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.

Seizures...Night Terrors...What is happening?

Mon, 05/29/2017 - 02:33
A couple of years ago, my now 11 year old daughter woke in the night, ran downstairs looking back and to her left, dropped to the floor, and tensed up and shook as though she was having a seizure. After a couple minutes she loosened up, but was not aware of what was going on and had to be led to the car so we could take her to the ER. She "came to" just as we were pulling into the parking lot 20 minutes later having no memory of any of it. Doctors simply told us she had a night terror. Said we could do tests, but there would be no point because it wouldn't show anything. So we left. I informed pediatrician and he brushed it off same as the ER doctor did. She has had a handful of episodes very close to the first one since that time with us easily just leading her back to bed and that be that. But tonight was different. An hour or so after going to bed, she came downstairs and I could tell she was "off." She didn't say anything, but half way down she started to look back to her left and I knew I needed to hurry. Ran and met her at the bottom and lead her to the couch, barely making it before her knees buckled and she tensed up and started shaking (again, looks like a seizure). All was pretty much same as before except for what happened after. Instead of going back to bed, she was crying and uncooperative. She urinated on herself (has happened before), so when I took her back upstairs to put her back to bed, I started to pull down her wet underwear and shorts and she's fighting me pulling them back up. I'm fighting her for her to lay down and she's fighting me to stand up. She's fighting me trying to go back downstairs and I'm fighting her trying to keep her in her room. All the while she's crying. This has never happened. In all honesty, it reminded me of after one of my Siberian Huskies has a seizure...very agitated and pacing and whining and wants to go places she shouldn't go. I've spent the past 2 hours going over different types of seizures and none of them seem to fit what my daughter goes through. Yet what she goes through doesn't seem to fully fit night terrors either. Could this even be seizures instead of night terrors? Or maybe something else completely? How do you know the difference? Any help would be very appreciated!! -- worried and sleep deprived mother

Comments

My son at 12 fell over stuff

Submitted by Bparkerlcsw on Mon, 2017-05-29 - 05:28
My son at 12 fell over stuff as a board.  No shaking and unresponsive for 2 minutes.  He had a sleep deprived EEG which showed the patterns for Juvenile Myoclonic Seizure tendency.  He did not have a seizure during the EEG.  This type of Epilepsy can start around puberty and is often hard to diagnose due to normal EEGs.  Once we knew what we were looking for we learned that my son had been experiencing Myoclonic jerking at night - he just didn't know to tell us.  

Sign Up for Emails

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