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My husband has seizures at night

Wed, 12/02/2009 - 20:09

My husband  is 28.He had his first seizure Jan 09.He had tests done and they saw nothing but a little seizure activity on the left side of his brain.They put him on Dilantin 3 times a day.In April or May he stopped taking the medicine b/c he thought he was fine.In Aug, he had two more back to back.They put him back on the medicine.He has been taking it faithfully.Sunday night he had two more. He always has them in his sleep.We as well as the doctors thought this was a one time event.

This has been such a scary experience for us.It makes you think about death.I am trying my best to help my husband stay focused and not depressed.

He also has sypmtoms such as blackouts, tremors after the seizure for a few days then he is normal. He has had some memory loss and has been a little slow at processing thoughts.

This is new to us.Is there some type of surgery that can change this.

Sad and Confused

Comments

Re: My husband has seizures at night

Submitted by mscoulte on Mon, 2010-07-19 - 11:07
My soon-to-be husband had his first seizure on May 23. We also thought it was a one time thing. He is in perfect health and active. They put him on a low dosage of Topamax and after 4 weeks the side effects were still severe. He had lost 6 pounds, was very moody so we decided to go off because we had no idea if he would ever have one again. Well he did have another seizure on Saturday and we ended up in the ER again. He is now on 1000mg of Keppra. We are going to see the neuro today at 2:00, but he ususally isn't able to tell us much! We are both very scared as well. He stops breathing for a few minutes before the seizure stops..that tends to be the scariest part. I hope I get to a point where I don't have to call 911 every time it happens!

Re: My husband has seizures at night

Submitted by jstuc on Wed, 2010-08-11 - 14:07
All but one of my seizures have been in my sleep. I just turned 60. My first nocturnal seizure happened when I was around 40. The next one happened 11 years later and then another one year after that. These were all tonic-clonic seizures and it was that third seizure that put me on meds. I am now sentenced to 300 mg of Dilantin per day for life. I was surprised to see your betrothed was put on meds right away after the first seizure. My neuro said since I had no history of seizures and that it happened in my sleep, he wasn't going to treat me. At the time I was under a lot of stress and running on very little sleep, which is a possible trigger for some people. After my second one (11 years later) he said that if I don't stop, he's going to get serious about treatment. After my third (one year later) he said this was too much of a trend and I've been on the 'big D' ever since. (I had a couple more but I was off the meds - long story). My wife has been very supportive - as you are, it seems - and I can't imagine doing this without her. But I asked her to quit calling 911. She said it will be hard but she agreed. Yes, I stop breathing, I chew up my tongue, and I strain muscles, but there is nothing the ER can do. They always just send me back home. Dilantin is big hammer. It keeps me seizure-free but I hate the side effects (and so does my wife!). I hope you can find something else to keep him under control. Good luck to you and your soon-to-be.

Re: My husband has seizures at night

Submitted by Sammishakes on Mon, 2010-07-19 - 12:18

Most of my seizures 95% of them are in my sleep. My best advice to you is to get an EMFIT movement monitor for the bed. www.emfit.com  I think is the link. I was a healthy 40 year old with no known problems.

My 1st seizure was Jan 27, 2010. My EMFIT monitor sounds an alarm if I have one in my sleep which wakes hubby up. I have only been to the ER once and I have seizures almost anytime I nap or when I sleep. I may have 3 seizure free days a month. Medication is the 1st line of defense and people have to take them every day or seizures will come back. They sometimes consider surgery when meds don't work.

Most of my seizures 95% of them are in my sleep. My best advice to you is to get an EMFIT movement monitor for the bed. www.emfit.com  I think is the link. I was a healthy 40 year old with no known problems.

My 1st seizure was Jan 27, 2010. My EMFIT monitor sounds an alarm if I have one in my sleep which wakes hubby up. I have only been to the ER once and I have seizures almost anytime I nap or when I sleep. I may have 3 seizure free days a month. Medication is the 1st line of defense and people have to take them every day or seizures will come back. They sometimes consider surgery when meds don't work.

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