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nocturnal seizures - how do you know you are having them?
Fri, 02/20/2009 - 17:14This is perhaps a silly question, but how do you know if you are having nocturnal seizures if you live alone? I realize that if I wake up on the floor with a bloody nose it would be a good clue, but... I have TLE with one grand mal 15 years ago. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I have been in the boxing ring for an hour, and once when I was waking up I felt really weird (technical term) and the right side of my body jerked downwards.
How can I tell if any of this is seizures, or just tension? Any suggestions? Thanks.
Comments
Re: nocturnal seizures - how do you know you are having them?
Submitted by Living with Epilepsy as a Teen on Sat, 2009-03-21 - 18:48
That is definitely not a silly question. I never knew I was having seizures til I shared a room with my sister while staying the night at a relatives house. I ended up hitting her in the face and thats when my sister seen my eyes rolled in the back of my head and I wet the bed. I was hospitalized and diagnosed with epilepsy. I just thought I was having problems waking up. I told my parents about it and they thought the same thing and said that I needed to go to bed earlier. I did not want to go to bed though because I would feel so bad the next day of my seizure and I was scared that I was going to have a seizure and I knew something was wrong. Then I started having them more often and when waking up in the morning too because I was not sleeping. The evidence of you having a seizure will most likely show if you have bite marks, bruises from falling off the bed, if you arise with a headache, your neck/ body hurts, and if you are exremely ill the next day. It is hard to know if you are having seizures in your sleep unless you are with someone. It's scary to think how long I was having seizures before I started medication and was diagnosed!
That is definitely not a silly question. I never knew I was having seizures til I shared a room with my sister while staying the night at a relatives house. I ended up hitting her in the face and thats when my sister seen my eyes rolled in the back of my head and I wet the bed. I was hospitalized and diagnosed with epilepsy. I just thought I was having problems waking up. I told my parents about it and they thought the same thing and said that I needed to go to bed earlier. I did not want to go to bed though because I would feel so bad the next day of my seizure and I was scared that I was going to have a seizure and I knew something was wrong. Then I started having them more often and when waking up in the morning too because I was not sleeping. The evidence of you having a seizure will most likely show if you have bite marks, bruises from falling off the bed, if you arise with a headache, your neck/ body hurts, and if you are exremely ill the next day. It is hard to know if you are having seizures in your sleep unless you are with someone. It's scary to think how long I was having seizures before I started medication and was diagnosed!
Re: nocturnal seizures - how do you know you are having them?
Submitted by Living with Epilepsy as a Teen on Sat, 2009-03-21 - 18:53
I don't know if this helps but I have Right Temporal Lobe and the left side of my body jerks when I have a seizure. I also have these jerks sometimes when I am trying to go to sleep. Hope I gave you some helpful info. You should probably talk to your doctor.
Good Luck!
I don't know if this helps but I have Right Temporal Lobe and the left side of my body jerks when I have a seizure. I also have these jerks sometimes when I am trying to go to sleep. Hope I gave you some helpful info. You should probably talk to your doctor.
Good Luck!
Re: nocturnal seizures - how do you know you are having them?
Submitted by mommy2kyra on Fri, 2009-02-27 - 03:46
Not a silly Q at all, imo. I never did know that I was having complex partial seizures shortly after going to bed. My hub would have to tell me. The last couple of years that we were together, there were several times when I woke physically exhausted & sore. He slept in a different room, or at a diff. time, I never knew.
Just last week (on Sunday), I awoke with a bloody lip and dried froth around my mouth. That was my clue. The sore on my lip fit one of my front teeth perfectly. I was tired...but I'm always tired! Hub and I are now separated. There's no way I would know otherwise.
Good Q!
~Heather~
*refractory seizure surgery on left temporal lobe 03/06* TBI 3/07* diagnosed with refractory partial epilepsy again 2/09*
Not a silly Q at all, imo. I never did know that I was having complex partial seizures shortly after going to bed. My hub would have to tell me. The last couple of years that we were together, there were several times when I woke physically exhausted & sore. He slept in a different room, or at a diff. time, I never knew.
Just last week (on Sunday), I awoke with a bloody lip and dried froth around my mouth. That was my clue. The sore on my lip fit one of my front teeth perfectly. I was tired...but I'm always tired! Hub and I are now separated. There's no way I would know otherwise.
Good Q!
~Heather~
*refractory seizure surgery on left temporal lobe 03/06* TBI 3/07* diagnosed with refractory partial epilepsy again 2/09*