Having a seizure while your mouth is full of food

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!

B

Blonde Angel

Stalwart
Messages
583
Reaction score
3
Points
88
Can I have some feedback please about this?

The reason I want to know is there's been two recent occasions my Daughter has been agitated pre seizure, but it's really inconsistent behavior, anyway..the last episode was whilst she was eating breakfast, she had cereal in her mouth whilst she had a seizure. It scared the hell out of me..the reason is I'm worried if food can go down the "wrong way"?? Should I be removing the food to avoid choking???
During a seizure one does not have control of what they're doing.

Sometimes there's no agitation ..no warning with her behavior.

I will see her neurologist on the 26th.

My biggest fear is pieces of meat, she had a bad habit of "stuffing" her food in her mouth at times.

:ponder:
 
The neurologist will be helpful regarding achieving better control of the seizures, but does your daughter have a pediatric occupational therapist involved in her care? An individual with this qualification should be able to give you feeding recommendations for your daughter. Perhaps there is one who even has experience with epilepsy, but if not that's still okay. A lot of neuromuscular disorders associated with abnormal movements (ex. cerebral palsy) can cause choking when eating and this is what a pediatric OT will have experience with. They may have valuable input to offer regarding how to remove food from your daughter's mouth, teaching her not to "stuff" food, best way to position her while she is eating in case she does have a seizure, and perhaps recommendations on types of foods to avoid.
 
Thanks masterjen.
My girl has Autism & one of the challenging behaviors is eating too quickly..been like that for years, & she seems to play up in the home environment. Theres times I ask her to "slow down" & she gets agitated by eating faster, I do have a carer/behavior therapist that helps to support better eating habits, but it's hard work.

I suppose it's really a first aid qn that I have in that I'm questioning whether it's right to remove food or not to decrease the risk of aspiration & impairing her airway . I have basic first aid skills ..(doing CPR & Mouth to Mouth)but I'm not sure about choking stuff.

I sort of feel it's damned if you do & damned if you don't..if you open her mouth you may inadvertently put food down & if you don't she could still choke..

Some yrs ago at least she would vomit a few mins pre seizure not nice but at least we would be prepared for an impending seizure. Now it seems at times there's no warning.
 
Last edited:
Not an easy decision while she's in the midst of seizing. But I think the standard advice is that if your child has food in her mouth, you shouldn't try to take it out, since it might actually push the food farther in.
 
Blonde Angel said:
Thanks masterjen.
My girl has Autism & one of the challenging behaviors is eating too quickly..been like that for years, & she seems to play up in the home environment. Theres times I ask her to "slow down" & she gets agitated by eating faster, I do have a carer/behavior therapist that helps to support better eating habits, but it's hard work.

I suppose it's really a first aid qn that I have in that I'm questioning whether it's right to remove food or not to decrease the risk of aspiration & impairing her airway . I have basic first aid skills ..(doing CPR & Mouth to Mouth)but I'm not sure about choking stuff.

I sort of feel it's damned if you do & damned if you don't..if you open her mouth you may inadvertently put food down & if you don't she could still choke..

Some yrs ago at least she would vomit a few mins pre seizure not nice but at least we would be prepared for an impending seizure. Now it seems at times there's no warning.
Click to expand...
Blonde Angel, I know what you mean about scary. My grandson doesn't have seizures but he does have autism. (Sometimes I think he may be having an absent seizure but not sure.) He doesn't eat a variety of food but what he eats he shoves it in as fast as possible if he feels like eating. He will shove in 2-3 pieces of chicken nuggets and be back to bouncing up and down on the trampoline. Very scary indeed.
 
Yeah

I think I have to get some feedback from the Neuro next week.
I'm frustrated and confused with this issue because they say in first aid you should clear the mouth of obstruction (like vomit) but when you've got food in your mouth whilst having a seizure the mouth is clenched and rigid.

Yeah Nakamova.
You may have a valid point... but Ive got to be sure on this one.
 
@MAB
Autism affects kids very differently, some have dietary & bowel issues.
Its an awful behaviour because she eats like there's no tomorrow, our strategy goal is to aim for her to eat slowly but as I said its challenging.

The behaviour therapist states you should take the food away when the kid starts to stuff the food down. When the meltdown is over, you then bring back the food and do hand over hand with the fork to take small portions of food. You continue to do this until the child eats slowly. If the child stuffs their mouth full of food again, you need to take the plate away..and do it all over again.

Its not socially acceptable behaviour.

I tend not to give her food when she is feeling angry..when she calms down I will then provide the food.

BUT
she can't help having those crappy seizures.

You don't want to stress the kid out but you can't have a kid eating too quickly..it really would not feel good.
We all know if you eat too quick you do feel discomfort.
 
I'm sorry Blonde Angel. I hope you and your daughter can get the help you need.

Autism is exhausting enough without seizures on top of it.

Autism is the most stressful thing I deal with. I feel like it is tearing our family apart. I hope you have family support or some respite care so that you can have a break and recharge. If I every break down completely it will be from the stress of the autism.
 
MAB
I actually find the epilepsy stuff more stressful than the Autism.
The behaviours come & go but Epilepsy destroys the routines for all concerned and can stuff things up.

I hope your Grandson is getting tons of intervention.

Yes I have supports in place, other wise I would go nuts. :(
 
Just an update.
Saw the Paediatric Neurologist and queried about what to do if food is in her mouth whilst eating, he generally said that whilst the mouth is clenched there's no risk of aspirating food.its after the actual seizure that's the potential danger.

Needless, to say it didn't make me feel better, because she doesn't seem to give me any warnings anymore of seizures anymore.
The worst thing is during eating..really scares me & when I'm driving in the car on a busy highway.
If in doubt call an ambulance if she's got trouble with her airway.
If I dwell on this ...& think too much I'll go nuts.
:(.
Sort of like a dark cloud hanging over my head.
 
:hugs:


Here's hoping you can get her seizures fully under control, and cross one worry off your list.
 
Yeah. The Trileptal dose has been bumped up.
Thank you Nak honey.
The princess will tough it out.
x.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom