worried mom

[mommy1979]

Last night I had a real bad episode with my daughter that has me extremely concerned. But before this there were times but not as bad. My daughter is almost 9 and almost 2 years ago she was at her grandmothers and she had just went to sleep. Shortly after her grandmother heard what sounded like my daughter choking. She would stare and was unresponsive. She got her to come to by putting ice on her and turning on cartoons. My daughter is ADHD and the time they had just put her on Aterol. Her doctor figured that this was a side effect and took her off the medicine. We had tried several medicines before we actually found one that worked. She started taking ritalin in the generic form. Well about 2 months ago she did the same thing again shortly after going to bed except this time it was harder to bring her out of it. She was at her grandmothers again. The doctor wanted to take her off sweets to see if it was possibly diabetes. But he also scheduled her for an appointment to see a neurologist to see if she was possible epileptic, but that wasn't until the end of August. Well last night shortly after she went to bed my fiance went in to check on her and her sister and found her shaking. When I got into her room her eyes were rolled back and she had her teeth clinched with a gray type of vomit coming out to the side of her mouth. She was in the fetal position and shaking. I could not get her to come too. I know now that I'm to get her on her side and not to mess with her. But I was so scared at the time. We got her to the ER. They have ran tests on her and everything came out fine. Then she had a C-T Scan and that was fine also. I'm wondering, because I've noticed and her grandmother has noticed that this usually happens when she skips supper. We try not to skip it, but sometimes church has run late or like yesterday we had been out of town and ate a large, but late lunch. So no one was hungry when we got home. I've seen seizures before, but they are usually during the day time. I find it strange that it happens shortly after she falls asleep. Do you have any advice?

[Rowena Santos, MD]

Hi ma’am,

How are you? How is your daughter? It’s good to hear that the tests and ct scan were fine. It is good to see the neurologist to check if your daughter really has epilepsy. ADHD and epilepsy are both relatively common conditions and may often occur together.

For the meantime, try not to let her skip dinner because this may trigger the attack. What is also important is how to prevent your daughter from self-injury during the seizure by moving her away from sharp edges, placing something soft beneath her head and carefully placing her on her side to prevent aspiration.  If the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes, this requires immediate hospitalization and emergency treatment.

I hope this helps. Take care and keep me posted.

[kimE1970]

Hi-I am the mother of a teen that had a closed head injury at age 11 and has developed epilepsy. He has "NOCTURNAL SEIZURES". His seizures are controlled with Keppra-we have been thru several meds;carbitrol,depekote,topamax,tegretol! Without a doubt Keppra has been the best for us-no side-effects and seizure control.
I know this is scarey, but things will get better. We also had to wait forever for our first neuro appt., but in the meantime arm yourself with knowledge-you are going to have to be your childs advocate. She needs a sleep deprived EEG for sure. I hope all goes well for you and your daughter-kim

[mommy1979]

I'm sorry I'm just responding back, and this is also for the doctor above, Thank you so much for your responses. I couldn't ever figure out how to get back to my posts. She has been put on Keppra and she hasn't had any seizures that we know of. She did wake up the other night and was kind of confused, but I think that it was just a bad dream.  I worry so much at night about her that I barely get any sleep.  I've been sleeping only a few hours a night when she's at my house. She sleeps in the same room as her grandmother when she's their. I've quit my job to be with her more and to be able to make it to any appointments if a possible cancellation comes up at the neurologist that we are scheduled to see around the end of September.  That was the closest date and doctor that we could find that would accept medicaid.  We did find one before this about 4 hours away, that was the august appointment, but they called us and canceled it for whatever reason that they had.  My question to the doctor if he sees this and also to you kim, what do i do about her getting sleep and me getting some too? I'm a nervous wreck when she's asleep.  Thank you both for commenting back to me.

[Rowena Santos, MD]

Hi,
How is your daughter? I'm sorry to hear about what you've gone through the past month.There are some devices that detects seizures or movements in your child's bed and sends an alarm which alerts you. This way you can catch up on your sleep and somehow ease your anxiety. There are previous topics here that discuss the benefits and risks of getting such devices and would be very helpful for you. If there is no store that sells this in your area, there are a few sites in the internet that you could visit such as:
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/devices_links.html
http://www.bedseizurealarm.com/index.html
http://www.epilepsyontario.org/client/eo/eoweb.nsf/web/Seizure+Monitors+and+Alarms

There are plenty of sites and hope you find what you're looking for. Take care and keep us posted.