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14 year old son w/possible seizures--question about consciousness
Thu, 02/09/2006 - 09:11Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hi, am new here. Yesterday my 14 year old son came downstairs after awakening in a very confused and agitated state, bumping into things, pacing, and very confused...couldn't speak correctly or understand what I was saying. It was very much like he has acted in the past during numerous sleepwalking events.
I was terrified and started to take him to the hospital, but the "fog" lifted after about 15 minutes or so, and he then remembered that he had stood up out of bed, had a "head rush" and felt himself falling, then vaguely recalled his body shaking violently and he thought he had tried to call for help, but nothing but grunts came out.
I called the pediatrican who scheduled a regular appointment for him, so I sent him to bed. A little while later, when I checked on him, he was sitting up in bed crying, saying "it" had happened again. This time he was NOT acting strangely, just very scared and tired.
So, I took him to the ER. Blood, EKG an MRI were normal. The ER doctor thinks he fainted, because according to him, my son would have NO MEMORY of a seizure.
From what I've been reading, this sounds like incomplete information. My son has complained for YEARS about his eyes "getting stuck" in position for several seconds at a time, and I always thought he was being silly. Now I'm wondering if these incidents were partial seizures.
He will be having an EEG, but in the meantime I'm wondering if some people actually DO have memory of seizures after the fact. My son's memory was vague, but definite. He thought he was dying.
Of course the big problem is, there was no witness to the events.
Thanks in advance,
Leslie
Comments
Re: 14 year old son w/possible seizures--question about consciou
Submitted by jennamay on Thu, 2006-02-09 - 10:13
Dear Leslie,
Welcome to my.epilepsy.com community! It sounds like you are taking all the right steps in diagnosing your son's possible disorder. While many people don't remember the actual seizure, often times they do report an aura.
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/auras.html
"Some people have a distinctive feeling or some other warning sign when a seizure is coming. A warning like this is also called an aura. Although some auras are unpleasant, they can be helpful because they can give you time to prepare for the seizure and keep yourself from being injured. Most injuries from seizures happen if there is no warning sign, if the warning is not recognized, or if there is not enough time to react to it." "Auras vary significantly between different people. Yours may happen right before a seizure or several minutes to hours earlier. Common warning signs right before seizures are changes in bodily sensations, changes in your ability to interact with things happening outside you, and changes in how familiar the outside world seems to you. Other warning signs that may happen hours before a seizure are depression, irritability, sleep disruption, nausea, and headache." "People with complex partial seizures are the most likely to experience warning signs. Approximately 55% to 65% of people with these seizures experience some type of aura. It is unclear whether having seizures that arise from one particular side of the brain makes you more likely to have auras than people whose seizures arise on the other side." I don't want to overwhelm you with information as there is so much to know and learn. But I'm including links to a few other sections of epilepsy.com which you may find helpful too. www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_symptom.htm
www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/diagnosis.html
Also, some parents have found the use of baby monitors helpful in keeping track of when their child is having seizure, expecially at night. Also, some parents have set-up video cameras in their child's room at night to also have some kind of recording/documentation for the doctor to see. You may also request a VideoEEG for your son as well (www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/testing_videoeeg.html). Epilepsy.com Editor
"Some people have a distinctive feeling or some other warning sign when a seizure is coming. A warning like this is also called an aura. Although some auras are unpleasant, they can be helpful because they can give you time to prepare for the seizure and keep yourself from being injured. Most injuries from seizures happen if there is no warning sign, if the warning is not recognized, or if there is not enough time to react to it." "Auras vary significantly between different people. Yours may happen right before a seizure or several minutes to hours earlier. Common warning signs right before seizures are changes in bodily sensations, changes in your ability to interact with things happening outside you, and changes in how familiar the outside world seems to you. Other warning signs that may happen hours before a seizure are depression, irritability, sleep disruption, nausea, and headache." "People with complex partial seizures are the most likely to experience warning signs. Approximately 55% to 65% of people with these seizures experience some type of aura. It is unclear whether having seizures that arise from one particular side of the brain makes you more likely to have auras than people whose seizures arise on the other side." I don't want to overwhelm you with information as there is so much to know and learn. But I'm including links to a few other sections of epilepsy.com which you may find helpful too. www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_symptom.htm
www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/diagnosis.html
Also, some parents have found the use of baby monitors helpful in keeping track of when their child is having seizure, expecially at night. Also, some parents have set-up video cameras in their child's room at night to also have some kind of recording/documentation for the doctor to see. You may also request a VideoEEG for your son as well (www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/testing_videoeeg.html). Epilepsy.com Editor
Re: 14 year old son w/possible seizures--question about consciou
Submitted by txrhb1 on Thu, 2006-02-09 - 17:04
Hi Leslie,
Welcome to the site !! You are sure to find lots of wonderful, caring folks here who understand what you are going through.
I know these incidents must be very frightening to both you and your son. Both my 22 year old daughter and I have epilepsy, and it can be very scary. My daughter has generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and has no memory of them afterwards. When she was younger, she had an aura in the form of a bad smell, prior to having a seizure. It seems as if in recent years, the medication has stopped the auras, but not the tonic-clonics.
I have both simple partial and complex partial seizures. I remember the simple partials, and not the complex partials.
I am glad you are going for an EEG, and would recommend the Video EEG if possible. I would also recommend keeping a journal of anything that seems "different" about your son's behaviour or feelings. I keep a baby monitor in my daughter's room, so that I can hear her when she has a seizure. It's easier for both of us to get a good night's sleep, knowing that I can quickly come to her aid if she has an overnight seizure.
I wish you the best of luck with the testing.
((( hugs ))),
Barbie
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"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly only by embracing each other." -lucian de crescenzo
I think my 14 year old son
Submitted by Talb02 on Mon, 2018-08-06 - 01:06
I think my 14 year old son had a seizure. I went to check on him at night it seemed like he got up fast. It looked like his eyes rolled back and he suddenly collapsed. I think he jerked a little when he fell down. Does this sound like a seizure or fainting? It lasted 2-3 seconds and all happened very quickly.