newbie Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 Did you get any symptoms in the beginning to give you a clue or afterwards say aha? My dd is getting a facial tick and my mom has/had epilepsy. Wondering if I should be concerned? Anyone have dc prescreened, if runs in family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I had epilepsy as a child, from the age of 10 to @ 15, when they took me off the meds and I have been seizure free since. My son, who is 9, started having seizures in March. The Dr. diagnosed him as having general tonic clonic seizures and he is on medication twice a day. We didn't/don't notice any symptoms and he has a seizure without warning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cillakat Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 Did you get any symptoms in the beginning to give you a clue or afterwards say aha? My dd is getting a facial tick and my mom has/had epilepsy. Wondering if I should be concerned? Anyone have dc prescreened, if runs in family? I'd think I'd head in to the neurologist. Also, I'd be getting her vitamin d tested asap and then treating it to get it up to the optimal 50-55 ng/mL (ie not just lab norms, but optimal) http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567073 Actually since most are vitamin D deficienct, it's worth it to test anyone. Hypovitaminosis D is a true epidemic if looking at optimal levels and not just the sub optimal lab norms. vitamindcouncil.org All the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheryl Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I hope it didn't seems offensive to use the word special needs. But, yes, epilepsy is considered a special needs as it effects so many areas: physical, emotional, educational, etc. It's not a sin to have this condition and there are many different types of special needs cases like what you mentioned on the other board earlier, like: diabetes, etc. Hope that you know I was not being insensitive, but there are so many categories for things nowadays so when one goes to a specialist it's for that specific purpose. I hope some of this is making sense. Hope all goes well!! Shery from the other board Did you get any symptoms in the beginning to give you a clue or afterwards say aha? My dd is getting a facial tick and my mom has/had epilepsy. Wondering if I should be concerned? Anyone have dc prescreened, if runs in family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niffercoo Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 My son is 12 and had his first seizure in August, and his 2nd two weeks ago. He began meds two weeks after his first seizure, when he had an abnormal EEG. After the second seizure, his meds were increased. We have no family history of seizures, and this came on without warning. Austin is on the autism spectrum, and I understand there is a greater chance of seizures for kids on the spectrum. Other than that, who knows where this came from. And he has "complex partial seizures with secondary generalization" which for him makes him lose awareness, fall down (no twitching or convulsing), and stare. When he comes to, he has memory loss (cannot tell you what day it is, or anything he's done). His memory comes back around after awhile, but it's so scary while you're waiting and he's telling you it's March when it's October, and can't remember the name for the word "socks" and can't find his bedroom. Last time he fell asleep for an hour and woke up completely fine, was only confused about why he was in bed already, and didn't remember he'd had a seizure. There is no trigger that we've identified yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I get the slightest tick beneath my right eye. I have partial seizures, temporal lobe epilepsy (genetic). (that's their current best guess :glare: ) asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 I get the slightest tick beneath my right eye. I have partial seizures, temporal lobe epilepsy (genetic). (that's their current best guess :glare: ) asta Asta, Is that all you get is a tick. Or do you have actual seizures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Did you get any symptoms in the beginning to give you a clue or afterwards say aha? My dd is getting a facial tick and my mom has/had epilepsy. Wondering if I should be concerned? Anyone have dc prescreened, if runs in family? I'm copying and pasting my answer on the general board here. Just because I need to tell my son's story, because it helps me, too. There are many different types of epilepsy. Some are genetic, some are not. Those that are genetic do not skip generations. The tics you describe later in this thread are indicitive of certain types of epilepsy. Please, take your child in to your doctor to get checked out and possibly referred to a neurologist. And acutally, there are many subspecialties in neurology, and it would be best to see an epilepologist, one who specializes in epilepsy. My son was just diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. It is absolutely genetic, as his father has it, his grandmother had it (after menopause her EEGs were normal) and several cousins in the family have it. The symptoms were myoclonic jerks. My son asked me if my body ever jerked. We talked about it, and his description was like how your body sometimes jolts when you're falling asleep, only he was wide awake. He told me that this had been happening to him. I made a mental note of it when he told me, because at the time my father was in the VA dying and we were hundreds of miles from home. Well, as time wore on, Dad passed and I kind of forgot about it. Then we just so happened to be talking to a neurologist and he asked my DH when his started and how. DH said it was at puberty. The doctor said that's when JME typiclly starts, due to hormones. He then asked my DH if he had the myoclonic jerks. Nope. That's when I halted the conversation and told the good doctor what my son had told me. He said get him in immediately for an EEG ( electroencephalogram ). It's not an EKG, an EKG, electrocardiogram, checks problems with your heart. The EEG itself lasted over an hour, was painless, and DS fell asleep. (Which is a good thing to happen during an EEG.) The doctor then looked at the results, and sure enough, my DS had JME. So he's now on meds. We were lucky that he was diagnosed before ever having a grand mal (now I think the correct technical term is tonic clonic, but I am old fashioned, I guess) seizure. At any rate, one of the questions the doctor asked me was if my son had any tics, as they are indicators. My son did not. He also asked me if my son was diagnosed ADHD. We have never had an official diagnosis, but son definitely has attention issues, although he is not hyperactive. The doctor said that is very common to have ADHD with epilepsy. There are so many different types of epilepsy and different types of seizures. I think that if I were in your shoes, I'd talk to my doctor about it. I am so thankful that we got a diagnosis before my son ever had a grand mal/tonic clonic seizure. There is a really good Yahoo group called parents of kids with epilepsy. You might join and ask there, as there are many knowledgable parents there, and many different types of epilepsy are represented there. Best wishes to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Frankie, Thank you for telling your story, I have chills. I know what its like having it in the family. I am really afraid of all the meds. I can remember my mom having so many. And they were from the old days. I remember phenobarbitol the most. I dont want to make mountains out of mole hills. Because I think that will scare her. I am going to watch her and see if it happens again next month or gets worse during period. You know whats strange is noone else in family has it, not kids or any relatives I know of. That is why I was concerned about skipping generation. In those days, it was plain epilepsy, you medicated and went on w/your life. I appreciate all the support and suggestions and send you all my prayers and continued strength for all of you.:grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) Asta,Is that all you get is a tick. Or do you have actual seizures. Oh no - I have actual clonic seizures - I actually have epilepsy. But I thought you were asking if a tic could be a pre-cursor to a seizure. I get the tic when I am sleep-deprived. I view it as a warning that I need to slow down and sleep, else I will have a doozy of a seizure. My seizures aren't all that well controlled to begin with (my doc is trying, but not all epilepsies respond well to meds), so I have to be very careful about my lifestyle. asta Edited October 21, 2008 by asta tic not tick.... sorry - my dog had a tick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I put this on the general board but I thought I would bring it over here also. I will add that the medication my dd is on hasn't cause any problems as far as I can tell. It may have made her a bid moody but I think that is her personality a bit too :) I was really worried about medications at first also. I think they have made improvements in them. My 7 yr old dd has absence seizures. She started having them when she was 6. I thought she was giving me attitude because it looked like she was rolling her eyes at me. I also thought she wasn't paying attention. I'd give her this long speech about her behavior and when i was done she'd say "were you talking to me". Oh it made me so mad. I finally got a clue that she was having seizures. She's on medication now. I've heard that the early they start the more likely they are to outgrow them. I believe now that I had the same thing as a child. When I was around 6 until I was 10 I had a horrible time in school. It seemed like I missed things that were said during class. I would get tired all of a sudden (common after a seizure) and just space out. I remember my teacher talking to my mom about my excessive blinking (exactly what my dd was doing). I was never diagnosed. Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheryl Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Did you get any symptoms in the beginning to give you a clue or afterwards say aha? My dd is getting a facial tick and my mom has/had epilepsy. Wondering if I should be concerned? Anyone have dc prescreened, if runs in family? Newbie, When my daughter had "breakthrough" seizures called absence seizures aka staring spells she would expel air...an ugh/gutteral sound. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmomof2boys Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 My son has temporal lobe complex partial seizures. His first seizure lasted 1/2 hour and came without any warning whatsoever. His second seizure came without warning also and lasted over an hour (this was the only time it generalized). Medication was started. After years of medication, we found about high fat diets for epilepsy so we started him on the modified low glycemic diet. He is still on medication at this point. In the last 2 months since the diet began, he is still having the same seizure pattern, but his seizures are actually getting much milder. We also see definite improvement in all areas of his life. He feels great and learning comes easier to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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