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Unexplained Seizure/Death

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 15:29

I'm really hoping to find answers. My fiancé was 25 when she had her first seizure during her sleep. Luckily, I was sleeping next to her and woke up during it to call for an ambulance. She was foaming from the mouth which appeared to be a clear colored liquid, her jaw was locked, but I was able to move her arms around, she wasn't completely stiff. Her eyes were also rolling towards the back of her head when I lifted her eye lids. She was taken in an ambulance to the ER. Doctors at the ER did an EKG and CAT Scan of her head. We were out of the hospital within 3 hours with negative results from the testing. The doctor said that the majority of their seizure patients are people who've never had a seizure before and this is the first time, and that it is often a freak incident that never occurs again. To be safe, we followed up with a neurologist who did an EEG and MRI of her brain. Again, negative results for any known disorders, and we felt there was no need for medication if it was not recommended or deemed necessary. Exactly 40 days later I came home from work in the morning (I work overnights) and she was laying face down into a pillow not breathing. I called 911 and started CPR. Her lips were blue and the blood had already started pooling around her body. She was estimated to have already been deceased for a few hours. There was some form of liquid on the pillow case which was taken by investigators, but I do not know anything more than that. I know for a fact this was not a suicide, homicide, over dose, or anything of that foul nature. I don't know much about epilepsy and I'm hoping to gain some clarity here to see if maybe this was the cause, or also to learn about potential causes. She was too young for this to happen and its earth shattering. She was in good health and only took birth control and a daily pill (non-narcotic) for anxiety. Help me to understand.

 

 

Comments

Anyone at any age can have

Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2015-05-25 - 16:08
Anyone at any age can have epilepsy. If taken to the ER then tsts will be dome/ Those tests are to see if there was anything that was damaged in the fallor she hit her head and caused some other problems. The EKG shows if her heart is working right which will generally come back normal. If the neurologist ran an ordinary EEG then it might come back normal. I had 20-25 different EEG's all came back normal. What you posted was normal policy in many offices since it generally takes 2 seizures to diagnose epilepsy. In many places longer EEG's are done. Some sleep deprived others in a monitering unit which last days. As Mereloaded posted they now have EEG's that can gather the electrical impulses from deeper in the brain. The EEG is a test showing the electrical impulses comming from the brain. All a seizure is "is an electrical impulse going off in the brain wrong causing a chain reaction"As for blood it might have come from inside her mouth since in a fall she could have hit her head causing her mouth to slam shut and in dounf so the teeth could have cut the inside of her cheek or her tongue.There are many people who may have a seizure but not have epilepsy. Some could have been because they have diabeties. In another case I know of the seizures are side effects from a medication he takes. Which is why the ER let her go after the 1 seizure. Also why the neurologist might have wanted to wait until she had another seizure.Amy Jo gave you a site to look at which has other information on it. I am truely sorry for your loss Joe

I've always been told not to

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2015-05-25 - 18:30
I've always been told not to sleep stomach down. Doctors have warned me about nocturnal epilepsy and that if I am sleeping with my face into a pillow and a seizure occurs, suffication can happen.  If you found her with her face in a pillow, after a seizure, maybe that's what happened? 

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