Eating triggers my son's seizures

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

C

crannsmum

New
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Points
0
My son is 16, he has been suffering from epilepsy since the onset of puberty, about four years. 95% of his seizures occur either during a meal or 10-15 minutes after eating. the other 5% have occured whilst at shcool and therefore it has been more difficult to determine what lead up to them.
He doesn't have them every time he eats, he has probably had about 25 seizures in these four years. He might have three in a week and then nothing for a couple of months. Does anyone else have this?
 
Last edited:
oops, posted this before I had finished. My son is also autistic and because of this he,until recently was on a glutin and dairy free diet form the age of three. his seizures started whilst he was on this diet and coming off it doesnt seem to have impacted on their frequency. for the first couple of years he was taking Tegritol which controlled his seizures well but had bad side effects so he was switched to lamictal last year which does not control them as well , he has gained significant weight whilst on this, which is a big concern. I have considered the possibility of electrolyte inbalance but this doesnt seem to be hugley significant, however I have noticed here the suggestion of thyroid inbalance. We're off to see his consultant at the begining of December and any info or suggestions would be really helpful.
thanks
 
Welcome.

There was one other person on here where she mentioned seizures triggered by eating. And we came up with 2 possible reason why. First was that the vagus nerve was over sensitive and that the action of swallowing or digesting disrupted it.

The second was that she was surgery in her mouth and that the damaged a nerve that starts with a T. And it was being stimutlated by chewing etc.

Lastly I'd say get back on that diet. I started GF for my seizures and my control got way better. It hasn't stooped them completely but, way way better than it was before. I can actually function now.

What made you decide to take him off?
 
I didnt actually decide to stop the diet myself but the midnight fridge raids of cheese sandwhiches by my son pretty much made my efforts invalid. We put him on the diet originally because of extream hyperactivity. I'd forgotten what sleep was! it worked almost instantly and lucky for me we had a consultant who at least wasn't opposed to the decision ( unlike some,who vitrually accuse the parent of abuse!) there were times when he managed to get hold of things he shouldnt and the return to old behaviours was evident for all to see. however by the time he was 11 these slip ups seemed to make little difference to his behaviour and so there seemed little point in enforcing the diet so strictly. Although there is clearly a connection between Autisum and epilepsy in many children, I dont feel that my son's epilepsy is directly connected. My father developed epilepsy at exactly the same age as my son and I suspect that even if my son had not been Autistic, he probably would still have developed Epilepsy.
Your comments re the Vagus nerve are interesting and not something that I know anything about so will need to go and educate myself!
 
I am the exact same way as your son, most of the time anyway.

Usually on the first few bites of a meal it will trigger a seizure. I first starting having my seizures when I was 14. I do have seizures in other random times, but the meals are most common.

I just started to make sure I took extremely small bites of food at first, and to just be careful of whatever I was putting in my mouth as to avoid any choking or whatever when my jaw locks up :bigsmile:. I don't know how your son's works, but thats the only thoughts I have.

I don't know what causes mine, my only guess is its a result of the incephilitis (probably spelled wrong) when I was a baby. I've had a few numb areas on my face ever since then. So I have always assumed my meal seizures was a result of nerve damage. But thats just my best guess.

Theres my two cents. :twocents:

-Brody
 
Hi Brody
Im so pleased that you posted. Knowing that my son is not the only person who has this trigger really helps. My son has never suffered from any illness as a child but of course Autisum is a problem with the brain and I still suspect that this may well be conected to the measels vaccine but that's a whole other debate!
Knowing what triggers a seizure is helpful to a point. my father's was triggered by playing cards, mi jong and concentrating whilst bending over, like trying to mend his car etc. once he worked that out he simply stopped doing them and his seazures stopped and he hasn't had a seazure since but of course you cant stop eating!
My son's last seizure was on saturday morning and he had only had a couple of mouthfuls of his breakfast but more often than not he will have finished his meal and then it happens usually still sat at the table. This suggests that it has more to do with the food hitting his stomach than the action of chewing or swallowing.
I spent last night reading up on the vagus nerve, which I knew nothing about and considering its role with the stomach this would appear to be the prime suspect
when I think back on my sons eating habits as a child he stared out eating normally then became very obsessive and gained massive amounts of weight at the age of ten he just suddernly stopped eating and drinking and literally starved himself for several months ( apparently not uncommon in Autistic children) and lost all his excess weight. As suddernly as he stopped, he started again and began eating normally. this coinsided with the onset of puberty and the seizures started within six months of this. He was put on tegritol which controled the seizures well but turned him into a zombie so his consultant switched him to lamictal which doesnt control him as well and we are still in the process of increasing this but my son is now becoming increasing overweight, not as obsessive as he was as a child but it certainly cant be helping the situation
 
well, we live in the UK so it's not really a question of insurance or cash as such because our NHS ( national health service) is pretty extensive so if Neurofeedback was available in the UK and our consultant thought my son was a suitable case, he would probably get it. However my son has had 2 EEG's and both present as normal, the last on was a 24 hour / overnight test. Even if this was not the case because my son has very limited communication skills due to his Autisum it would be extreamly difficult to get him to understand what was required of him to make the necessary adjustments and so wouldn't be considered " suitable" but thanks for making the suggestion, Im learning a lot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom