16 yr. old rage tantrums, coma state, seizure

My 16 yr. old daughter's behavior of lying, defiance and rebellion has progressively grown worse over the past 3 years. We have been going to counseling the past few months, things seemed to be improving.  This past month we had an episode that escalated into a physical altercation between my daughter and her father.  He slapped her on the side of her head and a few seconds later she sat down on the ground and then lay down. (She did not fall)  She has done this in the past in public where she will sit down when she is not getting her way.  She has also had blackouts when our arguments have gotten heated at home and she is acting out.  She will then go limp for a few seconds and then she is calm and remorseful.

This most recent incident, we were unable to get her to respond.  We had to get help to put her in our van.  I took her straight to the ER, thinking she was “faking” or on drugs.  After about 2 hours and a blood test and CT, she was still out.  She was admitted to the PICU and had an MRI and EEG.  All of the results were good and normal except the EEG.

After a visit with her neurologist, we were told she has a seizure disorder.  Her seizures are not noticeable to someone looking at her, they are not normal epilepsy.  She has significant spikes in the left temporal lobe.  The neurologist put her on anti-seizure medication.  The next week she went to camp and ended up punching a girl.

This past week, she was mad at someone and at the same time, disobeyed me and I grounded her.  She went into a complete rage.  When I went to talk to her and tell her that her behavior was unacceptable, she was still crazy.  She came after me with a pair of scissors and my husband had to restrain her until the police got here.  While restrained, she was screaming so loud and would not stop.  The police came and handcuffed her until the EMT’s came.  She was once again unresponsive and in a coma state.  They took her to the ER and she was out this time for 5 hours.  

Each time, her heart rate was way above normal and she did not (could not) respond.  The EMT’s thought she was overdosing.  Once again, all tests good and normal.

She is now at an inpatient facility and the only answers I continue to get is that she is throwing temper tantrums and is very good at controlling herself and acting.  I have a hard time believing this.  Any other possibilities?

[ggreg]

I just have a layperson's comments, but I have had mental problems of all sorts from a bad car accident.  She's not acting, rather she is sick.  She should be in individual psychiatric counseling, aside from the family counseling and aside from what she's getting in the facility.  Also, the seizure medicine she's taking is NOT working and most definitely needs to be changed FOR SURE.  Also, she should perhaps be on short-term tranquilizers, strictly controlled by a psychiatrist... and don't let them give her SSRIs, they're too strong for a young person.  An endocrinologist has got to run some thyroid, adrenal, and ovarian panels to see what her hormones are doing, too, could be she's got a couple things going on at once, rather than only a seizure disorder.  Also, blood should be drawn to see if she has any metals poisoning or vitamin deficiencies.    

She should be put in an exercise programme of some kind, be it running around a track, or swimming, or learning horseback riding, tennis, anything that will wear her slam out on a regular basis.  In addition, get her into a creative class of some kind, be it learning to play guitar, art is especially VERY good for people whose minds are confused (anybody can slosh some paint around), and giving her nonfiction books on stuff like dogs, home design, movies, musicians, stuff teens like or that you know she has an interest in.  This thing has to be approached in a holistic sort of way, where you throw everything at it, instead of just one or two changes.  

Under NO circumstances should she be in your home because of the scissors thing, so keep her in SOME sort of facility for maybe as long as six months, to a year even, be it where she is now or a private type place if you don't like where she is.  Her life needs to be continuously monitored, she needs to be physically and mentally engaged, whilst allowing for relaxing pursuits, and her health in general needs to be really checked out, and she needs the right meds, and while all this is going on, she could keep up with schoolwork with a tutor if necessary.  While it will take some energy from you and your husband, I don't think this is a conscious thing in her at all, rather I believe she's quite ill and has no control over it, so she needs your help.  People get sick all the time, so if you look at it that way, I don't think you should feel too badly about this, and eventually she and you two will pull through.