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.
Hypoglycemia? Anemia? Dehydration? Or Epilepsy? You tell me!
Tue, 06/30/2009 - 06:09Hi everyone.
What a good find this site has been. I need to know if any doctor or experienced person can tell me if seizures can be caused by any of the aforementioned conditions because i have taken an EEG, ECG and even Brain Scan test and nothing has been found to explain the seizure i had six days ago. But perhaps a little background information on my story is needed so please bear with me if its a bit too long.
Am 24 and about one month ago i had dental surgery under general anasthesia to extract 5 heavily impacted teeth from my mouth. As you can expect i lost alot of blood and my mouth was really messed up. Anyway, for 7 days after the surgery i virtually could not eat anything and so my diet was not good. Then on the eigth day, while i was home alone in the kitchen, i think, (am not sure), i fainted. it could have been a seizure or mere fainting, am not sure. But what i know is i was just standing there and then i just lost conciousness and fainted and fell on my back and also hit my head.
Now the funny part is when i woke up from this faint (seizure?) i was in my bed and not in the kitchen! How i got there without remembering, am not sure! And i had hurt my back really bad from the fall and was in alot of pain. And i was also out of breath and fighting to breathe. I noticed i had also wet my pants. The only thing i could do was pick up my phone and call my sister who came over and they carried me to the ER. They did a scan on my back and told me that i had a small fracture on my back from the fall but that it would heal in a few weeks. As you all know, once you injure your spinal cord, the pain spreads to every part of the body because all nerves are connected to the spinal cord. Anyway the doc told me i must have fainted because of dehydration and lack of glucose because for 7 days i was not eating because of my teeth. Anyway, i was discharged with some pain killers and went to recuperate my back from home.
It took an extra 3 weeks for both my back and teeth to get much better and i could finally eat some solid foods but i had been on a very poor diet. I had also noticed that i had developed heart palipitations possibly because i had become anemic or lost alot of glucose. I could just feel my heart racing for brief periods of time. So any way last week on wednesday at night, about 20 days after my fall and 27 days after my teeth surgey, i was in the living room talking to my sister and having a laugh when i decided to turn around and go fetch something from the kicthen. In turning around, i turned my neck and head to the right at a tight angle. On turning my head like this, i just felt it get stuck there, like it was going more and more to the right and i couldnt turn it back, however much i tried! Its then that i lost conciousness and just stood there with my head tilted to the right. My sister thought i was pulling a prank until she came around and had a look and saw that my head was actually stuck and my eyes were rolled up and i was having a fit. Its then that i lost my balance and felt to the floor and started shaking before just laying still with my eyes rolled up. Kind of like a grand mal.
Now the funny thing is that seizures are supposed to last for like a few minutes right? Well i stayed like this for a very long time, around 20 mins. I woke up at the ER confused and could see my sister sitted there talking to the doctor in tears. Then another funny thing is that after about 15 mins, another 'seizure' started and i started convulsing and fighting with the nurses though i dont remember anything. This lasted about another 10 mins and i was passed out for about 20 mins before waking up on drip. I also realised i had bitten my toungue. The doctor then ordered 3 tests. An EEG, ECG and Brain scan. They all came back normal and the brain scan guys said they saw nothing wrong and it was probably dehydration or possibly a 'brain atrophy', something they also couldnt explain well when asked.
Anyway, they did other tests and told me i was anemic and i had been on a poor diet too. So in addittion to folic acid, the neuro surgeon prescribed for me nootropil and phenytoin and sent me home saying i will be fine and i should watch my diet. I took phenytoin for 2 days but its side effects were so bad that i could not even concetrate at all and was always sleeping. I told the doc this and he said that thats how it was and i had to 'rest'. Well guess what, i wasnt having none of that! so i stopped taking the phenytoin and nootropil altogether and just continued with the folic acid for the anemia. I know many of you will condemn me for that but i do not believe that what happened was epilepsy and therefore was not going to continue on anti-epileptic drugs more over with very very bad side effects.
Its now been 5 days and no seizures or anything like that and am on a proper diet and doing alot of research on seizures and epilepsy and how one can have a seizure with the EEG, ECG and brain scan all coming out normal??? A numer of websites have suggested that seizures can be a symptom of any of the follwing issues: Hypoglycemia, Anemia, Dehydration, Palpitation. All of which i was suffering from. Also another website suggested that turning the neck at an acute angle could lead to blocking a nerver that takes blood to the brain and can lead to fainting with seizure like symptoms???
Anyway, there are just too many opinions out there and it can all get a bit confusing so was just wondering what you guys make of my story? I know its been kind of like a movie or something but i had to just put it out there. Anyone with any suggestions or opinions is free to comment.
Thanx alot for listening.
Re: Hypoglycemia? Anemia? Dehydration? Or Epilepsy? You tell me!
Submitted by vermillion237 on Wed, 2012-05-02 - 13:14
I know this is an old post but just in case you're still struggling or someone else needs to find this...
I agree with a previous poster than dental amalgams can contain mercury which can cause many problems and could have contributed.
Seizures of unknown cause with anemia, folate/folic acid deficiency and hypoglycemia (present when not seizuring) can be also be a sign of malabsorption, in particular celiac disease. In some cases there can be bioccipital calcification present shown on imaging, but not always.
I used to have migraines fairly often and would have spells where my vision would bleach out and then I would become very weak, fall over and pass out, waking up some time later. I never had one that someone else witnessed so I don't know if I had a seizure or what, but anemia effects the frontal lobe (vision depends on this area) and it is particularly sensitive to lack of oxygen which happens with anemia. But I was chronically anemic and had poor ability to regulate blood sugar (it was often low, without a problem with my insulin levels) and they placed me on high doses of iron, with vitamin C as an acidifier, which actually made my anemia worse and caused diarrhea - the usual response to high doses of iron is constipation. The doctor's response was to put me on even higher doses of iron, so I did a little reading and asked if they could check me for some type of malabsorption such as celiac - she refused. So I consulted another doctor/gastroenterologist, who immediately took blood tests for gluten allergy and celiac antibodies, and of course I was raging positive! I also had deficiencies in many other vitamins/minerals due to celiac dz. I wasn't diagnosed until 28, but now my anemia is much resolved, my ability to regulate blood sugar is much better and my migraines happen maybe 1/10 as often, and I never pass out any more! So if you're still struggling, I highly recommend you look into it, especially if you have GI signs or nutritient deficiencies.
I know this is an old post but just in case you're still struggling or someone else needs to find this...
I agree with a previous poster than dental amalgams can contain mercury which can cause many problems and could have contributed.
Seizures of unknown cause with anemia, folate/folic acid deficiency and hypoglycemia (present when not seizuring) can be also be a sign of malabsorption, in particular celiac disease. In some cases there can be bioccipital calcification present shown on imaging, but not always.
I used to have migraines fairly often and would have spells where my vision would bleach out and then I would become very weak, fall over and pass out, waking up some time later. I never had one that someone else witnessed so I don't know if I had a seizure or what, but anemia effects the frontal lobe (vision depends on this area) and it is particularly sensitive to lack of oxygen which happens with anemia. But I was chronically anemic and had poor ability to regulate blood sugar (it was often low, without a problem with my insulin levels) and they placed me on high doses of iron, with vitamin C as an acidifier, which actually made my anemia worse and caused diarrhea - the usual response to high doses of iron is constipation. The doctor's response was to put me on even higher doses of iron, so I did a little reading and asked if they could check me for some type of malabsorption such as celiac - she refused. So I consulted another doctor/gastroenterologist, who immediately took blood tests for gluten allergy and celiac antibodies, and of course I was raging positive! I also had deficiencies in many other vitamins/minerals due to celiac dz. I wasn't diagnosed until 28, but now my anemia is much resolved, my ability to regulate blood sugar is much better and my migraines happen maybe 1/10 as often, and I never pass out any more! So if you're still struggling, I highly recommend you look into it, especially if you have GI signs or nutritient deficiencies.