HELP! 21 MONTH OLD MAY BE HAVING SEIZURES??

[lisar1685]

hello everyone! ill make this brief. My son tristan is 21 months old. He was diagnosed with autism/sensory processing disorder in october. We recently had a sleep study done on him because he is a horrible sleeper. wakes up to 5 times a night screaming and crying and has night terrors on occasion. We found out he has central sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. But I digress. The real reason im writing to you is lately for the past few weeks my son has been playing and then all of a sudden he will stop and roll his eyes all the way to the right or all the way to the left of his head (never rolls his eyes to the back of his head) and then go back to what he was doing. He also has been spinning in circles and then all of a sudden its looks like vertigo. he is being pulled to the side when he spins. its very strange. his ped said it sounds like mini seizures. so now we have to go back to neurologist to do another EEG. his first one was 20 mins long. has anyone experienced this? its very creepy and scary when he does the eye rolling to the side. it makes me want to cry because i dont know what is going on. PLEASE HELP!

[chaoticzenmom]

Moving this thread to the Special needs forum where it may get more replies.

[melissa17s]

I hope your ds is ok.  Seizures last 4 seconds or longer.  They are an abnormal electrical discharge in the brain, but generally not harmful.  They can be problematic or dangerous depending on secondary factors or frequency.  Make sure that your ds is not at risk of falling on dangerous objects and do not leave unattended in a bath.  

The eeg will show irregular patterns during a seizure, and they can be limited to a small area of the brain, which are called partial seizures.  The neurologist will recognize the pattern, if they are seizures- and hopefully, you will see the behavior you described during the eeg.  If they notice seizure activity, they will likely want further tests like c-scan or mri.  

Sleep is a problem for many with seizure disorders.  Lack of adequate sleep can cause a seizure, but does not necessarily mean epilepsy.  Does he take an medications that might have a side effect of seizures?

[lisar1685]

no he doesnt take medication. he has had an mri done before. it showed nothing. they want to do a 60 minute eeg but his eye rolling and weird behavior happens at different times of the day. so who knows..

[melissa17s]

Originally Posted by lisar1685 

no he doesnt take medication. he has had an mri done before. it showed nothing. they want to do a 60 minute eeg but his eye rolling and weird behavior happens at different times of the day. so who knows..

Seizures can be random.  Sometimes they are triggered, such as, my ds tends to have more seizure activity when he is tired as opposed to well rested.  Some kids react to blinking lights.  They may ask that you deprive your ds of sleep or flash lights during the eeg  to try to encourage the activity.

The c-scan or mri would be to see if there is injury, tumor, or lesion causing seizure activity.  The course of treatment can vary depending on the cause.   Hopefully, they could refer back to the original mri, if necessary.  When my ds had his mri, it was one of his worst days.  The hospital sedated him and he was so sick from the anesthesia that we missed our appointments to meet with the doctors.  Took an extra 5 hours for it wear off; that by far was much harder than the eeg.  

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

sounds like could be mild seizures hun my daughter has epilepsy and her 1st eeg when she was 2 came back normal she didn't get the diagnosis of epilepsy till may last year just a month before her 5th birthday

[FuzzyOne]

Originally Posted by melissa17s 

I hope your ds is ok.  Seizures last 4 seconds or longer. 

i just want to say that, actually, a seizure does not have to be 4 seconds or longer.  my son has seizures and they last between 1-2 seconds - a simple eye roll or head drop.

i would definitely recommend getting another EEG - preferably a 24 hour one.  it's best to try to nip it in the bud if possible (if what you are seeing is seizures).

is it possible that he visually stimming? 

[melissa17s]

Originally Posted by FuzzyOne 

i just want to say that, actually, a seizure does not have to be 4 seconds or longer.  my son has seizures and they last between 1-2 seconds - a simple eye roll or head drop.

i would definitely recommend getting another EEG - preferably a 24 hour one.  it's best to try to nip it in the bud if possible (if what you are seeing is seizures).

is it possible that he visually stimming? 

I am going off what our neurologist told us, and he said that less than 4 seconds was not a seizure. Other dr.s may disagree.   I am not actually debating with you because I am not a dr nor do I know anything about your ds's situation. Perhaps there is differences in how your dr reads and eeg and ours does.   I know that not all neurologists read children's eeg because they different from adults, and the 1 st neurologist we were assigned passed ds' eeg on to our current because he was specialized in children with seizure disorders.  

[FuzzyOne]

Let me assure you that if you physically SEE your child have a seizure it really doesnt matter if it is one second or ten minutes - it is a seizure. My son's seizures have always been very short like this. There is not a doctor in this country who would say my son does not have epilepsy because the generalizec activity does not last at least 4 seconds on an EEG.

I simply want the OP to know that seizures can look like many different things and you are wise to have it checked out. Seizures can also increase autistic symptoms - they do for my son (also on the spectrum) particularly if he is having a high seizure day.

[melissa17s]

Originally Posted by FuzzyOne 

Let me assure you that if you physically SEE your child have a seizure it really doesnt matter if it is one second or ten minutes - it is a seizure. My son's seizures have always been very short like this. There is not a doctor in this country who would say my son does not have epilepsy because the generalizec activity does not last at least 4 seconds on an EEG.
 

FuzzyOne, I am not questioning that your child has epilepsy or that whether or not you have SEEN a seizure.  I can only speak from my experience and acquired knowledge on the subject.  I have seen my ds have seizures for a large part of his life and did not realize that he was having them.  They can be very ambiguous, but should not be ignored.  That said there are different types of brains waves that can be abnormal on an eeg that do not constitue a seizure or epilepsy.  Sleep deprivation can cause seizures in nonepileptics or even abnormal behaviors.  The OP mentioned that her ds had sleep apnea, and perhaps there is a relationship.  

       Frequency of seizure activity can also be a factor.  For instance my ds has approximately 4-6 seconds seizures in clusters.  The reason the dr. pointed out the 4 seconds to us was because he said the seizures were at the cusp interms of time, but because of the frequency and footprint definitely seizure activity.  Again, I would not be surprised, if different dr.s read his eeg differently.  The initial ped. gave us one dx based on symptoms presented after he had a clonic tonic seizure and the neurologist changed the dx after reading the eeg and learning his history.  

       I would never have guessed that laughing in one's sleep is a seizure, but it is, so go figure.  

[melissa17s]

Just thought I would share a link that really resonated with me.  I enjoy watching the TED videos although generally on other topics, but I was curious about links between autism and epilepsy because of this thread... http://www.ted.com/talks/aditi_shankardass_a_second_opinion_on_learning_disorders.html  When we were at the neurologist for ds' first appointment, he pointed out to us that many children are misdiagnosed with adhd or other disorders instead of epilepsy, and by all accounts, ds has adhd-i and dyslexia when his seizures are not being treated and has had characteristics of adhd-impulsive when on some medications.  We recently switched meds, which improved his impulsive behavior and is also controlling his seizures.