

Mistaken Identity

Misunderstanding

Mono

Mopping a sweaty brow with a cool cloth

Mudslides

Muffled Scream

Mugging

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Whumpees

Multiple Whumpers

Mumps

Muscular Atrophy

Mute

Muzzled

N

Nailed to a wall or floor

Nails digging into palms

Nail marks left in the whumpees skin

Natural Disasters

Nausea

Near-Death Experience

Necrosis

Neglect

Nerve damage

Nerve pain

Nightmares

No anesthesia

No goodbyes

Non-responsiveness

Nonhuman whumpee

Not allowed to die

Not Realizing They’re Injured

Nowhere else to go

Noxious (gas/fumes)

Numb

Numbness/Paralysis

O

Obsession (with finishing the mission, the whumper obsessed with the whumpee etc)

Open Fracture

Orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure when standing)

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease)

Outnumbered

Overdose

Overworked

Oxygen Deprivation

Oxygen Mask

P

Packing a wound

Panic attacks

Paralysis (this could be temporary or permanent)

Paranoia

Parent caring for sick child

Parkinson's

Passing out from pain

Passing out in arms

Permanent injuries that affect them long term

Phantom pain

Phobias (could lead to character stumbling and hurting themselves in an attempt to escape their fear)

Photographs/Polaroids ( Especially if they're of the kidnapped whumpee)

Physical Therapy

Piercing ripped out

Pinched nerve

Pinned Down/To The Wall

Plague

PMS

Pneumonia

Pneumothorax

Poisoning

Polio

Possession/possession recovery

Post-exertional malaise

Post-ictal confusion/any other symptoms (after a seizure)

POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

Power Fatigue

Praise (especially if it's from the whumper)

Pregnancy (morning sickness, self-conscious, hot flushes, tired and sleepy, general malaise, swollen feet, weird cravings...)

Presumed dead

Prisoner Exchange

Protecting friend from the whumpees own team (bonus points if doing it while injured)

Psychological Torture

Psychological Whump

Psychosis

PTSD

Pulled Muscles

Puncture Wounds

Q

Q-Fever

TAG LIST: Thank you very much to the following people for submitting ideas! (I apologise if some tags did not work, I'm not sure why tumblrs not letting me tag you!)

@I-eat-worlds | @greygullhaven | @letsgowhump | @cyberwhumper @firapolemos05 | @originaldeerhottub | @whumpilicious | @drawing-dinos82 | @carenrose | @stellarinuscronicles | @gottheseasonalblues | @marvelflame2010 | @sowhumpful | @avamcu | @courtneygacha | @lordofthewhumps | @autismmydearwatson | @kuddelmuddell | @the-most-handsome-ginger | @whirls-and-swirls | @painsandconfusion

[morganbritton132]

PLEASE ELABORATE ON THE BRACELET WITH EDDIES NUMBER ON IT

Was there a time Steve sleepwalked and someone did call Eddie? Was there another time it came in handy when Steve lost Eddie (or Eddie lost Steve) or something other?? Please I need more that is so cute

Just a warning, I made this sad for no reason.

Once when Steve went on tour with Eddie, he wandered off in a post-ictal fog and ended up lost in the city. It took them a few hours to find each other because Steve didn’t know where he was nor did he have any money on him. After that, he would write the phone number of Eddie’s manager on his arm since he was the only guy on tour with a cell phone.

Pat, Eddie’s manager, wasn’t thrilled with this arrangement because he didn’t particularly like Steve, but after Steve channeled the coldest version of his mother and reminded Pat that only one of them was replaceable – “And managers are a dime of dozen” – he begrudgingly agreed.

He was never called.

Steve actually got the idea for the bracelet from one of his second graders.

After a pretty bad allergic reaction, one of his students came back to school with a little silver bracelet on her wrist. It had her mother’s phone number on it and the words ‘Peanut Allergy.’ She smiled up at Steve when she showed him and said, “My mama says this will keep me safe!”

He smiles too, “I bet it will.”

The bracelet is a surprise that Steve never gets to tell Eddie about. The day it comes in the mail, Eddie is over at Gareth’s for a D&D campaign so Steve never even gets the chance to tell him. He goes to bed before Eddie gets home and wakes up in the Emergency Room.

He’s cold and his feet hurt, and there are cuts on his hands and medical tape on his face, and for a second, he thinks he’s in the backseat of a blue Camaro with the world’s most reckless driver. He tries to sit up and it sets up an alarm and then there’s a hand in his, squeezing it.

It takes Steve a second to recognize the rings, to follow the rings up an arm, up to big eyes and messy curls, and Steve breaths out the only thing he can think, “Wow.”

“Wowza, big boy,” Eddie grins back at him, and Steve loves him. “How are you feeling?”

“Did something happen?”

“Yeah, uh. Sleepwalking again,” Eddie hums and then he smiles again. He taps a ring on his free hand against the metal bracelet on Steve’s wrist, “This is fucking brilliant, by the way. Did you think of it?”

Steve’s jaw kinda hurts like he’s been clenching it, but he smiles anyways, “Yeah.”

“You’re a genius, babe. They called me immediately,” He says, kissing his knuckles. Steve frowns, seeing a bruise there. Eddie notices and his grin takes on a chaotic edge, “You punched a security guard.”

“What?”

“For real, babe,” Eddie laughs at the panicked look on his face. “I don’t know what they did to trigger you, but you fuckin’ decked one of ‘em.”

“Oh my god, I’m going to jail.”

“Nah, it’s all good. I took care of it,” Eddie says and then to the skeptical look on Steve’s face, he rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine. The guy is a fan and I gave him tickets not to press charges. Also, he feels pretty bad about spooking you since you clearly weren’t in your right mind.”

“Was in my left mind then?” Steve half-jokes, half-yawns. “Who brought me in?”

“You did.” Eddie’s smile dims in a way that’s a little sad but full of love. “You came here on your own actually – without shoes. We’re gonna have to teach your left mind about shoes – and, uh. Based on what I’ve heard, you were looking for a patient.”

“A patient? What patient?”

“They, uh. They said you were looking for Max.”

[chicago-geniza]

Freaked another nurse out by being able to tell in my body what is post-ictal fugue and what is head trauma due to My Whole Entire Life of experience. I don't have a concussion but I did have a worse-than-usual seizure and do need to sleep for like 24 hours. Trust me, I'm an expert. Don't bill insurance for a CT scan

[seasickzig]

I wrote a poem about having fear auras/post ictal stages from seizures. It also has religious trauma in it, of course!

Lord, Lord…

the horrors I face

between the shaking fits

between the choking pain

the horrors I see

Lord, Lord…

fixated in space

between the particles

between the patterns

fixated eyes

Lord, Lord…

Seize control again

again

again

Bend me to my knees

Make me worship

Make me beg

for the horrors to end

[kissmefriendly]

Is it regular depression or ictal depression. Because if it’s ictal I’m about to be in for the seizure of a lifetime*

*it would last the entirety of it