Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 We had the strangest occurrence the other night. We heard our 4.5 year old son walking around the house in the middle of the night. While he often comes down the hall to our bed, never has he just wandered around. When I got up, I found him in our dining room just "staring into space". While he wasn't completely "non-communicative", he had a glazed "far-away" look and he clearly wasn't all there. I got him back to bed. He had no recollection of being up when we asked about it the next morning, and he's fully back to normal. But it was "strange". Is this "sleepwalking"? Is this fairy common with children? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 My daughter just did this the last 2 out of 3 nights. I think it is sleepwalking. In her case, she just started a new allergy medication and I was wondering if it was related to that. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Let's see - which of your 3 posts :tongue_smilie: should I answer?! Yes, that is sleepwalking. Usually kids out-grow it by the time they are teens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Let's see - which of your 3 posts :tongue_smilie: should I answer?! Yes, that is sleepwalking. Usually kids out-grow it by the time they are teens. Hey, how did that happen??? If I caused the triple-posting (I must have been sleep-posting :tongue_smilie:) I apologize. :001_smile: Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clwcain Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Normal part of their growing up. All three of ours have engaged in some form of sleepwalking/sleepcrawling including eating while sound asleep and having nightmares while "awake". Freaked me out the first few times it happened because, with our oldest, it was accompanied by the onset of Night Terrors. But all is well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yes! And from what I've read, it is fairly common. I had a few episodes growing up and my little brother did too. He had a bad habit of sleepwalking when he needed to go to the bathroom and did his business in a few different corners of the house, thinking the whole time he was in the bathroom. :001_huh: My dd 4.5 doesn't sleepwalk but she does have night terrors where her eyes are open and she is and crying/thrashing....but she isn't really awake. If she does wake up, she says she is scared but can't tell me why or what she's scared about, just that she feels scared. It seems to happen more often if she is upset or overtired when she goes to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yes! And from what I've read, it is fairly common. I had a few episodes growing up and my little brother did too. He had a bad habit of sleepwalking when he needed to go to the bathroom and did his business in a few different corners of the house, thinking the whole time he was in the bathroom. :001_huh: OK, I had edited out one small detail of the story. I also found a big puddle in the den. Gotta love hard-wood floors. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 OK, I had edited out one small detail of the story. I also found a big puddle in the den. Gotta love hard-wood floors. Bill When our daughter was sleep walking one time she did try to communicate that she had to go to bathroom, but she walked right by the one upstairs, came down a flight of stairs and was on her way to the basement bathroom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Bill, It sounds like it could be a seizure. I'd call the doc. My dd has epilepsy and she has been like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 My ds did that several times when he was about that age...except instead of leaving puddles, he once fed our dog an entire box of Cheez-its! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapphireStitch Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 OK, I had edited out one small detail of the story. I also found a big puddle in the den. Gotta love hard-wood floors. Bill I've got a pee-walker, too. He only sleepwalks when he's had a lot of fluids in the evening. We kind of steer him to the bathroom and help him get his pants down, and steer him back to bed when he's done. By the time he's back in bed he *seems* awake, but he seldom remembers the next morning that he was up. My brother did this as a boy, too. Unfortunately for my parents, his targeted areas weren't as obvious and easy to clean as a hard-wood floor.:) (Laundry hamper, dresser drawer, linen closet, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Bill, It sounds like it could be a seizure. I'd call the doc. My dd has epilepsy and she has been like this. A seizure??? Really. He seemed quite calm, but I guess I don't really know what seizure symptoms are like, other than media-versions of a gran mal seizures. He doesn't have epilepsy (as far as we know). And has never had any "strange" episodes or reasons for concern previously. I hope it is sleep-walking. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaC Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) It can also be a sign that the child has a seizure disorder. Our oldest son had a period of 3 weeks of night terrors and then began to regress. He seizures only happened while he was asleep and took place in the language area of the brain and no one would have known they were happening without a 24 hour EEG. He was a gifted baby speaking long words at 5 months, running at 5 months, ect. At a year he was playing tunes on the piano. His nonverbal IQ since age 6 has consistently been in the highly gifted range. The night terrors happened when he was 20 months and by age 3 he was mute, brain deaf, had severe vision problems and operating at the level of a normal 1 year old or below when it came to fine motor skills, and his behavior was that of a very low functioning autisic child. He had something called Landau-Kleffner. Which hits most children between the ages of 3 and 7. Our oldest son gets the v (variant) on his diagnosis because it hit so early. My niece also has LSKv along with some other seizure disorders and she walked in her sleep and had night terrors also as did my younger son who developed LKS around age 3. For most kids sleep walking and night terrors can be normal however I would keep an eye on it. We let our older son go too long because folks we talked to including our pediatrician said it was normal. When our younger son began the same behavior we took him to our Pediatric Neurologist for an complete work up and he did not regress as severely as our oldest son did. Sleep walking and night terrors are on the check list of symptoms for kids with LKS and similar disorders. LKS is rare but I thought I should add in our story. Edited February 19, 2009 by RebeccaC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaC Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) A seizure??? Really. He seemed quite calm, but I guess I don't really know what seizure symptoms are like, other than media-versions of a gran mal seizures. He doesn't have epilepsy (as far as we know). And has never had any "strange" episodes or reasons for concern previously. I hope it is sleep-walking. Bill Yep the unresponsiveness is what raised red flags for me. There are some kids who just stare into space for a few seconds and that is the only signal that they are having a seizure. I did reading therapy with a girl that would lose everything in her short term memory after such a seizure lasting only 15 or 30 seconds of staring. Her Neurologist had me chart her seizures. Your ds may not have a seizure disorder at all however it is good to know that what you describe could be normal or a signal that something is wrong. Edited February 19, 2009 by RebeccaC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanestMomInMidwest Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Sounds like sleepwalking. All of my dc have done this. My mother *loves* to tell of one incident when I sleepwalked into the closet and peed in the toybox (yes, I'm a girl, and the way she tells the story is pretty funny). We've also gone through night terrors with both boys. dd4 has not had night terrors, she's still in the family bed, so when she bolts straight up in bed, I'm right there to talk her down. They were all unresponsive when sleepwalking (although we could physically guide them back to bed) and the older ones have outgrown it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 A seizure??? Really. He seemed quite calm, but I guess I don't really know what seizure symptoms are like, other than media-versions of a gran mal seizures. He doesn't have epilepsy (as far as we know). And has never had any "strange" episodes or reasons for concern previously. I hope it is sleep-walking. Bill I should have been more specific. It sounds like a postictal state...the period after the seizure while the brain is recovering. And urination can happen during seizures or after. My dd was a sleepwalker, and had night terrors and has epilepsy. I'm just saying that it is possible that this is not just an "innocent" sleepwalking episode. Knowing this board, I'm sure someone will contradict me and/or scold me for overreacting to a normal childhood occurence. I don't give a hoot. Seizures can be life or death events that can appear out of nowhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yep the unresponsiveness is what raised red flags for me. There are some kids who Thank you for bring it to my attention (and the attention of other parents reading the thread). I'll certainly keep an eye-out. He's never had night-terrors (to my knowledge) or ever walked around before. But he certainly wasn't fully conscious the other night. Hmmm. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanestMomInMidwest Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I should have been more specific. It sounds like a postictal state...the period after the seizure while the brain is recovering. And urination can happen during seizures or after. My dd was a sleepwalker, and had night terrors and has epilepsy. I'm just saying that it is possible that this is not just an "innocent" sleepwalking episode. Knowing this board, I'm sure someone will contradict me and/or scold me for overreacting to a normal childhood occurence. I don't give a hoot. Seizures can be life or death events that can appear out of nowhere. You're right, it is very common to be incontinent of urine during seizure activity (although usually not during absence seizures). My experience with seizures is that during time after a seizure (postictal) the person is weak, sweaty, and slow to regain responsiveness, but usually not walking (and this is not said to contradict you, really). "My experience" is not the be-all and end-all, just my experience, fwiw. I also do not know the incidence of sleepwalking/night terrors in seizure disorders, or if the correlation is casual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I should have been more specific. It sounds like a postictal state...the period after the seizure while the brain is recovering. And urination can happen during seizures or after. My dd was a sleepwalker, and had night terrors and has epilepsy. I'm just saying that it is possible that this is not just an "innocent" sleepwalking episode. Knowing this board, I'm sure someone will contradict me and/or scold me for overreacting to a normal childhood occurence. I don't give a hoot. Seizures can be life or death events that can appear out of nowhere. I really do appreciate your input (even though you are scaring me a little). Did you have other evidence of seizures, or epilepsy, or frequent night-terrors before seeing incidents that could be thought to be sleep-walking (or potentially a postictal state)? I don't want to "panic", but I don't want to be indifferent if there is good cause for concern. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaC Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Thank you for bring it to my attention (and the attention of other parents reading the thread). I'll certainly keep an eye-out. He's never had night-terrors (to my knowledge) or ever walked around before. But he certainly wasn't fully conscious the other night. Hmmm. Bill Bill I posted a bit more on the post. It may be that your ds has no problem at all. However it is good to know that it could be a sign of a problem. One thing you can do is chart how often it happens and if your ds has any problems the next day. If there are problems the next day chart what they are. I used to keep a calendar just for such charting. If there are no problems in learning or behavior or emotional meltdowns your ds probably does not have a seizure disorder.... However if you see a pattern with the sleep disturbance and or what happens the next day I would think about seeing a Pediatric Neurologist. The best in the world, imho, is now in Sacramento his name is Dr. Michael Chez. He was our doc and JFS in IL' and is worth every penny. Edited February 19, 2009 by RebeccaC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Bill I posted a bit more on the post. It may be that your ds has no problem at all. However it is good to know that it could be a sign of a problem. One thing you can do is chart how often it happens and if your ds has any problems the next day. If there are problems the next day chart what they are. I used to keep a calendar just for such charting. If there are no problems in learning or behavior or emotional meltdowns your ds probably does not have a seizure disorder.... However if you see a pattern with the sleep disturbance and or what happens the next day I would think about seeing a Pediatric Neurologist. The best in the world, imho, is now in Sacramento his name is Dr. Michael Chez. He was our doc and JFS in IL' and is worth every penny. This happened two nights ago. He's seemed absolutely "himself" since. Last night, since Grandmother was over and sleeping in his bed, he slept with us without incident. He's never had night-terrors or displayed any indication of any malady, save colds and ear infections. His behavior is normal, and he is extraordinarily bright and quite adept in learning new concepts and retaining details from read alouds (and real life experiences) that constantly surprise me. So other than this one incident, I'd have no cause for concern. But I will be vigilant to monitor him. My thanks to you and Unsinkable for alerting me to the potential this episode could be a sign of bigger problems. I appreciate it. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I really do appreciate your input (even though you are scaring me a little). Did you have other evidence of seizures, or epilepsy, or frequent night-terrors before seeing incidents that could be thought to be sleep-walking (or potentially a postictal state)? I don't want to "panic", but I don't want to be indifferent if there is good cause for concern. Bill Bill, My dd had night terrors & sleepwalking before her seizure diagnosis. The night she went into status epilepticus we heard something from upstairs. She was crawling around her bed (she was 6) and she had vomitted on her pile of books. She had been running to the bathroom to get sick for a while so this was unusual...let alone throwing up on books. It was so odd. She couldn't talk. We carried her downstairs; she was still trying to crawl around. We noticed she was drooling and smacking her lips. Still non-responsive verbally. Her right arm started shaking and within a minute her entire right side was shaking. Called 911. The eventual diagnosis was complex-partial seizures. They added absence seizures several years later but she had been having them all along. Other evidence of seizures that we never recognized: Staring. Taking a long time to respond to questions. Saying she got lost in her thoughts/lost her train of thought/forgot what she was thinking about. Vomiting without being sick (it was postictal thing she did). There were things but we didn't put it all together until the night of the status. I don't know which of the sleepwalking episodes that she had were really complex-partial seizures or post-ictal behavior. I don't want to scare you. Just keep an eye out. It is probably a horse, not a zebra. Let not your heart be troubled. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 OK, I had edited out one small detail of the story. I also found a big puddle in the den. Gotta love hard-wood floors. Bill :iagree:with the hardwood floors. :001_smile: It's quite possible that he simply had to go to the bathroom, and got out of bed to go without completely waking up. If it continues to happen you could try getting him out of bed and taking him to use the bathroom when you go to bed, and see if that solves the problem. Hopefully it's nothing more serious than that. For those of you that brought up seizure possibility, is it possible for seizure activity to happen exclusively at night, with no signs during daytime hours? These responses have made me curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Our older two sleep walk and have night terrors. It's fairly common. A recent sleepwalking incident in our house involved our daughter letting out a blood curling scream followed by running (literally) down the stairs while saying something only partially intelligible along the lines of "Get away from me!", running back up the stairs, and hopping back into bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muffinmom Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 My sister used to sleepwalk through the house and my parents even caught her one night starting to unlock the back door and go out--yikes. She was in 3rd or 4th grade at that time. Bill, I sure hope it is just the sleepwalking and that everything is OK. Do keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 It's quite possible that he simply had to go to the bathroom, and got out of bed to go without completely waking up. If it continues to happen you could try getting him out of bed and taking him to use the bathroom when you go to bed, and see if that solves the problem. :iagree: Our middle child will moan, groan, and cry in bed without waking up. He is completely unresponsive verbally. It took us a while to figure out that he needed to use the restroom but wasn't awake enough to understand that. The very simple solution is to tell him to use the bathroom. Once he has that suggestion, he gets up, uses the bathroom and returns to bed without ever waking up or remembering it in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 :iagree:with the hardwood floors. :001_smile: It's quite possible that he simply had to go to the bathroom, and got out of bed to go without completely waking up. If it continues to happen you could try getting him out of bed and taking him to use the bathroom when you go to bed, and see if that solves the problem. Hopefully it's nothing more serious than that. For those of you that brought up seizure possibility, is it possible for seizure activity to happen exclusively at night, with no signs during daytime hours? These responses have made me curious. Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaC Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Bill, you probably have nothing to fear at all. Our son was not like the other poster's child. After the 3 weeks of night terrors he only slept 3 hours out of 24 and began what at first was a subtle declines which after a year became rapid. Our younger son did not have night terrors just sleep walking and begin to have some articulation problems with his speech. LKS is very different from partial complex seizures which my niece went on to developed along with her LKS. With LKS the signs will be centered around ADD, language, articulation, auditory and communications problems. If you notice problems in those areas with a pattern of sleep disturbances; as in night terrors, sleep walking, no movement during sleep, too much movement, very hard to wake a child up, very hard for a child to go to sleep, no movement at all during sleep, very easy for a child to wake up, excess verbal behavior, ect.... anything thing that becomes a pattern. LKS is a sleep seizure auto immune disorder and what can be normal for other children, sleepwalking, ect.... will not be normal for children with LKS. Edited February 19, 2009 by RebeccaC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Two out of our four kids sleepwalk, and it's true that they outgrow it in their teens, BUT they get a very active period (more sleepwalking) before it stops. We had that very active period last year. Several things have happened when my son SW. He never wet himself or anything, but I do hear that's normal, but he DID end up outside, locked out of the house. He awoke wet from the dew on the grass and in a panic. That was the only time he awoke. Other times he'd walk into his brother's room and empty his brother's drawers, refold the clothing and place it back, all while older brother kept telling him, "LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE! HEY...... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP IT! GO AWAY!!!" :lol: Younger son slept right through it all. He also would walk into the tv room and sit and watch tv - all in his sleep (we always knew by "that look" and the way he could NOT respond to any questions.) He would walk into someone's room and start talking complete nonsense, etc. The only thing that worried me was walking down stairs and letting himself outside. We're glad that probably won't happen again. He's not done this in almost a year now. We learned to guide our kid back to bed. I've heard you're not supposed to wake them. Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Sounds like normal sleep walking. This is not uncommon in children. I have one that talks and laughs in her sleep and one that had night terrors. One time she got up, went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, sat on the bottom ledge and peed. We were unable to wake her up. One of my brothers slept walked as well and he was one to open the door and go outside. That brother did have epilepsy though so I am not discounting that possibility but I would take a wait and see approach. I ran one of my girls through the ringer two years ago because she had two definite seizures and we have family history of epilepsy in more than one person. After tons of testing, it turned out that she did not have epilesy. Epilepsy is not the only thing that will cause seizures and in her case they never did figure out what did cause it but it hasn't happened again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 My blood pressure is coming down :D I'll keep watch, and hope for the best. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I have a sleepwalker/pee-er too. The peeing not so much now, but when she was younger she was known to sleep pee in odd places. She would also wander around the house and be fairly unresponsive. Or she'd mumble non-sense. She's eight now and has done this occassionally since she was around 2. I just keep bells on our outside doors, and sleep REAL light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Sounds like normal sleep walking. This is not uncommon in children. I have one that talks and laughs in her sleep and one that had night terrors. One time she got up, went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, sat on the bottom ledge and peed. We were unable to wake her up. One of my brothers slept walked as well and he was one to open the door and go outside. That brother did have epilepsy though so I am not discounting that possibility but I would take a wait and see approach. I ran one of my girls through the ringer two years ago because she had two definite seizures and we have family history of epilepsy in more than one person. After tons of testing, it turned out that she did not have epilesy. Epilepsy is not the only thing that will cause seizures and in her case they never did figure out what did cause it but it hasn't happened again. My dd's life was in danger. The first thing the ER doc told me the seizure was most likely caused by a tumor, a bleed or a lesion. She was still in status & they couldn't stabilize her. It turned out to be none of these. I thank God daily that it was just epilepsy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yes. Thanks. These boards have definitely proved to be a wealth of knowledge for me, and not just for homeschooling topics. I think I learn something new each time I log on. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks. These boards have definitely proved to be a wealth of knowledge for me, and not just for homeschooling topics. I think I learn something new each time I log on. :001_smile: :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.