tonic-clonic only in people who have epilepsy??

my husband had a seizure at about 7:30am about a month ago. i believe it was a tonic clonic seizure..it WAS drug related...he had a loud moan..then his muscles contracted, he rolled around, sweat beads rolling off his face, waived his arms for about a minute then fell asleep. later woke up very confused. we went to the hospital got released 3 hours later. less than an hour after coming home he had another seizure. this one he was sitting up, watching basketball talking to me, stopped talking, and his head turned to the right and he had a glazed look (thought he was joking because hes a prankster) then his muscles started contracting again and i helped him to the floor so he didnt get hurt....dr sent him home with 20 lorazepam...ofcourse my husband did not take them all (he probably took 6 total) he refused saying dr's and meds are all a big game to get more money....i tried to get him to listen but he didnt. ANYWAY about a month later...at about 7:30am again he had the same kind of seizure as the first one...loud moan, muscle contraction, waive of arms, sweat.....but this time it lasted 1 minute and he literally JUMPED OUT OF BED, ran to our back door and tried to get out. luckily i stopped him at the door....he was trying to unlock the door i would stop him he would push my hands away mumbling "NOOOOOOOO...!!" then he just gave up and urinated in the sink....i guess he was trying to urinate outside i dont know but i didnt want him to get hit by a car or get hurt. after he urinated he stood by the sink coherant, knowing his name, where we were, but not knowing he had a seizure. the EMS arrived took him to hospital...and results came back seizure for UNKNOWN reason..not drug related. i have never seen someone have a seizure before him and i can say it is TRUELY HORRIFIC.....so ive been reading up on it and tonic clonic seizures keep going back to people with epilepsy..he has no background of this in his family...is it possible to have tonic clonic seizures without having epilepsy?? also he refuses to go to a neurosurgeon. i keep trying to convince him. this last seizure just happened 4.18.09..yesterday. so i am still trying. IF ANYONE HAS ANY COMMENTS OR ADVICE..PLEASE PLEASE HELP I AM SO CONCERNED FOR HIM. we have a 1 year old child and i want him to be around...and has anyone ever heard of someone having a seizure and then jumping out of bed??? thats crazy to me.......

[amomma78704]

well he had one again at the same TIME ABOUT 7:30AM the next morning but we are going to see a neurologist tomorrow..

[nick30]

hi there. i used to have siezures, haven't had one for about 5 years now. in my opinion they are worse for family watching thier loved one seizing. i'm not sure what kind of advice you are after but i'll tell you this. DON'T LET HIM DRIVE AT ALL. he will kill himself and or others. tell him to grow up and take his meds. i can understand people thinking dr's and drug companies are money making machines, but when you start seizing it's time to cut the ****. he needs to take it seriously. he probably has a low siezure threshhold. this means essentially that he has adult onset epilepsy. you said it was drug related. what kind of drugs? even if he stops taking thse drugs, he can still continue to have seizures for many months, years even. possibly forever. please, he must not drive. call the police if he tries to. if he kills some kids because he has a seizure how will you feel? sorry to be like this, but your husband needs to understand that his illness can cause harm to others.
if you need further info, please contact me.

Nick.

[chadley71]

i just turned 38 this past easter and i have had epilepsy since i was 10 years old, i have been a single parent of my 11 year old son since he was 6 months old. i used to have the worse type of seizures (grand mal), i take depakote 1500mg daily and see the doctor once a year for annual checkups at IU medical center in indianapolis.
the main things to do is stay away from stress and take your meds.

[Sisteranita3]

I must concur with the advice given above.  I was told that I suffered seizures as an infant (1956).  I did not have another one until 1980.  I suffer gran mal seizures of "unknown" cause.  This is not abnormal, in fact I was told by my Neurologist that it is best when no cause can be found as usually a cause could be brain tumor or something else just as serious.

You must get your husband to grow up and realize that medication is not just something that dr's hand out to help companies make money.  Also, it is my understanding that when a person has more than 1 or 2 seizures, that when the condition repeats and repeats itself, YOU DO HAVE EPILEPSY.  It is an ailment, not a curse.  He would not object to taking cold medicine for a cold, would he???

Perhaps if you let him read the description you have written above about his actions he would take you and his doctor seriously.  Surely he cannot think that urinating in the sink is normal??  I have not ever seen someone experience a seizure, but when you wake up on the floor enough times, wake up with your tongue chewed up, wake up with your foot bleeding because you hit something while having a seizure, you tend to take things seriously.

I thought that no one else in my family had seizures.  Now I find out that a first cousin also suffers this ailment.  I do not think that there needs to be a direct history of seizures in the family, just accept that it is going on and take steps to follow the doctor's instructions.  Would your husband think that he could not possibly be blind because no one else in the family is?  I think not.  You have got to convince him to accept this and take his meds.

Ask him how could he live with himself if instead of urinating into the sink he had done this onto your child who was sleeping in bed.  Truly a different picture.....hmm.

Anita

[diamond1441071]

Hey I am 20 years old and I have just recently got diagnosed with epilepsy when i was 19 years old and they had no reason for why i was having them but they put me on dilantin and keppra and they worked for me. But you have to be careful about dilantin because it can break your face out and you could have an allergic reaction but keppra really worked for me, it's only when you don't take ur meds and if you skip doses that you may have other seizures but I would highly recommend that you look into keppra.

[sunshinedawn]

To answer your question...yes.  Epilepsy isn't the only reason people have seizures.  It took 2 years and a multitude of test to determine that my son doesn't have brain damage or epilepsy. That was a huge blessing. He does however have very real seizure episodes.  The major causes for his are stress and not getting enough sleep.
It is very scarry to watch. You did the right thind. Sometimes all you can do is to keep them safe.
Just a thought...He may have some type of sleep disorder that would explain some of it.

[amomma78704]

well thank you all for your comments it has been EXTREMELY helpful. i am very happy to say i have gotten him to take his meds and he has not had a seizure since. but its only been two days. its very hard to deal with. i find myself staying up all night until he wakes up in the morning just so i can be up if he does have another seizure (since for some reason ALL his seizures have been around 730 AM--too weird) and also because i am truely terrified laying in bed in pitch black next to him now...thats a whole new discussion. but i am seriously terrified...i have tried but every little movement he would make i would just lay there and try to listen to make sure he is ok. its crazy...and just so unreal. im trying to deal with it. but you are right nick30 seeing someone you are so close to go through something like that is truely mortifying. everything flashes through your mind, not knowing what to do because you cant do anything at all. just helpless..

i just want to do what i can for him which is why i came here to get any input on the situation. so thank you guys so much i appreciate it and any new comments also.

for sunshine i think your case might be similar to his because i know he has been super stressed at work, and also not getting very much sleep because of that and other reasons. so thank you so much for your comment that makes a lot of sense.