Re: a little worried

October 8, 2002

--Hi Kim,

The only thing I can relate to that was once when Jack was about 8

months I gave him Juice in a bottle, and he did this shaking thing

and was screaming crying, it was scarry to me not his typical self,

he did not lose consiousnes but I imediatley called " 911 " and they

checked him he was fine, they said it could have been the sugar, I

took him to his pediatrician and he said it was nothing.

I would call his pediatrician and tell him maybe it was a bad dream

or maybe a seizure. If it was me I would want a EEG done it detects

any seizure activity that a child or person has had. My son is having

1 Tomorrow.

Good luck,

Eileen

- In @y..., " Don't ask, don't tell "

<propanegirl@y...> wrote:

> Hi to all,

> We had an event happen on Sunday night and I'm hoping that someone

> out here can relate. Sunday evening JJ had about 6 ounces of Pepsi

> at my mom's house. I didn't notice any real problems at all.

>

> That night he seemed to have what we could only describe as

> a " seizure " while he was sleeping. He was thrashing about,

mumbling

> and he was incoherent and hard to wake. This happened twice. We

> don't know what to think. Maybe it's the caffeine, maybe it's a

> seizure - who knows? He has been diagnosed as verbal apraxic,

> sensory dysfunctional and most recently aphasic. Does anyone have

> any ideas on this?

>

> By the way, he seemd okay the next day - usually when he has a

rough

> night he is out of it the next day.

>

> Thanks for your input,

> Kim

> Mom to Carissas age 9 - sweet and sassy and JJ age 21 months a

whole

> big bundle of love.

October 8, 2002

" That night he seemed to have what we could only describe as

a " seizure " while he was sleeping. He was thrashing about, mumbling

and he was incoherent and hard to wake. This happened twice. "

I am not sure how to respond but my so called " normal " child has epilepsy and

when he has a seizure, he has petit mal and grand mal, he is not just difficult

to arouse; he can not be aroused at all. If you were to take your child's hand

during this episode and hold it would he still be thrashing and feel rigid.

During seizures my child has not generally made sounds except some very rigid

noises and only when he was coming out of the episode. I don't want you to

think I am down playing the episode but just wanted you to know what I have seen

with my sons seizures. I also work as an RN with neonates and see seizures very

frequently. Typically the child is not arousable period and that could have

been your case. Please feel free to email me with any questions. If you think

it was a seizure I would call a peds. neurologist, if you don't already have

one, and get them to check out your son.

Good luck

Daphne

October 8, 2002

> " his pediatrician and tell him maybe it was a bad dream

>or maybe a seizure. If it was me I would want a EEG done it detects

>any seizure activity that a child or person has had. My son is having

>1 Tomorrow. "

Just wanted to let everyone know that an EEG does not detect any seizure

activity that a child or person has had. It only detects it if it is occuring

during the EEG. My son has had very obvious epilepsy since he was 11 months and

he had three EEG's-- one was normal, one was unreadable and one showed spikes

consistent with seizure activity(that was the last one he had). We had him in

the ER many times to stop his seizures. I am not advocating not getting an EEG

but I did want you all to know that it is just a test that can only pick up the

brain activity during the time of the test and that is why it is done with so

little sleep because people experiencing epilepsy or seizure activity can

frequently be stimulated to have a seizure when they are very sleepy. During

sleep the brain is not so active so little spikes can be better detected. EEG's

are a great test but just like any test it can not pick up everything and it is

said that 25% of the population will have an abnormal EEG without true

" epilepsy " . I think you should just be well informed as to what an EEG can do

and what it cannot do. It is a GREAT TEST.

Good luck

Daphne

October 8, 2002

My son has had seizures in his sleep and he moves arounds, kicks and is also

fine the next day. He has absence seizures that generalize. I would

definately see a neuro just to rule them out b/c if they are seizures, you

want to know about it.

My son is on a modified keotgenic diet to control his seizures along with a

bit of depakote and carnosine and EFA oil. The combo has controlled his

epilepsy and has really improved his language so don't feel hopeless.

Good luck!! Feel free to email me with any questions. I know how scary they

can be.

October 8, 2002

I agree with Daphne about the EEG. We had several normal EEG's and

had seizures for 15 mos before we figured it out and we had to

video tape them. We also have found that the 23 hour is the best way for us

to get a good read on him. But...like Daphne said, if there is no seiuzre

activity occurring during the EEG than it will read normal even if there is

seizure activity.

Our neuro, Dr. Chez, is a really big believer in the EEG because he looks for

more things than just seizures such as abnormal brain activity etc.

Just my 2 cents

October 9, 2002

Kim -

I don't know how long you've had your son on the supplements or if

he is or if there's any connection at all. All I know is that about

two weeks after we started Josh on the supplements he also started

back to school (with new kids, a few new therapists, riding the bus

both ways, etc.). I put him to bed the first Tuesday after all this

return to school stuff started and about two hours later he started

crying, yelling, thrashing about in his bed. I ran upstairs and he

was shaking, his eyes were open but not focused, I couldn't get him

to wake or focus, he seemed disoriented. The whole thing scared the

bejeebers out of me. I called my DH to come home from work because I

thought Josh was having a seizure and then I called the dr (I love

our dr - we can call him any time day or night at home - he's

great). He asked if Josh had been doing any type of vocalizations

during the event (yes), if his eyes were dilated (yes and a

little " bulgey " ), and from the rest of my description determined that

it was night terrors.

The dr said when kids have just a nightmare, it's in response to

something they have seen or experienced during the day. In a

nightmare, the kid will have a bad dream about the thing and wake up,

then start crying. Nightmares occur in a lesser state of

sleep.

Night terrors, on the other hand, don't necessarily have a

stimulus but stress appears to play a major role. A night terror

occurs in the deepest portion of REM sleep, usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours

after falling asleep. The kid doesn't wake up even though eyes are

open (thus the dilation of the eyes) and he may even sit up or walk

around (Josh sat up). The dr said not to wake him (although I

already had by the time the dr called back), just sooth him and let

his body and mind work through the terror. It would have lasted

maybe ten minutes or so (if that) and he would have fallen right back

into a deep sleep. Kids do not remember the night terrors but will

remember nightmares.

The dr said one treatment (without resorting to medication) is to

keep the kid awake and active for about an hour longer than he would

normally go to bed. Or wake him about one hour into his sleep and

get him active. AFter that, let him go to sleep as normal. If

another night terror comes, repeat the waking/activity thing and,

within a week or so, the terrors will disappear.

Fortunately, Josh has not had one since (I didn't do the

waking/activity thing either) but he did sleep walk (another stress-

induced sleep thing) a couple of nights. Now it appears he's settled

into the routine of school, etc. and he sleeps like a log, peacefully.

Maybe take a look at some of the things/changes/stressful events

that may have occurred in your son's life over the few days

surrounding the night event. If there is nothing, I would certainly

seek advice from your dr.

Good luck!

Sherry, , (typical 15-year-old), and (4 and

trying very, very hard!)

October 9, 2002

Hi Sherry,

Thanks - you know I think that this is the large

consensus of what everyone thinks, so I will be

checking in with this since he hasn't really had that

happen before that.

Thanks again,

Kim

--- ssilv2001 <ssilv48821@...> wrote:

> Maybe take a look at some of the

> things/changes/stressful events

> that may have occurred in your son's life over the

> few days

> surrounding the night event. If there is nothing, I

> would certainly

> seek advice from your dr.

> Good luck!

>

> Sherry, , (typical 15-year-old), and

> (4 and

> trying very, very hard!)

October 9, 2002

Hi Kim: sounds like a night terror to me also. My son had night terrors every so

often: we figured out that he was sensitive to high phenolic foods. Took them

away & no more terrors.

d

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