Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

Complex Partial/Night Terrors

Thu, 02/19/2004 - 15:47
I am new to this forum so please forgive any mistakes I may make. I am looking for different information on How Epilepsy is actually diagnosed. I was told by the Epilepsy foundation that recurring seizures is termed Epilepsy. I had been in a car accident 12 years ago. 9 months after that my problems began. At first it only happened while I was sleeping. I would scream, jump out of bed and run until I hit a door or a wall. The only way I could tell that something had occured was by the injuries, my bitten tounge (lip) or my family telling me. I have tried to jump off of the balcony, taken off my clothes, gone outside or walked around afterward talking nonsense. At times my memory is affected. I have seen many doctors. They said I suffer from Night Terrors. About 8 years ago they started to happen while I was awake. Many times I had gone grocery shopping and woke up in an ambulance. It got to where I could feel it coming. I would run and bite something. One doctor witnessed this and said "it looked like a complex partial seizure." After 10 years I was finally put on dilantin. # years ago. Now one of my main concerns is that I have NEVER been diagnosed. The last doctor I saw said that I have a mental problem. This is based on Normal EEGs. I had only seen this doctor twice. Has anyone else had similar problems in getting help??If someone else can relate to my story or give me feedback I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Comments

I read your question and I

Submitted by snoby on Thu, 2007-11-15 - 02:00
understand about the whole night tremor deal but it sometimes is hard to figure out if its epilepsy or night temmors

Re: Complex Partial/Night Terrors

Submitted by plopdan on Tue, 2008-04-01 - 06:17

Hello

I can only reply on my own personal experience, so here goes.

A few nights a go I was semi concious and was in bed at the time when I could have sworn some one had a tight grip on me this went on for a while then I manage to fight back this also went on for a while.   I was so scared when I managed to get out of bed I put my chest of draws in front of my bedroom door.  When I looked at it logically the tight grip was a seizure and me fighting back was the convulsions now if thats not epilepsy I don't know what is.  I am 43, 6ft, 14st, fairly strong and nothing much scares me but that night did.  Unfortunately this was'nt the first time some thing like this has happened to me but I was'nt as scared.

I hope this was some help?

Plopdan U.K

Hello

I can only reply on my own personal experience, so here goes.

A few nights a go I was semi concious and was in bed at the time when I could have sworn some one had a tight grip on me this went on for a while then I manage to fight back this also went on for a while.   I was so scared when I managed to get out of bed I put my chest of draws in front of my bedroom door.  When I looked at it logically the tight grip was a seizure and me fighting back was the convulsions now if thats not epilepsy I don't know what is.  I am 43, 6ft, 14st, fairly strong and nothing much scares me but that night did.  Unfortunately this was'nt the first time some thing like this has happened to me but I was'nt as scared.

I hope this was some help?

Plopdan U.K

Re: Complex Partial/Night Terrors

Submitted by Nanny on Tue, 2007-10-09 - 20:48
I am the grandmother of a 2-year-old who spends every other weekend with me. His mom said he has night terrors, but I had never heard of these... until his last two visits. On both occasions and on days in which he was overly tired, he began screaming after being asleep only an hour or so. It looked like he was awake, but he wasn't. His body was rigid, his legs outstretched. I could not wake him up. He buried his face in his pillow and screamed into it. This lasted about 20 minutes, all the while I rubbed his back and tried to soothe him. He finally fell back soundly asleep. Today, he was in the ER after his babysitter said he "zoned out'' and nearly fell out of his booster seat at the lunch table. When she caught him and put him down, he was walking, but bumping into things. She called his name several times, but he didn't respond. In the ER he was alert, and walking around just fine, but his eyes sometimes looked like he was drugged. The ER physician said he was dehydrated and ran blood tests to determine if he had an infection. Everything came back normal. He attributed the baby's clumsiness and incoherence to being dehydrated. Do we have more reason to be concerned?

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.