anyone familiar with epilepsy?

[razorbackmama]

This isn't education-related, but I thought maybe y'all on this board may know a bit about this.:D

 

When my oldest was younger, he would sleepwalk a lot. Not every night, but it wasn't unusual by any means. As he has gotten older, the sleepwalking has lessened a great deal. Usually he only does it when he's under the weather or coming down with something.

 

However, when he does it, sometimes he will end up vomiting. He has done this 5 times over the past probably 7 years or so. The past 4 times have been within the past 3 years.

 

Typically he'll just start wandering around and seem awake yet out of it. He can sort of communicate and everything...we can say, "What are you doing?" and he'll answer "I don't know." We'll tell him to go back to bed, and the next thing we know he's vomiting. He did it the other night, after getting over being sick. He wandered around upstairs, in and out of the bathroom twice (but not actually doing anything in there), in and out of my room, just sort of walking around. I said, "What are you doing?" "I don't know." "Do you feel sick?" "Yeah." "Are you going to throw up?" "I don't know." "Then HERE IS A BUCKET." Sure enough, he ended up throwing up. But it wasn't related to being SICK. And like I said, it's not uncommon for this to happen. He's even done it when NOT getting/getting over being sick.

 

This was probably a mistake, but I googled sleepwalking and vomiting and found several things saying this could be a type of epilepsy.:001_huh: Has anyone heard of this before????? Since it occurs so rarely and is so unpredictable, would they even be able to test for it?

 

He'll be having a check-up soon, but honestly I expect his doctor to just sort of blow it off. Which is FINE if it's truly no big deal, but I want to MAKE SURE it's no big deal, KWIM? It just doesn't seem normal to me for someone to sleepwalk and end up throwing up.

[*~Tina~*]

I have a daughter with epilepsy and this all sounds very familiar. For at least a year before we actually observed her having a tonic-clonic seizure and took her to the ER for evaluation, she was having many of the symptoms you mentioned. . .waking in the night disoriented, we'd find her lying in vomit where she had thrown up in the night without realizing it, times when she seemed to be "spaced-out", just odd things that seemed somewhat peculiar, yet nothing we could really put our fingers on specifically.

 

Pediatrician spent a year saying he thought she had migranes and did not look any further. :glare:

 

Illness can increase seizure activity for some. And with some types you can see an increase in those hours of falling asleep and waking up.

 

I'd at least insist on a basic EEG, then depending, maybe a CT as well.

 

ETA: that was the only tonic-clonic seizure we observed, since being on meds she has complex partial seizures - not much better really but not quite as scary and outwardly observable to the untrained eye. Just wanted to add that because some folks only think of the convulsive type of seizures, but there are many other types with many other symptoms.

Edited April 3, 2011 by *~Tina~*

[razorbackmama]

So far I haven't even noticed any "spacy" moments during the day.

 

What is a tonic-clonic seizure?

 

Would an EEG show anything even when he's not actually in the middle of doing this weird thing? It doesn't even happen once a month - more like once a year...at least with the vomiting stuff. The sleepwalking used to happen quite often.

 

He is SORT OF aware of it all when it is happening, but not really, if that makes sense. He can remember it a bit afterward, but he can't really explain any of it.

[*~Tina~*]

So far I haven't even noticed any "spacy" moments during the day.

 

What is a tonic-clonic seizure?

 

Would an EEG show anything even when he's not actually in the middle of doing this weird thing? It doesn't even happen once a month - more like once a year...at least with the vomiting stuff. The sleepwalking used to happen quite often.

 

He is SORT OF aware of it all when it is happening, but not really, if that makes sense. He can remember it a bit afterward, but he can't really explain any of it.

 

These are not all inclusive descriptions . . .

 

Tonic-clonic is a generalized seizure, the convulsive outward body twitching type that affects the whole brain.

 

Partial seizures affect part of the brain (left or right hemisphere, etc) - stiff hands, repetitive motions, chewing motions, spaced out look, eyes deviating, confusing talk, and more (these can generalize as well).

 

Depending on the severity of the seizure my dd may or may not remember what's happened. It varies in her case. Sometimes she is "post-ictal" for seconds, sometimes for minutes. Sometimes she goes straight to sleep.

 

An EEG can provide helpful information and is the basic starting point if you suspect seizures. It can show abnormal brain activity in some cases, but a child with seizures can also have a normal EEG. Again, it's just a basic starting point that may or may not be helpful.

 

I've learned that evaluating and diagnosing seizures is not an exact science!

 

In our case dd had an abnormal EEG. It showed what they call "brain sparks" which in her case helped confirm her seizure activity. This shows up regardless of current seizure activity.

 

He could very well NOT have seizures, but since that is what you asked about and the symptoms you described sounded very familiar, I wanted to share what I would do, if I knew then what I know now ;)

[razorbackmama]

Thanks, Tina!

[prairiewindmomma]

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Edited November 10, 2021 by prairiewindmomma

[razorbackmama]

Thanks!

 

I've been pondering the timeline of when all this started. I tried asking my dh if the sleepwalking stuff started when we lived in Arkansas, and he was like, GOSH I DON'T KNOW.:lol: But I don't really remember it happening there. So that means it all started sometime after June 2004, when he was 7.

 

The first vomit episode happened sometime in December 2004, when he was 7.5. One night when dh was out of town, ds came and got into bed with me. I can't remember if he actually SAID he'd had a bad dream or if I just assumed it because he was extremely shaky and shivering like he was super scared. The next day he was fine overall but I remember driving at one point and he looked like he was going to be sick to his stomach. That night, about an hour after bed he came down and was wandering around. I asked if he felt OK and he said no. So I put down the baby I was holding, ran and got a bowl, and made it just in time to catch the barf. I thought maybe he was getting a stomach virus, but he was fine.

 

He continued to sleepwalk sometimes on and off through the years.

 

Then in Jan. 2008 we moved here. He was almost 11. His dad had allowed him to watch some of Terminator 3 one evening before I said NO MORE and made them change the channel. At about the "normal" time he came upstairs from his room and was wandering around. I told him to go back to bed. Then sometime a couple hours later he woke me up and told me that he'd thrown up, which sure enough, he had. We attributed it to the scary movie he'd watch.

 

The 3rd time, he was running a slight fever from a cold or something, and he came into our room wandering around. We told him to go back to bed and he started to retch. Fortunately he made it to the bathroom that time LOL.

 

The 4th time, he'd come downstairs and was wandering around. I think maybe he got a drink of water??? I can't remember exactly, but I think I remember asking if he felt OK and he said yes. On his way up the stairs he stopped and threw up all over the stairs. He had had a full glass of milk and a full glass of egg nog along with his supper, so we attributed it to just having kind of an acidic tummy.

 

Then a couple nights ago was the 5th time.

 

One thing that is also very interesting though possibly coincidental (but of course the worry-wart in me wonders if it is related) is that he has some learning issues. They started after all of the sleepwalking started. It wasn't a sudden thing, but definitely prior to age 8-9 he was absolutely normal and doing fine in school. He has been diagnosed with Mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorder and Central Auditory Processing Disorder. He has also been incorrectly diagnosed with PDD-NOS. I almost wonder if it's all related somehow.

 

I wonder if I could get some sort of consult with a pediatric neurologist without my ds actually knowing about it first. He's a minor hypochondriac and TIRED of all the evaluations and stuff. Do you think a ped. neuro. would be willing to talk to me about it all first to see if it would warrant having ds be seen?

[*~Tina~*]

This is all so familiar, right down to learning issues and pdd, but those are issues that continue for us.

 

I remember the first time my daughter vomited outside of sleep, she had this strangely blank look on her face and just stood there making no effort to get to a recepticle or even to project it away from herself. This was BEFORE we knew she was having seizures and I was so baffled by it.

 

Then when I would find her in vomit. I couldn't understand how someone could throw up and not even realize it and continue to lay there in it.

 

When I'd find her wandering at night, disoriented, I just assumed she was sleepwalking.

 

There weren't any earth shattering symptoms popping out at us - just weird things that didn't seem to make much sense and left me puzzled.

 

Anywho, she hasn't had any of those type episodes for a while. Her seizures patterns have changed with med's and puberty over the years. Plus, in her situation, she is very sensitive to med's and they have many times made things worse for her.

 

She just tried a new adjunctive med that we started in December, it gave her more seizures, with increased intensity. Then the weaning process made it temporarily worse. :glare:

 

Today, she had a seizure where she was feeling funny, hot, her face was flushed, her body tingling, and she had this pitiful, fearful look on her face. This was a mild episode outwardly, but inwardly not so mild. It left her exhausted with a migraine level headache. :crying: It just breaks my heart!

 

The thing with seizures is that what you see outwardly doesn't always reflect the gravity of what is taking place inwardly. I'd definitely get him in for a basic evaluation by a pediatric neuro. I'd imagine they would want to see him, talk to him and do some tests. I doubt they could tell you much otherwise.

 

It will likely take you a while to get an appointment with the Ped. Neuro, so be prepared to wait if you go that route :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: seizures are an electrical storm in the brain, thus learning disabilities and other neurological issues (PDD, ADHD, etc.) are often seen in conjuction with seizure disorders.

Edited April 3, 2011 by *~Tina~*

[razorbackmama]

Interesting you should mention a migraine. He had his first one a month or so ago. His baby brother threw a sippy cup that hit him in the head. Yeah, it smarted, but the baby was like 14 months old, so it's not like it was HARD, ya know? Anyway, within 5 minutes ds said, "Mom, why are my eyes all funny?" From what it sounds like it was a visual aura. Then shortly after he got an incredible headache that wouldn't go away with Tylenol and spent the rest of the day in bed with a mask over his eyes.

[*~Tina~*]

Wow, the similarities are giving me chills!

 

I understand what you're saying. I can't see a sippy cup giving a migraine and visual aura like that. Sounds like you got those "peculiars" things going on like we had.

 

Of course, I don't want to alarm you by any means, but I would definitely encourage meeting with the pediatric neuro as you are able to.

 

My dd has visual aura's too - she often sees flashing lights, spots of color, blurred vision, and here in the last couple years, partial and sometimes complete loss of vision during some of her seizures. Talk about scary!

 

Less frequently she will have a sense of deja vu.

[razorbackmama]

Wow, thanks, Tina.

 

Ds has never really complained of anything else, and trust me, if he experienced anything, he'd be the first to complain about it.:lol: He is such a hypochondriac LOL!!!!!

 

Probably the only thing he might not mention is deja vu, probably because he wouldn't think it was medical enough to be concerned about LOL.