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Sleep thru a seizure?
Wed, 04/21/2004 - 13:34Hi,Oh, i'm already doing this backwards, i replied without introducing myself, and i replied to a post about weed of all things....Ok, I'm a 24 year old female who's been having tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures since i was 13.During adolecence i would get them about 3-4 times a year, or so until i was 17, then nothing. Wanting to be like eveyone else, of course, i embraced their idiopathic origins and wrote them all off as flukes, i wasn't one of "those" people, i was in some serious denial.( which i think goes hand in hand with epilepsy, since it so hard to verbalize what you feel and such, the randomness of it all etc.) I experienced nothing until i was 22 out of the blue at work during an extremely stressful moment, talk about embarrassing. Since then i have become more accepting of the fact that i am not like everyone else, and that i need to take better care of myself. OK, so getting to my point, i think i had a seizure in my sleep this last past friday, 4/16. This has never happened to me before, and didn't know it was possible. All i know is that i woke up with the side of my toungue bitten raw (i have bitten thru it before), my head throbbing, my muscles unbelievably stiff and excrutiatingly sore, and that ability to sleep for 20 hrs straight. I took me a couple of days to become fully functional again.Normally, i have some warning signs, one side of my face and jaw gets tingely and cold, then i start talking gibberish, i am unaware what i am doing, people can shout in my face and i am frozen, then my speech slurs, i try to shout, then i fall down and begin to spasm. I aso have random experiences of long forgotten memories and sounds which are much harder to explain. Some phrases seem stuck in my mind on a seeming loop, which makes no sense whatsoever.So, if anyone has any similar experiences or advice/suggestions i would really appreciate it. The fact that they seem to come out of the blue every couple of years or so, really unnerves me. I am also with out health insurance or neurologist which is also frightening.Ask me anything if you've noticed that i've left anything out. I am happy to be here and to share, and look forward to responses.Thanks,Rebl
RE: Sleep thru a seizure?
Submitted by mommy2kyra on Wed, 2004-04-21 - 13:34
Hi Rebl,I hate to go through my experience again since it's so involved (I just wrote it on another post..the drug use one, you're welcome to read it), so I'll just mention a couple of things that stood out to me. Nocturnal seizures are not uncommon, and people are often clued in to the fact that they've had a seizure by sig. others and/or by physical sensations. Physical sensations may include utter exhaustion, body soreness and stiffness, and bitten tongues. When I now experience a seizure, it is almost always nocturnal, but it wasn't like that before. Sometimes I can tell that I had a seizure, without hubby telling me, by those physical sensations and a "strangeness" feeling in general. The strangeness feeling is difficult to describe, but it's like you just don't feel like yourself. You don't feel normal. It feels a bit unnerving.I noticed, when I got my panic under control (and seizures were mostly nocturnal), that my seizures followed a pattern. I would usually have a couple of seizures a month, just before my period. I also got seizures if I was under major stress or if sleep-deprived (those 2 haven't changed, despite treatment). So, it may be that you are going through some hormonal changes, or a very stressful time and you simply need to be on meds.I know it's tough when you don't have insurance, but this is one of those things that you have to make a priority. Do you have any family that might be able to help? My mom was a big help to me, she always made sure that I could get my meds when times were tight. I felt kinda bad, being an adult and all, but I couldn't do it on my own and she was willing to help out. It's not like she was buying drugs for my pleasure...rather, so I would stop having seizures!Good luck to you...keep us updated :)Heather