Girl Has Seizure After 5 Hours Of Video Gaming

Girl Has Seizure After 5 Hours Of Video Gaming

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...21/detail.html

Doctor Says Long-Term Video Game Playing Is Likely Cause

POSTED: 8:34 am MST December 9, 2005

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A central Iowa mother woke up over the weekend to
find her daughter having a seizure.

After a trip to the emergency room, a family learned that the cause was
most likely from playing video games too long, Des Moines television
station KCCI reported.

Doctors said such incidents are not common, but they do happen. Certain
people are prone to it because of the way their brains work. Once was
enough for 14-year-old Amy Kopaska.

She loves to play video games, the station reported. She spent five
hours straight playing a video game over the weekend. Her marathon
session led to a frightening situation.

"This has never happened before. Boy, it scared the life out of me,"
said Janell Hansen, Kopaska's mother.

Hansen woke up early Sunday and heard an awful noise from her
daughter's room. She found her daughter thrashing on her bed.

"I rolled her over. Her eyes were dilated. She was foaming at the
mouth, gasping for air. Just breathing very hard," Hansen said.

Hansen said that at one point it appeared her daughter had quit
breathing all together.

"Then it was quiet. She didn't move. I thought I was watching her die.
It scared me terribly," Hansen said.

Hansen gave Kopaska a couple of big breaths as she waited for the
paramedics. At the hospital, after several tests and questions, the
conclusion was that the long-term use of the video game induced the
seizure.

"The pattern of the lights sets up an abnormal reaction in the brain,
and that causes the seizure to happen," said Dr. Joel Waymire, a
pediatrician.

Kopaska doesn't remember anything about the seizure.

"My mind is a blank, like dreaming without the dream," she said.

Kopaska was playing the game called "True Crime: New York City."
There's a car driving through snow and the snowflakes act as a strobe
light.

Kopaska's brother played, too, but he took a break when it was her
turn. She stayed and watched him play.

Kopaska now only plays one to two hours at a time and then takes a
break.

the same phenomenon was discovered in Japan abut 10 yrs ago when some
youngsters had seizures after playing Pokemon video game.

fgoodwin wrote:



Hansen woke up early Sunday and heard an awful noise from her
daughter's room. She found her daughter thrashing on her bed.

"I rolled her over. Her eyes were dilated. She was foaming at the
mouth, gasping for air. Just breathing very hard," Hansen said.

Sounds more like she was learning how to masturbate instead of playing
video games.

On 13 Dec 2005 09:07:53 -0800, "Sushi Fish"
wrote:

the same phenomenon was discovered in Japan abut 10 yrs ago when some
youngsters had seizures after playing Pokemon video game.

Not really. People didn't get seizure from watching 5 hours of
Pokemon, it was that 3 seconds red/blue flashing scene that did it.

Typical people could play a lot longer than 5 hours though so she
probably had a minor issue that was triggered only by long gaming
session. I think my best was like 2 days with only bathroom and meal
breaks.
--
When you hear the toilet flush, and hear the words "uh oh", it's already
too late. - by anonymous Mother in Austin, TX
Spam block in place, no emil reply is expected at all.

In alt.games.video.xbox Sushi Fish wrote:
the same phenomenon was discovered in Japan abut 10 yrs ago when some
youngsters had seizures after playing Pokemon video game.

It's even older than that.

As far back as the original Nintendo, games have always come with a
warning about people sensitive to flashing lights may suffer epiliptic
seizures even if they don't have epilipsy.

Even before that, any event using strobe lights would post warnings for
people with epilipsy.

In alt.games.video.xbox Impmon wrote:

Typical people could play a lot longer than 5 hours though so she
probably had a minor issue that was triggered only by long gaming
session. I think my best was like 2 days with only bathroom and meal
breaks.

I don't think it was caused by the duration of her playing, but by a
certain effect in the game she was playing.

Taking more frequent breaks and playing in a brightly lit room will
certainly help to minimize risk.

Now then, why was a 14 year old playing a violent "M" game in the first
place? I'm surprised the anti-gaming kooks haven't jumped on this saying
"video games can kill your kid!"

"Doug Jacobs" wrote in message
...
In alt.games.video.xbox Sushi Fish wrote:
the same phenomenon was discovered in Japan abut 10 yrs ago when some
youngsters had seizures after playing Pokemon video game.

It's even older than that.

As far back as the original Nintendo, games have always come with a
warning about people sensitive to flashing lights may suffer epiliptic
seizures even if they don't have epilipsy.

Even before that, any event using strobe lights would post warnings for
people with epilipsy.

About the epilepsy warning, it says it at the beginning of most games now
doesn't it?

"Mattinglyfan" wrote in message
...

"Doug Jacobs" wrote in message
...
In alt.games.video.xbox Sushi Fish wrote:
the same phenomenon was discovered in Japan abut 10 yrs ago when some
youngsters had seizures after playing Pokemon video game.

It's even older than that.

As far back as the original Nintendo, games have always come with a
warning about people sensitive to flashing lights may suffer epiliptic
seizures even if they don't have epilipsy.

Even before that, any event using strobe lights would post warnings for
people with epilipsy.

About the epilepsy warning, it says it at the beginning of most games now
doesn't it?



I've been seeing that warning in arcades for well over a decade now. I dont
often see the warning during booting of a game, but its always there in the
manual.

Wurm

On 2005-12-14, Wurm wrote:

I've been seeing that warning in arcades for well over a decade now. I dont
often see the warning during booting of a game, but its always there in the
manual.

I think the epilepsy warning is there for the same reason they print "Do
Not Eat" on the packets of silica gel used as a drying agent in
electrical equipment packaging. They just don't want to be sued by some
**** who's to stupid to live

Choobs
--
Sir Chewbury Gubbins
Knight of the Wholly Gnarly Widget
Mario Kart DS FC: 146 088 722 295
http://www.nelefa.org

Actually there were some cases in Japan of people having seizures from
the flashing lights in a CARTOON!!! It wasn't even a video game! The
Simpsons made fun of that incident in the episode where Homer goes to
Japan to investigate why his picture was on a box of Dish Detergent.