how to tell if child’s having a seizure? | Autism PDD

How do you know if your child is having a seizure or not?  I'm just taking a wild guess at what it may or may not be... 

My daughter has been acting differently lately and is up at night (all of a sudden), crying with rage like she's really angry...but doesn't want to be held or talked to, or anything.  I know she's wide awake, she walks around the room, eyes are open.  It comes out of nowhere and lasts for hours on end.  Example: I was just up with her from 3am to 6am and she did this every 5/10 minutes.  I gave her tylenol because I thought she was in pain, didn't seem to make a big difference though.  Just a bizarre new behavior that I'm worried about.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

This does not sound like a seizure.  Children usual have complex partial seizures, which include zoning out, lip smacking, incontinence and drooling.  Most seizures last only a few minutes (though it can seem a lot longer!).  What you describe sounds more like night terrors to me.

My son has seizures...my son will be in the middle of a meltdown and suddenly stop...he stares off for anywhere from 15 seconds to sometimes a couple of minutes...the staring is the seizure...but usually when he has a seizure while sleeping the only way I know is if I catch him, or he will come to me after the seizure and I can tell his eyes are glazed and he is having a hard time communicating and walking...very rarely is there crying involved.

If you see staring my best advice would be to try to get her attention while she is staring...snap or clap your hands in front of her face...if she doesn't respond immediately that is a red flag.

I do know that my son used to have something called night terrors when he was younger...this would be sometimes hours of non-stop crying...nothing would console him...and just like that he would stop crying and just go back to sleep...I don't really remember him stopping though during these night terrors...he might slow down a little or his screaming would turn to sobs here and there...because your daughter is doing this for 3 hours I am tending to lead towards night terrors vs. seizures...but by no means am I doctor...so please don't go just on what I am saying.

Really the only way to know for sure if these episodes are seizures is to have an EEG, where the will monitor your daughters brainwaves...to have that done you will need to get in touch with a neurologist...it is painless--they take electrodes and attach them to the head with a sticky glue substance.

You might want to read up a little bit on different types of seizures.   www.epilepsyfoundation.org is a good website with lots of info, but it has been having technical difficulties lately...but still give it a try.

Good luck and I hope this helped a little.

My vote also goes for night terrors (different than nightmares). It's a type of
sleep disorder.
Sounds like night terrors to me too. But ive also heard seizures that deal with emotions too. Id research the sight emerald gave you and id bring it up to you daughters doctor definately! If its night terrors i dont know exactly what they do for those but its sounds veery stressful!

Night Terrors!

I don't know how many times I hear my 11y NT(sort of), talks or yells in her sleep and I go to her room. I try to wake her up---her eyes are wide open and she's talking or yelling. But she's not awake--she is really sleeping. She never remembers any of it in the morning.

It sounds like night terrors to me too... (Cassidy has a lot of sleep issues & has been through night terrors & sleep walking & this sounds like a combination of the two from her... she also has Sleep Apnea, etc...)

[QUOTE=143hayden]Sounds like night terrors to me too. But ive also heard seizures that deal with emotions too. Id research the sight emerald gave you and id bring it up to you daughters doctor definately! If its night terrors i dont know exactly what they do for those but its sounds veery stressful! [/QUOTE]

But ITA, I've also read about seizures that deal with emotions also & complex partial seizures can take many different forms depending on the person.  HER seizures aren't this type, but there are so many different kinds of seizures, it's hard for me to say 'no way'...

I think either way, if you are concerned, I would mention it to the dr. & go from there.  Hugs & good luck!

I agree with Niki on the website also, that's the one I've always gone to as well. :)

Chera2539348.4208449074 BTW, I say night terrors also, sharlet has these too, similar to what you describe, but not as severe or for the duration.  I hop into bed with her and her dad makes her a bottle.  I stay with her till she goes back to sleep. Allegra39348.2654166667I am going to talk to doctors soon about seizures in sharlet.  I'm pretty sure she is having them.  She doesn't usually drool much anymore, but sometimes even right in the middle of interacting with someone or something she will just stop and her face will loose all expression and drool will run out of her mouth.  This can last for seconds or minutes, and she is unreachable, gone.
She has never had EEG's or anything like that because I don't think the ped who dx her wanted to waste the time or money just quietly.  She sort of acted like there was nothing that could be done for Sharlet and she was a lost cause.  Her GP knows zero about autism too so I think I will talk to someone at EL. 
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