An unusual case of seizures precipitated by SUDOKU

It is perhaps a story of too much of good thing-a case of seizures precipitated by SUDOKU. Doctors at the University of Munich have reported an unusual case of a young man who experiences epileptic seizures every time he tries to solve a sudoku puzzle.

A 25-year-old young man in Germany reported that he had begun having seizures every time after completing Sudoku puzzles (a logic game that may help sharpen memory) .

As history goes he was buried in an avalanche during a skiing holiday, as a result of which his brain had hypoxia for some 15 minutes. He then developed shock-like contractions of the muscles in his mouth when he tried to talk, and in his legs when he tried to walk. He also experienced spontaneous seizures in his left arm for which he was prescribed anti-epileptic medications and his seizures were apparently under control. However, a few weeks after he was discharged from the hospital, the man began having seizures in his left arm again but only when he did Sudoku puzzles.

According to doctors, the man had a very intense "three-dimensional imagination" that was activated whenever he did these brain-stimulating puzzles. The part of his brain that he used when thinking about things in 3D happened to be the part of his brain that was most affected by his 15 minutes of oxygen deprivation under the snow.

Overactivation of this damaged part of his brain was what caused the man's seizures. Unfortunately, he had to give up Sudoku in order to make a full recovery. The unique case is an example of reflex epilepsy, characterised by seizures that are induced by external stimuli.