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Night seizures or sleepwalking?

Posted , 5 users are following.

Alfielefoo
Alfielefoo

my daughter is 10, ige epilepsy, photosensitivity, abscence seizures. She takes 25mg lamortogine twice daily.

she has episodeswhere she sits up in the night, she can answer questions, but is not with it. She will the pick and pick and her covers probably lasting less than a minute.

does this sound like she is having night seizures? Or is it sleep related?

her day seizures which are abscence i can recognise easy enough.

thank you

0 likes, 20 replies

20 Replies

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  • Winnie143
    Winnie143 Alfielefoo

    Posted

    Hi Alfie,

    I was 14 when mine started and I used to feel my arm jerk when Mum was brushing my hair when I was about 12 but thought nothing of it, then 1 morning I got up and my hand shook so violently and I had my first seizure.  See Doc and ask him/her better to be safe than sorry as they say xx Good luck to Daughter xx

     

    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo Winnie143

      Posted

      Thank you.

      I think she may need a sleep study.

      But sods law it wont happen that night.

      Like i say she does have epilepsy anyway.

  • Winnie143
    Winnie143 Alfielefoo

    Posted

    They are inclined to up the pills, so if you think she is okay with what she is on then aske them to slowly raise them as I was started on phenobarbitone many moons ago and still on them as they seem the only ones that work with me, but gradually been upped and had some horrid drugs also that made me feel floaty.

    Good luck again xx

    Win 

    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo Winnie143

      Posted

      Thats what i thought theyd do.

      She wasnt great on the lamotrogine to start. That took 3 months to full dose.

      Are your seizure controlled now

  • amy71414
    amy71414 Alfielefoo

    Posted

    Hey ! So i was diagnosed with epilepsy when i was 8 (I'm now 21), i had quite a few seizures when i was younger, almost all of them i dont remember i have had a few while i was sleeping also again i dont remeber them but my mum said basically what your daughter is doing sitting up but is not with it so i would check with the doctor for sure , my mum just sorta watched me for the rest of the night as it wasnt a big siezure like my other ones had been. I also have the photo sensitive one and i have been on epilim for about 10 years up until last year when i had some really bad side effects of it and now i am on Lamictal also. I figured if i have to change i wanted one that would be ok if i wanted to have kids in the future so lamictal is apparently the best drug to be on for having kids if you have epilepsy. The one i was on before (epilim) is actually one of the worst to be on, it actually says on the leaflet dont take while pregnant as it will out way the positives of having children. So basically thats why i chose lamictal and i wish i knew that earlier i guess i hope this helps a little and hope you get some answers soon x 

    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo amy71414

      Posted

      Thank you so much for that!

      I think i will put in a call to the epilepsy nurse.

      I hope youre finding the lamoctil ok.

      X

    • amy71414
      amy71414 Alfielefoo

      Posted

      Thanks yer so far so good im allowed to drive again now after the swap over from the epilim to the lamictal so im stoked about that haha 3 months is a long time!!
    • Winnie143
      Winnie143 Alfielefoo

      Posted

      Hi Alfie,

      Like Amy I was on a similar drug called Epanutin and it caused gums to bleed and gaps appear in teeth so off them !!  It will be best if you get it sorted,  ask if you can stay with her xx  Sure they use us to experiment on lol.

      Hope all gets sorted and take Daughter for a cake or treat after xx

      Good luck

      Win xx

    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo amy71414

      Posted

      I can imagine!

      Do the so repeat eegs to check your brainwaves once youre stable on meds, or do you just go by symptoms?

      Its all been a bit hazy really and my other half takes her to clinic and hes not great at reporting back!

    • amy71414
      amy71414 Alfielefoo

      Posted

      Yer fair enough guys arent the best at that haha 

      well i may do im not sure yet i suppose ill see how i go, i dont think they will i mean i had one when i was younger and still having seizures i havent had a seizure now for 5 - 6 years but ever since i have just been going to my GP and getting my levels checked. So just a blood test and then thats all really nothing crazy. Although i know there are some people that do grow out of it unfortunately i wasnt that lucky but fingers crossed your daughter might, it's definately worth asking. 

       

    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo amy71414

      Posted

      Yeah. The consultant did say she wont grow out of them and they may progress.

      So i guess we will see.

      Its good to know youve been ok for 5 or 6 years tho

    • amy71414
      amy71414 Alfielefoo

      Posted

      Yer fair enough.

      yer the last one i had was only a small one i was in the shower apparently haha again i dont remember i suppose thats the only plus that we dont remember anything. The one before that one though was the biggest one i had and i was in the pool so yer haha wasnt the best apparently i stopped breathing and i was out for 20 - 30 min. i dont mean to scare you but i suppose you definately have to be weary when it comes to the water. I had another friend and the same thing happened to there daughter about a week ago so it's definately not the best but for me it hasnt really affected my life to much i have been lucky enough that ive never had a seizure when i was at school they were all at home. also i am driving and i know the whole photosensitivity thing like flashing lights and stuff is what you have to look out for but i have been fine with it all so i think once you guys have it under control she will live a fairly normal life.

  • steve1951
    steve1951 Alfielefoo

    Posted

    Absence seizures were once known as petit mal. They are usually short in duration. Hand movement may be one side effect. When I was a child, I was diagnosed with absence seizure epilepsy a year after an eye injury which caused a bruise on my brain. I could hear people but didn’t respond. It was like I was in a day dream. In my case, my Dr closed my file in my teens, but about 5 years later, I started to have tonic clonic/partial seizures. I think the damage to the brain due to the eye injury never healed. The auras I still have always occur at night just after going to bed and still awake. I don’t understand that and my Dr has no answers. I would tell your daughters school teacher of her situation. I would also buy her a medical alert bracelet/neckless. Getting the right med and dose isn’t a simple step - its trial and error. Dr’s don’t usually do a blood test on the concentration of a med in a blood stream except for a few meds. I was once on lamotrigine alone (now on 2 meds) and had undesirable side effects. I asked my Dr for a blood test. My lamotrigine dose was too high. Maybe your daughter’s concentration is too low. Another factor which often is overlooked is the manufacture of the generic drug. My Dr believes that all generic meds are the same. Boy is he wrong! After my drug store switched to a cheaper manufacture, I began to have auras. I did research on the web and discovered other people taking the same dose from this one generic manufacture were having problems. I live in the U.S. and found a drug store that dispenses one of the highest rated generic lamotrigine of the dose I take from other epileptics on the web. It costs me more, but it’s worth the extra price. I don’t know how the medical system works in England. I had my Dr specify what generic manufacture to dispense. They refused to change. Drug stores number one goal in the U.S. is profit.
  • steve1951
    steve1951 Alfielefoo

    Posted

    One more suggestion is to balance out the lamotrigine dosage in your daughters system. I have three alarms on my cell phone when to take meds on a regular schedule. I take one med once a week (not related to epilepsy). Every Thursday my cell phone goes off at 1 p.m. as a constant reminder. 
    • Alfielefoo
      Alfielefoo steve1951

      Posted

      Great advice thank you.

      The school have a plan with the nurse. Some of her seizures occured there and before diadiagnosi they kept her in school and didnt notify me.

      She has a keyring on her bag. Weve been told no activities alone, especially near roads or water.

      Maybe she does need a dose raise.

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