Anyone have stress related seizures?

[jojo54]

My daughter had a seizure last week. Thank goodness my hub and I were bringing her & our 4 yr old granddaughter to our house when it happened. Anyway, at the ER, the CT scan showed no trauma or problems and blood work was o.k. My mother had epilepsy, but this didn't resemble an epileptic seizure (I've seen my mom go through many petite & gran mal's). We're going to her neuro appt today and I'm hoping like hell that the EEG shows no abnormalities (she's had one before because of migraines). I wouldn't wish epilepsy on anyone, even my worst enemy.
Both of my daughters have suffered through panic attacks and it just so happened this daughter had 2 that day and she remembers having another one just before she had the seizure. She's also 5 1/2 months pregnant. She does have issues at home with her man, but they're fixable issues.

We're all scared, not knowing what's in the future for her and our new (5th) grand baby. If anyone has these, please give me a head's up on what we can do to help keep the seizures subdued and if you know, what meds would have the least effect on the baby. It's time to go to the neuro, so I'm going to thank you in advance for any info you can provide. I'll probably log back on tomorrow.

Jo

[fed-up]

1. my mom had stress related seizures after her massive stroke-after a ton of reading I finally

found a book that talked about that being a possible trigger

She had three grand mal seizures.

The brain damage from the stroke made her susceptable.

We worked on staying away from very stressful situations-one was using the lift to get into the pool at the local junior college for her water therapy as part of her adaptive P.E. class. That was a very stressful situation.

Another time was during her divorce and I forget the third.

By the third and last stroke I was a pro at removing her dentures and glasses and turning her head to the side, and getting her in a comfortable position and out of danger from falling out of her wheelchair or whatever chair she was in.

She didn't drive so we didn't have to worrry about her having a seizure while driving.

I got so I could recognize the shift of her eyes (I forget now if it was to the left or right) and the vacant look on her face that would precede the seizure. She also communicated that she could tell when she was going to have one.

The first time was the scariest as no one had warned me of possible seizures for a stroke survivor.

She didn't like the dilantin as it made her foggy brained and interfered with her physical and speech therapy. Her liver enzymes also doubled in a few weeks on only half a dose, so we very very gradually took her off. I also learned that there can be a genetic hypersensitivity to anti-convulsants when I took Lamictal for bipolar. I got a very hard swollen lymph node and felt feverish and crappy, NOT flu-like.

Good luck

I wish I remembered the name of the book that had a ton of info. It was an older-1980's? paperback

[jojo54]

3. Thanks for the info, Fed-up

I'll do some research to try and find this book you talked about. My daughter's had a few more panic attacks, but fortunately, no more seizures. The neuro doesn't think it's epilepsy either, but the EEG (tomorrow) will tell all.

The doctor's never did figure out why my mother had epilepsy. What was so scary about this incident with my daughter was, my mom found out she had it when she was 6 months pregnant with me. My daughter's seen her OB and he said the baby is fine.

Thanks again.

[Withywindle]

2. Have her doctor look into HYPOGLYCEMIA.

I had seizures as a teenager and no one knew why. They looked a little bit like epileptic seizures that I had an EEG done. Not that.

They never knew for 100% sure, but the doctor said he thought the most likely thing was that my blood sugar kept crashing. He advised me to snack on healthy things in little bits throughout the day and never ever skip. So far so good.

If she's pregnant, that could be doing weird things with her nutrition. Worth looking into anyway.

[jojo54]

4. We will mention this to the neuro.

The ER did do blood work and they said all was o.k., but the neuro has my daughter going for further blood work to test other organs for any abnormalities. So far, the baby is o.k. and there've been no more seizures, but I still have not let my guard down. Until the cause is found, she can't drive and can't be alone, just in case.

I'm beginning to think that the cause is several things, her crazy pregnancy hormones being one. The EEG is tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crosssed that it's negative.

Thanks for the advise.

[fed-up]

5. forgot to mention a friend with potassium/other electrolite imbalances that caused seizures

I think it took them a good 5-10 years to figure out her problem!

She is doing much better with supplements!