Boy hospitalized for video game seizure

A 13-year-old boy Italian boy was rushed to the hospital after what was believed to be a stroke or a brain disorder.

The boy could not speak and did not appear to understand what was going on around him.

He had recently finished a marathon gaming session on his new Playstation.

A local politician said “They eventually managed to take care of him once they understood that this was a strange kind of mental detachment connected to his Playstation.”

Reports in newspapers and on television have heightened public awareness that playing video games can, in rare cases, trigger seizures, but there is no scientific evidence that video games can cause epilepsy. Playing video games is an extremely common pastime for many children, and they often play them for long periods of time. Because epilepsy is a common disorder, it is not surprising that some children will have their seizures while playing video games, just by coincidence. How often this happens, and to what extent the games trigger the seizures, if at all, is not known.

Stress, fatigue, or hyperventilation may trigger seizures during video games in some children who have epilepsy.

The boy asked his dad to throw away his Playstation afterward the whole episode.

“If I even think about it I want to throw up,” he said.

Read More from Ananova