Seizures

Anonymous

Seizures

Hey I would just like to get some advice from parents that had experienced this themselves. My son had his first seizure a few days ago. His symptoms before his seizure was that he wasn't able to talk (sounded like he couldn't move his tongue much) his hands were numb he could hold a bottle but not open it. He was thirsty and he was loosing control of his body and wobbly but was pacing around the room in a panic. His eyes were rolling and his mouth was opening and closing. He then fell and with his hands crossed over his chest he started shaking on his stomach. After about a minute he stopped and was breathing deeply. He may have been holding his breath. He was then able to talk abit and was trying to get up. He wasn't able to see during the seizure but he could hear me faintly so he was conscious the entire time. He has autism if that helps. He is fine now though still gets twinges on his left side of his body. Like a numb hand that comes and goes and a twitchy eye that he says hurts. He still needs to have a eeg and mri. He sometimes has facial ticks that can go on for a week which I'm wondering if they are linked. The doctors said seizures common. But the way it happened It seemed alittle bit more then a normal seizure. Any advice please the doctors haven't said much of anything. They were meant to give me proper seizure training. The doctors who were seeing him before seemed to think it might happen again but the discharge doctor seemed to think it wouldn't when I told her I was meant to get seizure training she looked confused. She hadn't even looked at him herself. She gave me some advice but not much of anything I hadn't already been told.

Posted in:  Health & Wellbeing, Kids, Aspergers & Autism

4 Replies

Anonymous

Were those symptoms immediately before the seizure or over time? My son had a seizure when he was 8, had an eeg and diagnosed with epilepsy but he never had another seizure. I also have 2 cousins with epilepsy and a stepson with it. When they have a seizure you can feel quite helpless because there's not alot you can do. So seizure training isn't really a lot. First thing is Danger, are they near something that can hurt them, stairs, electricity, water? Reduce the risk. Injury, have they injured themselves by falling? If they are bleeding apply pressure if possible but this can wait until after the seizure. Time the seizure, even if it's by counting. If it goes for more than 3 minutes you need to ring 000. If they are on a hard surface like tiles or brick you can put your hand under their head to act as a pillow and reduce pain when they wake up. Once the seizure is over put in recovery position, check airways, check for injuries again. It's OK if they are asleep, this is normal. They don't breathe well during a seizure, maybe very shallow breathing but not a lot.When they finally wake up they have a massive headache and can be quite drowsy and out of it, leave them to wake up slowly. For the weeks after a seizure your nerves can be a bit more active than usual. Think if it like an earthquake, when there's a big earthquake there's always tremors afterwards. There's a higher chance of having another seizure if you've had one recently.

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Anonymous

Your doctor is correct. Seizures are common and your sons seizure doesn't sound out of the norm. There is plenty of reliable information on the web

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Anonymous

There are many different types of seizures. Most people only know what they’ve seen in the movies (tonic clonic).
My son has 3 different types of seizures. There are many many more types.

Many people will have one seizure and never have another one without needing medication. Some people will need medication and not have another seizure and eventually be weened off meds. My sons are very controlled now, and it doesn’t really effect our/his life other than not leaving him unattended in the bath and pool.

A basic first aid course, or contacting your local epilepsy association will give you the advice on how to manage a seizure if you ever need it again. I’ve never had a dr train me. They can be very scary especially if you haven’t seen one before. Most of the epilepsy info is available on epilepsy association websites.

My son has quite a long post ictal period (after the seizure), before he’s back to himself.

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Christine Jones

Sorry you are going through this. This just happened with my 11yo ASD/ADHD daughter. You should be contacted by the hospital you are being referred to for the EEG. This should only take a week or so. From there you will have a follow up appointment with a paediatric neurologist, but should anything pop up as abnormal on the EEG, they will tell you on the day and try to get a diagnosis as soon as possible. Epilepsy Australia (online) is your best port of call for all information regarding Epilepsy, and has so much information re: what to do/how to support someone having a seizure. Doctors try not to jump to conclusions after a single seizure. It really doesn't become an issue unless there are subsequent ones. Just keep a diary on when things are happening/how your son is feeling, including the facial ticks. My daughter had eye flickering for a year and we didn't even know it was her having absent seizures, until she finally had a larger seizure. Feel free to reach out for support. All the best

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