Seizures Anxiety or Epilepsy ?

My 14yrs old daughter had a seizure ( straight out of the blue) in 2006 and went on to have further seizures in the following months. Following a brain scan she was diagnosed with Epilepsy and has been taking anti-epileptic medication since then which have controlled the sizures in the main. She sufferred a period of bullying at school and developed phobia type symptoms. As a result I have been home educationg my daughter as subsequent attempts at integrating her into other schools have failed. She now attends an alternative education programme for one hour per week and in the days prior to her attendance at the centre where she receives the education her anxiety increases and then she seizures. Her seizures are typical epilepsy siezures... jerking limbs, hyoerventilating and unciousness. This happened again this week but she was going inot another seizure before regaining conciousness (6 times) and an ambulance was called to take her into hospital. The Consultant who made the original diagnosis has written to me today to say that she is withdrawing the diagnosis of epilepsy, stopping the anti-epeleptic medication and stated that the seizures are not epilleptic and they are "episodes" caused by her anxiety and a bit of attention seeking too. The Consultant states that because the "episodes" occur in the days leading up to my daughter having to do something which she doesnt want to do, she has come to this conclusion. She is being backed in her findings by a child psychologist who has seen my daughter on three occasions. The consultant tells me when my girl has these "episodes"I have to make her safe and leave the room !! What parent could leave their child unconcious on the floor!! I dont know what to do. Can anyone help me ?

[greenlydia]

Seeing as how you're in the UK, this might not be as easy as it is over here, but I would most definitely seek out another opinion.
Do you have a children's hospital you can take your daughter to?
I'm afraid I'm just not qualified to give you much more advice than that. But I can totally understand you not wanting to leave your child alone when she has a seizure. That sounds rather brutal to me. Unfortunately there IS a "but" here............your daughter is old enough to know how to push your buttons. There is a possiblility the psychologist was right in thinking your daughter is using these "seizures" to avoid doing something she doesn't want to do. I'm just doing the devil advocate thing here.........I am definitely not saying it's one thing or the other. More testing, both medical and psychological are needed to get to the bottom of this.
I'm sorry you're having to go through this. It can't be easy. I wish you the best in getting the answers you need.
Peace
Greenlydia

[closmum]

Thank you for taking the time to reply........ I am going to ask my daughters doctor to refer her for a second opinion. Many thanks for your advice.
Kind regards

[jojoc37]

Hi I have been suffering with seizures since i was 6, only the last couple of years they have become more frequent and worse, i had all the tests and my diagnosis is reflex anoxic seizures where my blood pressures suddenly drops causing me to have a seizure, leading up to a seizure i have some sort of stress in my life so i have been put on anti-anxiety meds, they havent stopped but they have been less servere, i dont believe you can bring on a seizure and why would you want to they are not nice, do not leave your daughter while she is having one that is ridiculous in my opinion, when i come round i need to see someone for comfort, can u tell me what happens with your daughter while going through one and what she is like after? I hope you get some answers, jo

[closmum]

Hi and thank you for your response. When she is going through the seizure ( she normally has some warning... sometimes a few hours sometimes a few days) she jerks all 4 limbs, hyperventilates and sometimes foams at the mouth. She is completely unconcious and non responsive. Afterwards she is non responsive for anything up to 30 mins although she is concious she is unable to talk and thereafter her speech returns and she can answer simple questions like where are you ? and what day is it ?. She is very very hungry in the following few hours and sleeps for ages sometimes 14/15 hours. Today I called her GP who at my request is referring her to a neurologist who specialises in Epilepsy. Take care and keep well X

[jojoc37]

Hi, Your daughter sounds a little different to me when i have a seizure but then everyone is different, you are doing the right thing by persueing this i was fobbed off for years till i said it was affecting my day to day life, if they dont find anything with the neurologist then ask to see a cardiologist, as i said not all seizures are related to epilepsy, and so many people are miss diagnoised, please keep us posted with her progress, take care of yourself as well as your daughter, jo x

[kat310]

Hi, i actually do not have seizures but my brother does, he never had them before but he recently started about 2 yrs ago give or take a few months. We didnt know the exact cause of it because nobody in our family has ever had seizures, but he was suffering from alot of anxiety. The doctor has done alot of  testing on him and has diagnosed him with epilepsy. He says its due to his anxiety so he is on xanax. He jsut recently had another seizure and it was because he had ran out of his anxiety pills and did not take them for 2 days and his anxiety levels got really high which caused him to have a seizure. It is very frustrating to see him like this and feel so powerless. I hope your daughter gets better.