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Seizures During Sleep

Wed, 02/11/2009 - 22:16

 

Hi, I'm new to this site. I have most of my seizures in my sleep or in the morning after waking up.. my last one being two days ago. It seems that either illicit drugs, alcohol or lack of sleep bring most of my seizures on, and I'm working on getting them under control by giving up these things rather than taking my medication, I find the medication Valpro has some bad side effects.

I think my last seizure  was a big one becauseI have been a scattered mess since then, I've slept for two days straight now and I have yet to leave the house. I can't think straight so if this doesn't make any sense I hope u understand why. My whole body is aching and my memory is slowly returning.

Anyways I'm almost 25 and I was diagnosed about 2 1/2 years ago.. does anybody else experience sleep related seizures?.. I truly believe if I can get enough sleep I will  get my epiliepsy under control.

Thanks for any of your comments.

Comments

Re: Seizures During Sleep

Submitted by orygun on Mon, 2009-09-28 - 14:51

I have what we now believe to be seizures, after waking in the morning. I suspect I might have them during the night as well. My heart rate climbs as does my blood pressure, I get dizzy and feel like I have to lie down. I get a strong warm sensation going up my chest and sometimes I have numbness in different parts of my body. After the first couple events I was diagnosed with sleep hypopnea, which is breathing too shallow and I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I started using oxygen at night but I kept having episodes. I then used cpap with oxygen and still had episodes. Now we have a diganosis from my abnormal sleep-deprived EEG and I just started lamictal. I believe the insult to my brain at night from not enough oxygen caused a problem in my brain to cause the events I had. The last event, I was exhausted and slept for two days.

So more sleep is better and quicking bad drugs and alcohol too, but it's possible that getting enough sleep may not fix the seizure problem. In fact, if you have many years of substance abuse you may have additional damage to your brain that is contributing to the seizures. Meds could be the best way to go.

Good luck!

Patti, RN

I have what we now believe to be seizures, after waking in the morning. I suspect I might have them during the night as well. My heart rate climbs as does my blood pressure, I get dizzy and feel like I have to lie down. I get a strong warm sensation going up my chest and sometimes I have numbness in different parts of my body. After the first couple events I was diagnosed with sleep hypopnea, which is breathing too shallow and I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I started using oxygen at night but I kept having episodes. I then used cpap with oxygen and still had episodes. Now we have a diganosis from my abnormal sleep-deprived EEG and I just started lamictal. I believe the insult to my brain at night from not enough oxygen caused a problem in my brain to cause the events I had. The last event, I was exhausted and slept for two days.

So more sleep is better and quicking bad drugs and alcohol too, but it's possible that getting enough sleep may not fix the seizure problem. In fact, if you have many years of substance abuse you may have additional damage to your brain that is contributing to the seizures. Meds could be the best way to go.

Good luck!

Patti, RN

Re: Seizures During Sleep

Submitted by dazlnangelfsh on Fri, 2009-10-09 - 18:18

dazlnangelfsh:

Thank you for sharing your experience with nocturnal seizures. I have not been diagnosed yet; I am in the process of being referred to a specialist & having testing done (EEG). I started having seizure like episodes after a spinal cord injury-most of the them occuring in the evening or during the night. I was put on Topomax around that time for migriaine treatment. I will certainly bring this up with my doctor now.   

dazlnangelfsh:

Thank you for sharing your experience with nocturnal seizures. I have not been diagnosed yet; I am in the process of being referred to a specialist & having testing done (EEG). I started having seizure like episodes after a spinal cord injury-most of the them occuring in the evening or during the night. I was put on Topomax around that time for migriaine treatment. I will certainly bring this up with my doctor now.   

Re: Seizures During Sleep

Submitted by kobear64 on Fri, 2009-10-16 - 04:12

I had 4 seizures during the day there peti mal.. The rest of my seizures have been noctural petimal seizures. The drs have no answers as to why I have them. They started at age 35 it could be due to the migarianes it could be due to my age and the changes women go through. They do feel it has something to do with lack of sleep and sleep depravation so I try and get plenty of sleep. I started out on 1750mg of depakote and had breakthrough seizures and now Im on 100mg of topamax  and have had no seizures for 8 yrs I have been on this for 2 yrs before this I was on tegretol for 6yrs but that depleated my sodium levels due to my gastric bypass surgery.   To me noctural seizures are scary. The only way you know if you have had one is if the house is a mess

Kathy

I had 4 seizures during the day there peti mal.. The rest of my seizures have been noctural petimal seizures. The drs have no answers as to why I have them. They started at age 35 it could be due to the migarianes it could be due to my age and the changes women go through. They do feel it has something to do with lack of sleep and sleep depravation so I try and get plenty of sleep. I started out on 1750mg of depakote and had breakthrough seizures and now Im on 100mg of topamax  and have had no seizures for 8 yrs I have been on this for 2 yrs before this I was on tegretol for 6yrs but that depleated my sodium levels due to my gastric bypass surgery.   To me noctural seizures are scary. The only way you know if you have had one is if the house is a mess

Kathy

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