Having trouble identifying seizure type...

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My husband has been having what I'm pretty sure are seizures for years. They started out only happening once or twice a year, but in the last year they've gotten to a point where it's happening every two weeks. I swear it's like clockwork. I'm having trouble distinguishing the type though, as symptoms differ. I can usually tell it's going to happen the day before. It's like he gets ADHD in high gear, can't sit still, talks A LOT (and he's normally a quiet person), and can't seem to focus on anything for too long. When the actual seizure hits, sometimes he will collapse, and others he will just seem to zone out and be unresponsive. The main problem is the after effects. The effects vary except for one, drowsiness. It's like he can hardly keep his eyes open and he dozes off repeatedly, however he normally refuses to lay down when this is going on. Also at times, he will think theres someone in our house (not in a creepy way, just like thinking his mom or a friend of ours is over), these delusions go even further sometimes to a point where he will talk to someone who isn't there. Often times he forgets a lot of things, and remember events that never really happened (I can only assume these are dreams/hallucinations). On the more severe cases he will do and say REALLY strange things, for example, once he kept insisting he had to look for a raccoon, and was looking behind the furniture and moving things around. These after effects vary in severity and can last anywhere from 1-4 days. The sad part about the whole situation, is that currently we can't go to a specialist to get the needed diagnosis. He is disabled (back problems, diabetes, neuropathy, and fibromyalgea), and unable to work. I unfortunantly work for a company that does not allow benefits for same sex spouses, so without insurance, we can't really afford any more doctor visits. So what I want to know is,

1. Is it possible to pinpoint the type of seizure from the details I've given?

2. For the time being, until we can get him insurance, are there any steps to take or home remedies to reduce the occurances or severity of after effects?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sometimes seeing him like this can be very scary and stressful for me.

Comments

SOme people can tell you

Submitted by just_joe on Sun, 2014-12-14 - 15:11

SOme people can tell you about seizures but what you are posting might be something other then seizures. After a seizure it is true that people are tired. That is only because the body loses energy during the seizure itself. All a seizure is is an electical impulses going off wrong in the brain impulses does what it takes for your body to do ANYTHING. So a large drain saps the energy.As Merealoded posted some of the things you posted could be different seizures or parts of them. In an absence seizure the person spaces out. Focal seizures look like a person may be in a day dream. Then there are partial seizures. Both simple and complex can do several things. When he colapses they could be tonic seizures. Years ago they might have been called Drop seizures. But what he does for a long period of time like his looking for a racoon is not a seizure. Home remedies WELL there aren't any that I know of and I have had epilepsy for 50+ years

Amy Jo I am going with the

Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2014-12-15 - 11:49

Amy Jo I am going with the informatin I know and it may not be exact as what you think or have read. My focal seizures start in one part of my brain which controls the other side of my body. They have always started with my right hand. I have read some on the types of seizures and yes I found this >>seizures: The term ‘focal’ is similar to ‘partial’. These seizures start in an area or network on one side ... describe focal seizures by the major types of symptoms involved in the seizure. What is the new ... Focal seizures Unknown Epileptic Spasms ..... HoweverI also know that the focal seizure can move and cover the entire body and by doing that the seizure may look like a grand mal seizure. In mine my right hand would start ro rise up. I had no control of what was happening and it didn't stop when I tried to stop it. Once shoulder high I wnet down into a convulsion. You see I am posting from what I know and have actually gone thru. I had no internet to look at. I had to go to the library and garner information. The new terms and types came out years after I was diagnosed. Some people might think we older people don't know about things like this. But many of us have been arround to know when people with epilepsy were still being put in homes away from others. We were arround when some states were not letting people with epilepsy get marriage license. Being put in homes was still happening in the 1960's. States not letting people get marriage licenses was happening in the 1970's. Did you know that was happening? Did you know a neurologist back then covered everything setming from the central nervious system?I do appreciate your wanting or giving me the new terms. But unless you were arround and didn't use the old terms how do you know I am wrong? I posted information from this site up there ^^^^^ It says teh TERM FOCAL is SIMILAR to partial it did not say a focal is a partial. I have partial seizures too so tell me which is it that I have? The focal seizures I have are just that they effect my hand. The partial seizures I have are kind of like blips which last a few seconds. I know when both are happening. With one I have a weird feelimg or I can't use my hand.

Amy Jo  I am going with the informatin I know and it may not be exact as what you think or have read. My focal seizures start in one part of my brain which controls the other side of my body. They have always started with my right hand. I have read some on the types of seizures and yes I found this >>seizures: The term ‘focal’ is similar to ‘partial’. These seizures start in an area or network on one side ... describe focal seizures by the major types of symptoms involved in the seizure. What is the new ... Focal seizures Unknown Epileptic Spasms ..... HoweverI also know that the focal seizure can move and cover the entire body and by doing that the seizure may look like a grand mal seizure. In mine my right hand would start ro rise up. I had no control of what was happening and it didn't stop when I tried to stop it. Once shoulder high I wnet down into a convulsion. You see I am posting from what I know and have actually gone thru. I had no internet to look at. I had to go to the library and garner information. The new terms and types came out years after I was diagnosed. Some people might think we older people don't know about things like this. But many of us have been arround to know when people with epilepsy were still being put in homes away from others. We were arround when some states were not letting people with epilepsy get marriage license. Being put in homes was still happening in the 1960's. States not letting people get marriage licenses was happening in the 1970's. Did you know that was happening? Did you know a neurologist back then covered everything setming from the central nervious system?I do appreciate your wanting or giving me the new terms. But unless you were arround and didn't use the old terms how do you know I am wrong? I posted information from this site up there ^^^^^ It says teh TERM FOCAL is SIMILAR  to partial it did not say a focal is a partial. I have partial seizures too so tell me which is it that I have? The focal seizures I have are just that they effect my hand. The partial seizures I have are kind of like blips which last a few seconds. I know when both are happening. With one I have a weird feelimg or I can't use my hand.

Amy Jo I am going with the informatin I know and it may not be exact as what you think or have read. My focal seizures start in one part of my brain which controls the other side of my body. They have always started with my right hand. I have read some on the types of seizures and yes I found this >>seizures: The term ‘focal’ is similar to ‘partial’. These seizures start in an area or network on one side ... describe focal seizures by the major types of symptoms involved in the seizure. What is the new ... Focal seizures Unknown Epileptic Spasms ..... HoweverI also know that the focal seizure can move and cover the entire body and by doing that the seizure may look like a grand mal seizure. In mine my right hand would start ro rise up. I had no control of what was happening and it didn't stop when I tried to stop it. Once shoulder high I wnet down into a convulsion. You see I am posting from what I know and have actually gone thru. I had no internet to look at. I had to go to the library and garner information. The new terms and types came out years after I was diagnosed. Some people might think we older people don't know about things like this. But many of us have been arround to know when people with epilepsy were still being put in homes away from others. We were arround when some states were not letting people with epilepsy get marriage license. Being put in homes was still happening in the 1960's. States not letting people get marriage licenses was happening in the 1970's. Did you know that was happening? Did you know a neurologist back then covered everything setming from the central nervious system?I do appreciate your wanting or giving me the new terms. But unless you were arround and didn't use the old terms how do you know I am wrong? I posted information from this site up there ^^^^^ It says teh TERM FOCAL is SIMILAR to partial it did not say a focal is a partial. I have partial seizures too so tell me which is it that I have? The focal seizures I have are just that they effect my hand. The partial seizures I have are kind of like blips which last a few seconds. I know when both are happening. With one I have a weird feelimg or I can't use my hand.