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Laughing Seizures?
Sun, 03/04/2007 - 20:44Topic: Parents & Caregivers
My daughter is almost 3 and is having what I think may be seizures. She will arch her back, make fists with both her hands and laugh (sometimes grunt or squeal), she will either close her eyes or they will go up and to the right. These episodes last only a few seconds but many times will happen several times back to back. They seem to occur most frequently at night, when waking or going to sleep. When they do happen during the daytime she will seem very tired afterwards but is alert and somewhat responsive. Does anyone else have kids that have episodes similar to this? I am going to call her neurologist tomorrow to see what he thinks. She has never been diagnosed with seizures but is followed by a neurologist because she has a mitochondrial disease. Thanks for any help.
Comments
Re: Laughing Seizures?
Submitted by Lubbies on Mon, 2007-03-05 - 19:13
Hey there. I have a 5 year old son who has complex partial seizures that were missed for years. Just diagnosed last summer. Little blips that no one not even 3 neurologist diagnosed until a nurse practitioner ordered an EEG.
Anyway ... now we really watch him and I do notice that early in the morning and night, when he is tired and sometimes out of the blue he'll start laughing . He's in his own world. Then he quiets himself down and chills out for a while. I looked it up and I think it's a type of seizure called gelastic seizures.
Hope this helps.
Re: Laughing Seizures?
Submitted by Michtom on Tue, 2007-03-06 - 04:49
AAnother seizure type is called Gelastic Seizures. Google and look for more infomration but the following comes from the Epilepsy Ontario site (http://epilepsyontario.org/client/EO/EOWeb.nsf/web/Gelastic+Seizures)
Gelastic seizures are brief outbursts of emotion, usually in the form of a laugh or a cry. They may be accompanied by forced eye movements, chewing or grinding the teeth, tonic posturing, and clonic jerking. The person may appear confused and/or dazed during and after an episode. Gelastic seizures usually last 5 to 60 seconds. The person may remember them clearly or may be completely unaware of what occurred.
Gelastic seizures are both unpredictable and unprovoked by the person's surroundings. They are abrupt in onset and quickly over. Gelastic seizures may occur nocturnally, waking the person from sleep and leaving them exhausted.
Research shows that gelastic seizures often occur in people who have an (often maternal) family history of migraines.
Dextroamphetamine, primidone, and phenobarbital, sometimes in combination, may be prescribed to control gelastic seizures.
Hope this is of interest - Michtom
Re: Laughing Seizures?
Submitted by tchaide05 on Sun, 2007-03-04 - 22:36
I read your post and was interested in what exactly is a mitocholndrial disease, I read a little about it, and am curious because some of the symptoms almost sound like me and my daughter. her episodes do almost sound like a seizures. does she make a strange face when this happens? Mom to Lauren age 9,