absense seizure question

ToastieSimons

DS1 has had 1 partial complex seizure last year.  His diagnosis puts him at risk for seizures

Last night DS1 was kneeling in the doorway.  His left hand was on his lovey which was on the floor.  He was looking straight past me while rhythmically patting his lovey.  I couldn't get him to look at me.  This was about 10-15 seconds Then he slowly lifted his eyes at me looked at me for like 5-10 seconds, without moving his head, all while still rhythmically patting his lovey.   Then he moved his head looked at me smiled and moved on.

Sound like seizure activity?  Our neuro is 2 hours away at CHOP so I just want to make sure I'm not crazy before I call him.  The good news is that this is only the second time I've seen anything seizure like and it's been over a year since the last time.

CaptainSerious

I am an adaptive ski instructor (I teach clients with vision impairments and/or disabilities), and have seen one absence seizure. I was working with a client who had had a traumatic brain injury, and he just spaced out. All of a sudden, he didn't show any signs of hearing me. Luckily, we were on a bunny slope, because he was skiing in the lead and just stopped turning. He skied straight down the entire length of slope, right though an entire class of snowboarders who were sitting on the hill with their backs up the mountain. They never saw him coming.

Although I knew he had a TBI, his parent caregivers told me that his seizures were under control and that he hadn't had one on years. I wasn't appropriately prepared for the fact that he had absence seizures regularly (his parents didn't consider those severe enough to mention). I knew something was off, but it wasn't until I asked him what was wrong and he told me nothing was and that he felt normal that I figured out what it was.

I took him back inside and looked up seizures in our manual, thinking he had possibly had a petit mal. When I saw the symptoms of the absence seizure, it fit perfectly. Most memorable, he was stressed and irritated, was making indecipherable utterances, and was experiencing facial tics. When he came to, he had lost a lot of energy.

kcisthebombdotcom

Yes, my daughter who has absence seizures occasionally has seizures like that with the repetitive movements but no ones home.

CaptainSerious

This is what my manual says about absence (or psychomotor and focal motor) seizures:

These seizures are less frequent and less severe.  The individual may be confused, stagger, have twitching facial muscles, and make purposeless movements or unintelligible sounds.  Following the seizure, recommend that the person rest.

I know it's not a lot of information, but I was hoping the list of symptoms might be useful.  Do you think his patting his lovey could be related?

ToastieSimons

Thanks ladies! I figured it was one but his last one presented differently so I wasn't sure.

macchiatto

It sounds possible. My son has had suspected absence seizures for a while. We don't *think* his zoning-out episodes are seizures (he did have another EEG and an MRI this fall; EEG was consistent with rolandic seizures and MRI was normal). One tip the pedi neuro gave us that would help if your son is verbal: During a suspected absence seizure, say a color and an object, i.e. blue chair. When they come out of it, if it wasn't an absence seizure (and they were just zoning out) they should be able to repeat what you just said but if it was, they won't remember.

Unknown

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