concussions and seizures

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jaysmom

jaysmom

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I got a call from Jason's school today, it was him, hardly speaking and crying for me to pick him up. He said he just remembers waking up on the ice with everyone standing around him. He thinks he wiped out on the ice as he was on his scooter with no helmet as thats where he woke up. Regardless if it was another drop attack or if he did wipe out, he was taken to the hospital with a significant lump on the back of his head and concussion. spectators say he was unconsious about 30secs. He is home,we will watch him for things getting worse but here is my question.....
If you recieve a head injury~even if only a concussion....does that in crease your risk for seizures?

thanks,
chrissy
 
I've had a few bumps on my head & I never saw a correlation between them & my seizures.
 
It is possible but unlikely since the fall off the scooter probably caused the bump and not vice versa. More to the point you should prevent him from driving/riding unless these issues are sorted out.
 
I had two concussions within two weeks of each other. A week after the second one, I started having seizures. I had never had any medical problems before. The concussions (according to most doctors I've seen)are the reason I have epilepsy. But, I had two concussions very close together, before I had time to heal.
 
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most seizures are caused from head injuries. I hit my head when i was a few years old and had many seizures in that year. Then I didnt have another seizure until high school. So after many tests...they found that I have a scar tissue in my left temporal lobe because of the head injury I had when I was younger.
 
Your story reminds me of some times when I had concussions due to carelessness or accidents. It seems after about five of them over my life that my seizure have gotten worse almost as if the last time when I was about 17 seemed to be the worst.
One was falling off my bike down a ditch onto my face which the bottom of the ditch was about 10feet down. Having tunnel vision and low-vision didn't help at all- I didnt even see the edge! So I stopped riding my bike then realized I was legally blind then lost the rst of my vision over time, but not from accident.
The others were from small things like slipping off stairs to careless accidents while playing.
The last one i had was where I grabbed a hold of the metal rings on the playground and decided to put my feet on the top of the bar that the rings attach to- the only thing I remember was waking up but wanting to sleep so badly. My twin was with me and another lady who happened to be a nurse were there trying to get me to wake up- they said i looked like i was dead then it looked like i was smiling at them even though I was totally out- my eyes were back in my head and I woke up feeling really warm and comfortable and wanting to sleep forever it seemed but was probably in shock though. My Twin was crying and I didn't even know what was going on till after a while- the lady/nurse told me to sit and rest till I could go home- once I walked home I could barley walk right and could not eat for two days and barely could drink. I should have gone to the doctor but I think Mom knew I would be okay. Ever since then my seizures have changed.
I never had an MRI since I requested other forms of testing- so I don't really know if there is anything to show for those or not..
I might request one soon.. even thought my twin didn't enjoy hers at all.


-take care everyone
-CM
 
My wife once split her head (scalp) open when she fell square onto a window sill while falling at the onset of a tonic clonic seizure. She's also had numerous hard falls (thanks to TC seizures) on her head with bumps and lumps. I don't believe that they have ever contributed to increased seizure activity.
 
My understanding

is this:

If you only have one or two, and they are far apart, it is unlikely. Sure there is a possibility that there will be some bit of bruising, but not much, and it will heal.

However, if you have a couple, right next to each other, like Bee did, or even more, then there is the high possibility of that happening. And as my old neurologist told me, "if you do it in the same place again and again, it will be a definite brain injury."
 
I've had some serious critical MVA's (motor vehicle
accidents) where I sustained trauma. It had been
deemed questionable at first if it had increased my
seizures ... but my Neurologist was excessively
quick at the last one I had (2007) and the answer
was "NO". Moreover, the Epilepsy I have is progressive
so it's declining regardless.

I've sustained numerous wallops in my head and face
and yet, I am right here on the boards!

:D

PS: I have done pretty wild things that I wouldn't
advise anyone to do it nor will I post what I did
either but it sure as heck made my Neurologist
"hot under the collar" decades ago! LOL! But of
course I was a "young gun" ...

:roflmao:
 
Ok, now I don't want you to do too much or worry to much about your Jason, but you might want to keep an eye on a few things. I guess Jason is already epileptic?

I would just recommend keeping an eye on him. If he starts acting weird, drinking lots of water, acting out of personality, etc. You might want to go back to the doctor.

I have Epilepsy from a head injury. I fell out of the back of a truck. It was only in the parking lot, apparently, when I fell out. The last thing I remember was getting in the back of the truck, the next thing I remember is two weeks later. Granted I had three concussions in High school, from sports, but apparently I fell on my back and hit the back of my head so that my brain was forced forward to hit the front of my skull and caused swelling. I had not known what happened so I went home the next day, with swelling, and was unaware of the event. My parents thought I was acting peculiar, and drinking lots of water, so they took me to the doctor. The doctor merely told them I was dehydrated and sent me home. A week after I fell out I had 3 grand mal seizures. My brain had been swelling the entire time.

So in brief, yes a head injury can be a catalyst for seizures. Just be aware of the behavior of Jason and if he is very forgetful and not acting himself take him to the doctor.

I hope this is helpful but doesn't worry you too much. My mother worries all the time.
 
thank you everyone for your input. he seems okay now. i assumed that taking a good whack to the head would definately give a kid more seizures but it sure doesnt sound like it....very reassuring.

i am having a hard time trying to find something for jasons school.
i chatted with the principal on friday and we are going to introduce epilepsy to the kids somehow ( the whole school, i mean )....every website seems to have a link to this and a link to that and another link here and another link there ~but nothing to just print in the form of a package to give to the school. surfing the web is not my best feature so if anyone knows a good few pages that i can get most info from (about seizures and epilepsy) in a printable form, i would really appreciate it. i would like to slap it on the principals desk and have him copy it to all the teachers, set up a meeting and go from there. The teachers will then all have the info they need to chat with the classes and there wont be any more reason to have a child unconsious in the school grounds with no help. the kids on the grounds should know when to call for help as well, not just stand there and stare.
excuse my wording but i am real frusterated with the school system and how lazy they are about their efforts to help the kids that need it.

chrissy
 
BC epilepsy soc. might help

Try clicking on the epilepsy fact sheet under "Epilepsy facts & seizure first aid" near the top.

http://www.bcepilepsy.com/publications_and_resources/categories_of_publications.aspx#facts

It's in PDF format so I'm not sure I can link directly to the document but here's a try.

http://www.bcepilepsy.com/files/PDF/Epilepsy_Fact_Sheet.pdf

I"m sure it'd be OK to take out whatever you don't consider useful as long as you don't change anything. It does say "approved for circulation" at the bottom.
 
I wouldn't say me going down and busting my head open caused me have more seizures.
I'm surprised as many times as I'm busted my head open open I've never had a concussion though.
Belinda
 
I went to a new school this year. And in every room, there is a bright yellow paper giving instructions on what to do in case of a seizure. I thought that was awesome.
 
well, guess I answered my own question....2 weeks after his concussion, he had a seizure. his arent that frequent so thats probably what caused it.
the principal has a dvd that was sent to him from an epilepsy group somewhere in canada and he was going to introduce it to the class. i watched it first and thought it sucked and it was only like 6 minutes long. I took some info from here that you all have helped me find and I made him a 6 page package that he can share with the teachers and classes with the info I feel is important. we also plan on doing it before the march 26th awareness day and will be providing the class with thier own lavender epilepsy awareness bracelets that i ordered.
 
Hi Jaysmom,

I volunteer for our local Epilepsy Foundation. They do awesome outreach programs whenever asked, especially for schools. They also have really great print information that you can share.
Do you have an EF office in your area?
You may be able to get some stuff via mail from their main headquarters, too.

Anita
 
i did find bc epilepsy.com and did mail them today to see if the do outreach programs. now i will wait and see what they say ! thanks for that idea anita
 
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