seizure only in sleep

[abeyphilip]

my dad had 5 episodes of seizure like activity starting may 2009 while asleep,the last one a week ago. his eyes were open, face and limbs rigid, and was not breathing. i positioned him on his side and performed head tilt and chin lift. this allowed some secretion to flow out of his mouth and very slowly he regained respiration. immediately he falls into deep sleep and cannot be waken up for at least 15 minutes. after his first episode he was hospitalized and EEG,ECG, CT of head and neck and MRI were performed to find everything normal. He is 55 years old, and otherwise healthy. If it is seizure or epilepsy, why does it happen only while asleep? he at times instantly falls asleep during day time which lead me to doubt sleep apnoea..if so how would he become unconscious and never have any memory of such an incident? can anyone help me identify the disorder as the doctors still focus on seizure. he used to be on levitrazepam (keppra).....

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

Dear Friend,
I would like to begin by saying that you did a very good thing by maintaining his airway. If something had gone inside his lungs, it would had been a different scenario,

I would suggest you to go for a second opinion as well as do a Sleep conduction study. He may have sleep apnea syndrome, which also has similar sort of syndrome.
Rest, i can't answer as sleep conduction test will give us more details.

Feel free to discuss more.

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

Dear Friend,
In some cases, Yes it may happen.

Regards

[abeyphilip]

but doctor does sleep apnea lead to unconsciousness......he does'nt remember of such an incident