Did Hillary Clinton Experience a Seizure on Sunday?

RIGIDITY, THEN A FALL, OBSERVED IN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

by Sharon Rondeau

(Sep. 14, 2016) — After ridiculing and marginalizing anyone questioning Hillary Clinton’s health as recently as last week, the mainstream media was forced to change course on Sunday morning after Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton left a 9/11 memorial service early and appeared unable to move without assistance when her Secret Service vehicle arrived to retrieve her.

Rick Leventhal of Fox News was reportedly the first to relate Clinton’s early departure as conveyed to him by an on-duty police officer that morning. A video posted on Twitter and elsewhere soon afterward by an observer, Zdenek Gazda, showed Clinton, escorted by an unknown woman holding her left hand, walking toward a curb, where they waited for a few moments for a campaign vehicle to arrive.

The campaign said that Clinton felt “overheated” after standing for approximately 90 minutes at the ceremony, with temperatures in New York reported in the high 70s to around 80.

A second woman stood behind Clinton and her apparent aide as they waited.  The aide was holding Clinton by her left arm while Clinton appeared to lean against a cement pylon. When the vehicle arrived and the door was opened, Clinton made what appears to have been two jerking movements following a 1-2-second period when she seemed unable to move at all.

A constant campaign aide, said to be Secret Service agent Todd Madison, both held onto Clinton and opened the door to the vehicle, then Clinton was seen dipping down toward the pavement while being lifted by several aides into a back seat of the vehicle.

Dave Weigel of The Washington Post, who continues to spurn ongoing “conspiracy theories” about Clinton’s health despite Sunday’s events, reported that the woman who held Clinton’s hand and arm is “Christine Falvo, a former Senate staffer.”  Whether or not Falvo has any medical training is unclear.

Clinton reportedly was taken to rest at her daughter Chelsea’s nearby apartment, after which Clinton emerged saying, “I’m feeling great.”  Many Americans questioned how Clinton could have “recovered” from her debilitated condition as quickly as she did.

News media reported on Sunday night that Clinton was seen by her primary-care physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, that afternoon at her home and that Bardack had said that Clinton was “recovering nicely” from having been “dehydrated.”

On September 5, Clinton had two extended coughing spells which were later explained as stemming from seasonal allergies, an explanation also proffered during a radio interview last April.

However, former Secret Service agent Gary Byrne, who provided protection for the Clintons in the White House and has written an uncomplimentary book about Hillary Clinton’s fitness for the presidency, wrote after Sunday’s episode that “her bizarre movements are more indicative of a seizure than anything to do with allergies or overheating.”

Speaking to the UK Mirror, Byrne said that Clinton exhibited a “rigid posture” and that the lead Secret Service agent does not typically walk “in front of the protectee,” as Byrne said occurred on Sunday.

The second woman standing behind Clinton and the female aide is seen supporting Clinton with both hands as the Secret Service attempted to get her into the vehicle.

Byrne said that during his 29-year career with the Secret Service, he saw “quite a few seizures” and that he assisted a man once who was having a seizure while going through a metal detector by holding him under both arms until it passed.

As of Sunday night, the Clinton campaign said that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and advised to curtail her schedule.  The  campaign’s lack of transparency and changing story about her condition have been criticized by many, including fellow Democrats.

On August 15, Infowars reported that a Secret Service agent had contacted reporter Joe Biggs to inform him that “Hillary has a very serious neurological degeneration which could be Parkinson’s disease.”  Biggs also stated that his sources say Clinton experiences seizures and that her campaign would be forced to “make a big announcement soon regarding her medical condition.”

In a telephone interview on Monday with CNN’s Anderson Cooper from her home, where Clinton will reportedly rest through Wednesday, Cooper quoted Bill Clinton as having stated that she has had similar medical episodes previous to Sunday’s “when she got dehydrated.”  Clinton claimed it happened “twice that I can recall…It is something that has occurred a few times over the course of my life.  I’m aware of it and usually can avoid it.”

“I felt overheated; I decided that I did need to leave, and as soon as I got into the air-conditioned van, I cooled off, I got some water, and very quickly, I felt better…” Clinton told Cooper, reiterating that she is overcoming “pneumonia.”

On Monday, CNN medical consultant Ford Vox opined that “fainting spells (and near-fainting) are quite commonly seen in healthy people. The information we have favors Clinton’s wobbly moment as nothing unusual, particularly since we now know she’s battling an infection,” while the station’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta said that the cause of Clinton’s unsteadiness was still being determined.

On Monday morning, Clinton’s primary-care medical office refused to comment to The Post & Email about whether or not statements attributed to Bardack were, in fact, issued by her stating that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday.

On Tuesday night, Dr. Jerome Corsi of WND reported that three “friends” of Clinton’s have affirmed that she suffers from Parkinson’s disease and seizures.

According to an advertorial promoting the work of retired neurologist Dr. Russell Blaylock, Parkinson’s disease is a “neurodegenerative disease” which develops over many years.  Blaylock’s parents reportedly died from Parkinson’s, which motivated Blaylock to seek out “natural therapies” for the disorder.

The Mayo Clinic states that “Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. It develops gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while a tremor may be the most well-known sign of Parkinson’s disease, the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement.

On Tuesday, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation launched the first of six cost-free online webinars to address “aspects of day-to-day living with Parkinson’s, such as coping with an early diagnosis, understanding misunderstood symptoms such as skin changes, sleep and pain, and navigating legal and financial issues as a Parkinson’s care partner.”

The Epilepsy Foundation describes a seizure as “a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain…Some seizures can hardly be noticed, while others are totally disabling.”

A small percentage of epileptics experience seizures from “photosensitivity,” according to the same source at Epilepsy.com.

In response to the question, “What Happens During A Seizure?” Epilepsy.com states:

According to Medline Plus, a government website:

Seizures are symptoms of a brain problem. They happen because of sudden, abnormal electrical activity in the brain. When people think of seizures, they often think of convulsions in which a person’s body shakes rapidly and uncontrollably. Not all seizures cause convulsions. There are many types of seizures and some have mild symptoms. Seizures fall into two main groups. Focal seizures, also called partial seizures, happen in just one part of the brain. Generalized seizures are a result of abnormal activity on both sides of the brain.

Most seizures last from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and do not cause lasting harm. However, it is a medical emergency if seizures last longer than 5 minutes or if a person has many seizures and does not wake up between them. Seizures can have many causes, including medicines, high fevers, head injuries and certain diseases. People who have recurring seizures due to a brain disorder have epilepsy.

The various types of seizures are described by a neurologist at New York University here.

A division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that “Having a single seizure as the result of a high fever (called febrile seizure) or head injury does not necessarily mean that a person has epilepsy. Only when a person has had two or more seizures is he or she considered to have epilepsy.”

On Tuesday, the UK Daily Mail speculated that the woman to Clinton’s left seen holding her hand while leaving the memorial service was a nurse or Dr. Bardack herself.

In December 2012, an NBC medical consultant stated that after Clinton reportedly fainted and sustained a concussion following her passing out in 2005, “A history of fainting could indicate underlying heart problems.”

On Tuesday evening, The Post & Email reached out to a previous U.S. Secret Service Public Affairs contact to inquire if the agency could identify or confirm that the “mystery woman” is a member of Clinton’s official Secret Service detail. The agent responded that he no longer works in Public Affairs but that he would pass our inquiry on to the Public Affairs division.

The following commentary is anecdotal only and not meant to diagnose Clinton or any other individual.

This writer has observed petit mal, partial and grand mal seizures in a family member over more than three decades.  Her observations of this one individual are that a grand mal, or tonic-clonic, seizure can occur with or without warning and involves a stiffening of the limbs, rendering the person completely rigid.  The body can then shake violently for between five and 30 seconds, although some grand mals in other patients have been known to last much longer. After the shaking, or convulsing, stops, the body goes limp and the patient is generally unable to support himself in a chair or upright. Ambulation is out of the question while the patient remains in the immediate after-seizure phase.

Grand mal seizures are not only debilitating, but also tiring, and the patient often needs to rest or sleep directly afterward. Following recovery, which can last from five minutes to an hour, the patient may not recall the seizure but be completely himself again.

Partial seizures occur when one-half of the brain is involved rather than both sides of the cerebral cortex. The patient is normally aware of the seizure and may seek a sitting position for safety reasons until it runs its course. Partial seizures are generally shorter than grand mal seizures in this particular patient.

A person with seizures needs to be monitored closely at all times, as episodes can cause frequent falls resulting in potentially serious injury.

In this writer’s experience with her family member only, seizure triggers include becoming overheated; sudden, loud noises; sleep deprivation, or the impending onset of illness.  After the illness manifests itself, seizures generally improve considerably.

Some epileptics experience mood swings, depression and anxiety, although these can also be caused by anti-convulsant medications.

Prominent individuals with epilepsy include the late Prince, “Pawn Stars” host Rick Harrison, retired professional football player Alan Faneca, Vincent Van Gogh, singer Neil Young, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Vladimir Lenin.