Epileptic seizures are triggered by a number of well-known factors: skipping medicine, changes in hormone levels and fatigue.

With another form of the illness, reflex epilepsy, seizures are triggered by what patients see (flashing lights, for example) and what they hear. But detecting exactly what noises cause the seizures can be difficult, since patients hear hundreds of sounds each day.

According to MSNBC, a 12-year-old Florida girl who suffered up to 30 seizures a day was treated by therapists, not doctors, for two years. Experts finally figured out that her condition was due to physical factors, not psychological ones.

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Besides one unidentified Hannah Montana song (performed by Miley Cyrus as Hannah), the sounds of barking dogs also set off the girl’s seizures. Once doctors isolated the triggers, the girl was able to avoid exposure to them. She also takes anti-seizure medication.

The good news, according to the Epilepsy Foundation, is that reflex epilepsy is usually outgrown by adulthood. In any case, the 12-year-old now has one seizure per week, MSNBC reports, and while that’s not ideal, it’s a big improvement.

This isn’t the first time such an unusual case has gone public, according to MSNBC. In 1997, hundreds of children in Japan suffered seizures after seeing flashing lights in a Pokemon cartoon. And a U.S. physician reported that a patient of his suffered seizures when hearing Mary Hart talk on Entertainment Tonight. (MSNBC)

Jane Farrell is a senior editor at BettyConfidential.

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