Re: Petit mal seizures or day-dreaming?

[Guest guest]

My daughter was having staring spells around 20 months old. One

time, I couldn't bring her out of it, but usually I could snap her

out of it by tapping between her eyes.

We had her checked for " staring seizures. " First, a sleep-deprived

EEG. You keep them up all night, take them in first thing in the

morning and it takes about 1 hr. The only tricky part is getting

them to sit still for the wires being placed on (we brought a

portable DVD).

For kids with developmental delay, though, you want a 24 hour

overnight eeg. They attached a whole bunch of little electrodes to

's scalp with glue (no hair cutting) and then wrapped her

whole head with gauze. She looked like a cute little brain surgery

patient. I had to sleep next to her so that she wouldn't take

anything off.

But no drugs at all. We visited two neurologists -- one mainstream

and the other was Chez in Chicago (where we live), who some

consider a " maverick " but I thought was pretty mainstream.

End result -- no seizures. But since seizures can affect

development, you need to be safe. Tell you mainstream pediatrician

and s/he should refer you out.

Dawn

>

> Hi, just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of petit mal

> seizures. How do you test to see whether your child suffers from

the

> condition? Would the child have to be anaesthesized for the tests?

> A friend has picked up on (what I call) our son's daydreaming - he

is

> 2y10m old and goes in to a trance like state a few times a day (I

> guess 2, 3 or 4 times a day) for about 10-15 seconds and then

snaps

> out of it - I've always just thought he was daydreaming, I do it

> sometimes, my sisters do it, my nephews/nieces do it too, in fact

most

> people I know seem to do this every now and again?? Anyway, my

friend

> believes it's more than just daydreaming. I looked it up and it

seems

> magnesium deficiency can cause these symptoms. My son is low in

> magnesium, and we are currently trying to find a magnesium which

> agrees with him. Just wondering if in other's personal experience,

a

> magnesium deficiency is more than likely the cause of these

trance's,

> or whether they have visited a neurologist or had tests done.

> Thanks very kindly for any advice/info.

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

Petit Mal seizures can be like you describe and are often mistaken for " day

dreaming " . When he is in one of these trances will he respond right away when

you call his name or do you have to wait until it is done? See if you can ever

get in front of him when he does this and see if his eyes seem to " glaze over "

or drift as well.

I would suggest talking to your doctor about seeing a pediatric neurologist.

The test for seizures is an EEG which is painless but a pain (for the parents).

It generally involves keeping the child up until midnight or 1am and waking them

between 4 and 5 am so that they are sleep deprived (lucky parents). Then the

lucky parents get to drive the child to the hospital WHILE keeping them awake in

the car seat in the back seat. When you get there they put a series of about 20

little electrodes on their scalp with a little goop. This is painless. Often

they also put on a some heart monitor leads and an oxygen sensor. They they

have the child do a few simple things, watch some flashing lights and then try

to get the child to sleep for the rest of the test. Finally the parents get to

take home an overtired child.

My 10dd is on medication for petit mal and complex-partial seizures.

Ottakee

[Guest guest]

-Hi Dawn,

Depending on the expertise of the technician, and the sedative used,

an EEG can be done without the overnight (we're very luck to have one

such and an excellent neurologist in rural NM)...

as far as magnesium goes, an easy solution is Epsom salts added to

the bath (absorbed through the skin) START LOW maybe just a

tablespoon every other day, go up gradually to 1/2 cup (8

tablespoons) and see how it goes. Should be relaxing with a good mood

the following day. If a bad mood happens back down to the last amount.

There are different forms of Magnesium for oral use, magnesium

citrate can cause loose stools (as if anything that adds to that

problem would be useful?!) Magnesium oxide needs to be buffered,

magnesium cholride or sulfate are very bioavailable according to Dr

Pangborn in the April 2005 edition of " Autism: Effective Biomedical

Treatments " ...you may have to try various kinds to get the best

results.

Hope this helps...

V

-- In , " dawnrinchicago "

<drochlen@a...> wrote:

>

> My daughter was having staring spells around 20 months old. One

> time, I couldn't bring her out of it, but usually I could snap her

> out of it by tapping between her eyes.

>

> We had her checked for " staring seizures. " First, a sleep-deprived

> EEG. You keep them up all night, take them in first thing in the

> morning and it takes about 1 hr. The only tricky part is getting

> them to sit still for the wires being placed on (we brought a

> portable DVD).

>

> For kids with developmental delay, though, you want a 24 hour

> overnight eeg. They attached a whole bunch of little electrodes to

> 's scalp with glue (no hair cutting) and then wrapped her

> whole head with gauze. She looked like a cute little brain surgery

> patient. I had to sleep next to her so that she wouldn't take

> anything off.

>

> But no drugs at all. We visited two neurologists -- one mainstream

> and the other was Chez in Chicago (where we live), who some

> consider a " maverick " but I thought was pretty mainstream.

>

> End result -- no seizures. But since seizures can affect

> development, you need to be safe. Tell you mainstream pediatrician

> and s/he should refer you out.

>

> Dawn

>

>

> >

> > Hi, just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of petit mal

> > seizures. How do you test to see whether your child suffers from

> the

> > condition? Would the child have to be anaesthesized for the tests?

> > A friend has picked up on (what I call) our son's daydreaming -

he

> is

> > 2y10m old and goes in to a trance like state a few times a day (I

> > guess 2, 3 or 4 times a day) for about 10-15 seconds and then

> snaps

> > out of it - I've always just thought he was daydreaming, I do it

> > sometimes, my sisters do it, my nephews/nieces do it too, in fact

> most

> > people I know seem to do this every now and again?? Anyway, my

> friend

> > believes it's more than just daydreaming. I looked it up and it

> seems

> > magnesium deficiency can cause these symptoms. My son is low in

> > magnesium, and we are currently trying to find a magnesium which

> > agrees with him. Just wondering if in other's personal

experience,

> a

> > magnesium deficiency is more than likely the cause of these

> trance's,

> > or whether they have visited a neurologist or had tests done.

> > Thanks very kindly for any advice/info.

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

My 5yo nephew was just diagnosed with absence seizures and his are

like " staring spells " where he just tunes out for several seconds

and then snaps back out of it. His were formally diagnosed by a

pedi neurologist using an EEG. (My sister is giving him an Rx for

it, but I noticed in my Net research on tics for my oldest son's

problems that magnesium deficiency and food allergies can be factors

in seizures as well.)

~Grace

> >

> > >

> > > Hi, just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of petit

mal

> > > seizures. How do you test to see whether your child suffers

from

> > the

> > > condition? Would the child have to be anaesthesized for the

tests?

> > > A friend has picked up on (what I call) our son's daydreaming -

> he

> > is

> > > 2y10m old and goes in to a trance like state a few times a day

(I

> > > guess 2, 3 or 4 times a day) for about 10-15 seconds and then

> > snaps

> > > out of it - I've always just thought he was daydreaming, I do

it

> > > sometimes, my sisters do it, my nephews/nieces do it too, in

fact

> > most

> > > people I know seem to do this every now and again?? Anyway, my

> > friend

> > > believes it's more than just daydreaming. I looked it up and

it

> > seems

> > > magnesium deficiency can cause these symptoms. My son is low

in

> > > magnesium, and we are currently trying to find a magnesium

which

> > > agrees with him. Just wondering if in other's personal

> experience,

> > a

> > > magnesium deficiency is more than likely the cause of these

> > trance's,

> > > or whether they have visited a neurologist or had tests done.

> > > Thanks very kindly for any advice/info.

> > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Dawn, Ottakee, V (Lanika), and Grace - thank you so much for

replying to my post.

Your advice & information was truly appreciated.

Thanks & regards,

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My 4 1/2 yo son has just been diagnosed last week with absence

seizures through a EEG. I just woke him up a couple hours earlier

that day and he slept through the EEG at 2 pm.

He usually stares, his eyes blink and sometimes his eye balls roll

up. It lasts 3-10 secondes.

During that time, he is unresponsive, but still can hear me if I yell

his name. He will turn his head toward me very slowly (like in a slow

motion mode) but you can see in his eyes that they cannot focus and

that he is " gone " . At the end, he will tell me: " Yes? " .

If it is day dreaming, you should be able to stop it by talking to

him or tapping on his shoulder, or moving an object in front of him,

any external stimuli to get his interest.

I am trying supplements right now, if that does not work I guess I'll

have to give him some meds... He has one seizure every few minutes.

That's pretty scary.

>

> Hi, just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of petit mal

> seizures. How do you test to see whether your child suffers from

the

> condition? Would the child have to be anaesthesized for the tests?

> A friend has picked up on (what I call) our son's daydreaming - he

is

> 2y10m old and goes in to a trance like state a few times a day (I

> guess 2, 3 or 4 times a day) for about 10-15 seconds and then snaps

> out of it - I've always just thought he was daydreaming, I do it

> sometimes, my sisters do it, my nephews/nieces do it too, in fact

most

> people I know seem to do this every now and again?? Anyway, my

friend

> believes it's more than just daydreaming. I looked it up and it

seems

> magnesium deficiency can cause these symptoms. My son is low in

> magnesium, and we are currently trying to find a magnesium which

> agrees with him. Just wondering if in other's personal experience,

a

> magnesium deficiency is more than likely the cause of these

trance's,

> or whether they have visited a neurologist or had tests done.

> Thanks very kindly for any advice/info.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks so much for your post. We finally found a magnesium which seems

to agree with our son (Thorne Research mag.citramate which I picked up

from our ND). He's been on this since Feb 6, and I must say he hasn't

been 'day-dreaming' anywhere near as much as he used to, in fact it's

been days since I noticed him actually spacing out like he used to. It

seems to have had a positive effect on him in other ways too - seems a

bit more relaxed than usual, not quite so anxious, and he seems to be

doing more babbling and has started giving dh a wonderful reception

whenever he comes home from work (dh is very happy indeed!!!) We have

an appointment with a neurologist early next month, but in the

meantime the magnesium really does seem to be helping in more ways

than one

Good luck in finding a supplement to help your little boy!

Best wishes to you both!

[Guest guest]

My 4 yr old also does this - sometimes 2-3 times a day and then we

might not see it for weeks. Our DAN! doctor suggested adding

Taurine to his supps (we already do magnesium etc etc)and said he

thinks that the 'absences' are being caused by the biochemical

imbalances in him rather than Tom having epilepsy (hope that makes

sense!)so he wanted to go supplements route rather than meds. Since

starting Taurine we have not seen any episodes.

Hope that helps.

gail

> >

> > Hi, just wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of petit mal

> > seizures. How do you test to see whether your child suffers from

> the

> > condition? Would the child have to be anaesthesized for the

tests?

> > A friend has picked up on (what I call) our son's daydreaming -

he

> is

> > 2y10m old and goes in to a trance like state a few times a day

(I

> > guess 2, 3 or 4 times a day) for about 10-15 seconds and then

snaps

> > out of it - I've always just thought he was daydreaming, I do it

> > sometimes, my sisters do it, my nephews/nieces do it too, in

fact

> most

> > people I know seem to do this every now and again?? Anyway, my

> friend

> > believes it's more than just daydreaming. I looked it up and it

> seems

> > magnesium deficiency can cause these symptoms. My son is low in

> > magnesium, and we are currently trying to find a magnesium which

> > agrees with him. Just wondering if in other's personal

experience,

> a

> > magnesium deficiency is more than likely the cause of these

> trance's,

> > or whether they have visited a neurologist or had tests done.

> > Thanks very kindly for any advice/info.

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

> Our DAN! doctor suggested adding

> Taurine to his supps

Hi Gail,

Thanks so much for your reply. Taurine is an amino acid, right? We've

been giving our little one a multi vitamin from Kirkman's which

contains 40mg taurine per serving (although we haven't yet worked up

to the full recommended serving being 2 caps p/day). Would you mind

advising the amount of taurine you are giving Tom p/day?

Again, thanks for your post. It's really encouraging to hear such

positive experiences.

I really appreciate it

Kind regards,