I am only 36 and had never had a seizure until two years ago. The situation was my wife was in another room and received a call on her cell. I immediately fell to the floor into convulsions; my wife called 911. I was not aware of what happened until we reached the hospital (20 min. away). I was then transported to a larger hospital with a neurological staff. I was placed on medicine after a few tests and sent home. I continued to see a local neurologist for awhile until I realized that they could not control my seizures. I now see an epileptologist. He has diagnosed me with epilepsy and I am currently taking 3 medications. Yes I went through all the tests and passed all with flying colors. Nonetheless, I still experience seizures more frequently than I would like. Moreover all my seizures are triggered by cell phones. I have never had one without being in the presence of a ringing cell phone. No it does not matter what the rig tone is. Let me add that people talking on a cell phone does not affect me, nor does a phone on vibrate (weird), lights do not bother me either. I do not have a seizure with every ringing phone. I do notice that more other symptoms are becoming apparent as time passes (concurrent with cell phones). Let’s see what happens....

1) Interesting to read peoples comments. My first epileptic fit occured while playing a video game (River Raid) in 1984. I was 14 then, and subsequently stopped playing video games - since at that time I knew that flickering lights did'nt agree with me. That was one trigger. Then when I started working, as an equity trader my work involved a lot of high intensity computer screen time (which over a long duration) used to stress / tire me out completely. Epileptics whose trigger is light (varying intensities) should see the 3-D AVATAR and tell me if they experienced close to fit conditions (something which I did after watching the film)

2) Subsequently years later when I started using cell phones it became apparent that there is a direct correlation b/w cell phone usage and epilepsy (viz-a-viz) myself. I had two fits while being on the phone. My understanding is that that cell phones emit a tiny amount of electrical radiation which definetely effects/interacts with the our electrical wiring/discharges (brain) and hence the resultant fit. I have spoken/written about this on various forums (including the British Medical Journal - see BMR / Zain Hamidi 2002), but the standard response has been "NOT ENOUGH EMPERICAL DATA". After speaking to people from the cellphone industry (informally), it was made clear to me that this line of investigation will never be pursed as the it would adversely the USD 100 - 150 Billion cellphone industry. I have even suggested to use me as a guniea pig and do EEG's before and after high intensity cell phone usage.

A few thoughts on this matter.
Mobile phones use radio waves of a particular frequency, very powerful as they need to transmit far enough to reach the nearest mast, however I currently have had no immediate adverse effect to my knowledge.
In the hospital I work at we are all assigned VOIP (Voice Over I/P) phones - which are short range radio phones that work on the same frequency as wireless computer networks.
With very short time spent on these VOIP phones, I find myself feeling very unwell.
It is true that power output of VOIP phones as with mobile phones varies with signal strength, however generally, power output of a VOIP phone is much less than that of a mobile phone.

In conclusion, as different people with photosensitive epilepsy are sensitive to differennt frequencies of light stimulus. It may be that different people are sensitive to particular frequencies of RF radiation, regardless of power output.

Hi
There was a case of a child in Wales who suffered her first epileptic fit when a phone mast was erected opposite her school
She was transferred to a special school and the fits subsided until unbelievably another mast was erected opposite that school and her fits massively increased to over 30 a day.
She was withdrawn and her doctor testified that the radiation emitted by the phone mast (and the same is emitted from a mobile) could have caused her epilepsy.
She has to be home schooled now.
WiFi and digital cordless phones in the home constantly emit the same sort of radiation as a phone masts and therefore could also cause fits.

I can say that I'm pretty sure I'm among those who are sensitive to cell phones too. Computers, I don't think so though...

I had my first grand mal seizure the day before my 14th birthday in the shower. I had an EEG test done, and it was only after my second seizure about a year later that I was diagnosed with epilepsy and put on valproate (so glad I don't take it anymore! I was on it for three months and then stopped). It must be noted that I had this second seizure because my blood sugar levels were very low... it was 3 pm in the afternoon and I had not eaten anything all day.

Another year later, I stayed up until 5 am for a New Year's party, and had a seizure around noon after I woke up and was watching a movie with my friends. I was put on Tegretol XR and 200 mg once a day worked fine for me... but I began to suspect 2 years ago that it was causing me to slowly gain weight over the years, and just last year I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I'm only 20. The Synthroid product monograph claims that Tegretol can cause hypothyroidism, so there you have it.

Anyways, it was around 2.5 years ago that I got a cell phone, and 2 years ago that I decided to try going without Tegretol, against the advice of my doctor. I had a seizure in two weeks, and I speak to my boyfriend on my cell phone every night on the phone. So I tried again... this time I went a month without the medication, again using the cell phone for an hour every night and had another seizure, this time in the morning, while I was in my bed (my suite mate told me what had happened). 6 months later, I find an herbal remedy, and try that, still using my cell phone, and had a 20 minute seizure where I had many convulsions and stopped, but never regained consciousness in between.

I know what my main triggers are... too much stress, not eating on time, not getting enough sleep or foods with iron... but I found it odd that my seizures just suddenly got worse. I thought about what could have provoked them... and then it dawned on me, and I couldn't believe I had never thought of it before - my cell phone. Then I did some research and it all connected together... I'm tempted to try going without medication again, this time just using my cell phone very minimally, and getting a headset or something instead, but I'm still worried about how it might turn out... I hate taking medications.