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.

Grew out of seizures within months?!

Wed, 05/24/2017 - 07:29
Last September I noticed my infant daughter (11 months old at the time) was having these staring episodes. She would stop in her tracks, start staring into space, make chewing motions. The episodes were not very frequent, 5-7 times a week, and lasted about 25 seconds. We took her to a neurologist and he said to bring her in for an EEG if they start happening. She didn't have any episodes after that appointment for about a month. Then, in November, she was started having more intense episodes where she would start staring, be a little conscience (I would say half way with it), then start staring, shaking on her left side, then would vomit, and fall asleep directly after. I ended up taking her to the closest children's hospital, she was admitted, and later diagnosed with atypical absence seizures by a different neurologist than the one we saw previously. She had had 15 of these episodes that day, 7 of which were caught on the EEG. She was put on kepra. About a month goes by and she starts waking at night and can't go back to sleep because her legs and body would make jerking movements when she was falling back to sleep. We had many nights of her screaming and screaming and were in and out of the ER. We saw her current neurologist in clinic (the one that she had her first appt with) and he said he was not convinced that she was having seizures at all from looking at her EEG and decided to take her off of the kepra. I thought he was crazy at first but now I am kind of thankful he did because she hasn't had another episode since the day she was diagnosed! Is this heard of? Growing out of seizures within months? Has anyone has a similar experience? If these weren't seizures then what the HECK were They? It still boggles my mind and although I am less worried now, I still get concerned. She is typically developing with no delays at this point,she is 19 months.

Comments

Was your daughter diagnosed

Submitted by Mhinojosa12 on Wed, 2017-05-24 - 19:33
Was your daughter diagnosed young?

our child's first seizures

Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2017-05-25 - 01:03
our child's first seizures were noted just before turning six. it was more than sux weeks after a minor brain surgery so her surgeon did hope it was related to that and would subside - except it was after the window one might see that. after crowd sourcing family info, unexplained episodes had been seen for a least a year prior. actual diagnosis was after turning six. initial seizures  were complex and simple partials then. medication only reduced simple partials from what we could tell but partials started being less frequent just before turning nine which was just before they found atypical absence and myoclonics during a long eeg where they did a fast wean. the generalized patterns were becoming continuous as  her meds reduced but we restarted the one med she took that might control partial and generalized seizures. the epileptologist said they see surprising things all the time. the generalized seizures are controlled. partials happen every 3-4 months (last partial was Monday). there was one period of cognitive decline, late age six to just after turning seven, but it could have been more frequent complex partials as those do a complete whammy on the memory and are easy to miss seeing. cognition returned to what I thought of as normal after her meds were above a certain point (kinda large dose but nowhere near the highest dose eventually taken for that med which only works for partial seizures).

Sign Up for Emails

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