seizure only when woken up

[rangerfan25]

This discussion is related to Frequent shaking and waking at night - unable to get diagnosis.


when my mother was younger she fell asleep at the movies, then realized she had fallen asleep. Upon awaking, she banged her head on the crossbar of her jeep and was knocked out for a little while.  ever since then, during menstration, if she wakes up from a deep sleep, she usually has a seizure. now that she is in her menopause stage, she has it more often when she comes out of a deep sleep.  this only happens when sleeping or sometimes dozing off into a sleep then waking up.

she has been on epilepsy medications, tests, all show negative results.

Any idea what is causing this?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

I guess you area aware of the different phenomena occurring during awakening or during falling asleep. Many such involve body movements and twitching.

I would like you to describe the "seizure", if you can. If the EEG is also normal, one generally thinks if this really is a seizure. Menstruation period is known to increase seizures, due to excess estrogen.

Regards

[rangerfan25]

she has about 6 a year if that. only happens like i mentioned, during menstration time and only at that time if woken up out of a sleep. never ever happens any other time. she is going through menapause now, so she has had a few more frequent ones 2 in 3 month period, but only when awaken out of a sleep. she has tried several meds, none have stopped this from happening, so she doesn't take anything because they cannot find a proper diagnosis.
any suggestions?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

Are you sure she is receiving the right medicine ? There are different types of seizures. Generalized, partial, myoclonic, etc.  What are the symptoms ?

It is rare to have all the tests come normal while you have regular seizures. Was an EEG done ?

Regards