For some, the shopping mall glitz and wintry twinkle of the holiday season are hallmarks to bask in and enjoy. For Maralyn Allen, they can spark rushes to the emergency room.

Allen has epilepsy, the photosensitive kind where full-body grand mal seizures are triggered by flashing lights, like those strung about at Christmastime in shopping displays and out on the street.

As a result, she’s been hamstrung by the holidays for years.

“The Christmas season is by far the worst time for people with epilepsy,” said Allen, 69, who takes medication to reduce her seizure frequency to about three or four a month.

“It’s a real problem, and most people are not aware of it.”

Allen said she’s had many seizures while Christmas shopping. At a Walmart a couple years ago, a light display triggered a seizure. Her muscles cramped up and she lost consciousness, and was taken to hospital in an ambulance, she said.

On Saturday, Allen was at a market in her Mount Denis neighbourhood where garlands of flashing Christmas lights decorated a food checkout. As she approached, she felt a seizure coming on, but managed to ask an employee to turn the lights down before the fit took over.

“I’m one of the very fortunate people,” she said. “I have what is called an aura, which is a warning that a seizure is going to happen.”

Epilepsy is a neurological condition where abnormal electrical activity in the brain prompts recurrent seizures.

According to Epilepsy Toronto, about 40,000 people in the GTA have the condition. Roughly 2,000 of them have photosensitivity and are prone to seizures triggered by flashing light, said Drew Woodley, the organization’s communications director.

A Yorkdale Shopping Centre spokesperson said no one at the mall has heard from affected customers, but Allen said employees at Walmart and Metro grocery stores have been very accommodating when she has voiced her concerns about flashing holiday lights.

Woodley said it’s “not especially frequent” to hear about seizures provoked by Christmas lights. But his organization still encourages people to take certain measures to ensure light displays are less problematic for those with photosensitive epilepsy.

“It’s the flash rate that can be a big trigger, flashing or flickering lights where there are more than three flashes per second,” Woodley explained.

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“If they can be slowed down to fewer than three flashes per second, that will take down the likelihood of it (prompting a seizure).”

It’s such an easy thing to do, said Allen. “For people with epilepsy, it would give them a much happier holiday.”