How can you tell that you've had a seizure while sleeping?

[irish71]

Sorry for the second post, but this really interests me! Last night, I had a dream that someone was chasing me and i started pretending to have a seizure (lol) so that they would stop. Pretty creative and vivid I must say; it seems that Lamictal XR w/ zonisamide has been giving me INCREDIBLY realistic dreams.

Anyway I woke up not wanting to get out of bed/wake up AT ALL. It was like I was a zombie. This happens from time to time, like I'll have extreme confusion and/or body aches. Not sure if this is from the crazy dreams or my epilepsy.

[momof3boys]

If Ive had a seizure while sleeping, I would wake up with a bad headache, seeming somewhat confused, and somtimes my jaw would be hurting. I mostly clinch my jaw while having a seizure, so thats a for sure sign that Ive had a seizure.

[Nakamova]

It's hard to know for sure unless there are obvious post-seizure signs like a bitten tongue, or extreme back pain. If you keep a seizure journal you can sometimes get a sense of what your particular post-seizure symptoms are so you can make a guess as to whether you've had one or not.

I had the same very vivid dreams when I first went on Lamictal. Pretty startling, right? Eventually, after I backed off the dose a bit and got used to the Lamictal, the dreams and restless sleep went away.

[Endless]

Hi, Irish,

My nocturnal seizures usually wake me up. But sometimes not. I get this feeling during and after a seizure - hard to describe. Sometimes when I wake up I feel it and I know I've had one. Complex partials - I've woken up and stuff is broken, or my front door is unlocked (I'm obsessive about locking it), or I'm naked (didn't go to bed that way).

Not rested.... Lamictal can make you not sleep well. I have pretty bad insomnia - 2-4 hrs of sleep a night. And the hours I do get aren't good ones. I'm a walking zombie, too. Lamictal can do that to folks.

I agree about the good seizure diary. It really helps identify patterns. I'd tell your doc about what you are experiencing next time you go in. He can help you figure out what's what.

[BuckeyeFan]

With my tonic-clonics, I would only know if my wife saw it or by suspecting it due to postictal hangover. My wife has generally heard/seen them start. I am pretty out of it afterwards and am not aware until woken later.

Knock on wood, I have not had one during my sleep in a long time.

This is one reason I wonder if I had them when I was younger. I slept in a room either by myself or with a much younger brother. Sometimes I would awake with what I now think may have been postical symptoms. Too hard to nail down for sure.

[Endless]

I need to tag a question onto this string. Advice please.

I woke up this morning with my lower back seriously out of whack, and extreme muscle spasms. I couldn't stand up. Finally made it to the chiropractor who fixed it (more or less). She asked what happened. I told her I just woke up that way, and she said not likely, that "things like this don't just happen." She said that based on what was out and the severity of it, usually there's a fall down the stairs, accident of some kind, lifting something ridiculously heavy, etc. She wondered if I had a seizure in my sleep or something.

None of that happened to me. I am not bruised, don't feel like I've been hit by a truck (no sore muscles other than my back), and my mind feels more aligned (non-seizury and clear) than it has in months. My mind feels great today. I don't have tonic clonic seizures, just simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures. If it was a complex partial and I hurt myself badly enough to put my back out I'd at least have bruises.

I'm operating on the theory it wasn't a seizure because of the lack of bruises, sore muscles, etc. What do you think?

[epileric]

I think you know best what is likely to have occurred in your sleep.

I'm somewhat skeptical about chiropractors since I was just reading last night about some of the absurd claims many of them make like curing asthma or colic.

[Endless]

This chiropractor isn't like that - no crazy claims. Just good adjustments. Saved me after a car accident. She's a really good one. If she says what I had going on was too extreme to just happen during sleep, I believe her. But I don't think it was a seizure, either (but I was asleep, so what do I know). So I'm baffled.

[epileric]

Glad you got a good chiro, Endless. I know they are out there.

Something my dad was told when his disc slipped was that what caused it was not necessarily just before he felt the pain but could be a week or even longer before & that the pain would not be there until the swelling reached a certain level. I think he figured it was probably pulling the lawnmower cord to start it that put his back out.

Is that possible with you?

[Endless]

I agree, Eric. There are some questionable chiropractors out there, some good ones. I think any profession is like that. Heaven knows we hear enough in here about neuros that are the good, the bad, the ugly.

Haven't been feeling well, so haven't been doing much. There wasn't anything that really could have triggered it - no lifting, no excercise except walking my dog, not any housework, etc.

Mine's not a slipped disk. It was a bunch of joints out of whack, including leg joints, several vertebrae, one of my hips... I was like an erector set gone horribly wrong.

My first suspect was a complex partial. But if I got up and walked around and fell or otherwise hurt myself enough to be all out of whack, it seems to reason I'd have a bunch of bruises. Well, I guess some things are just a mystery.

[Birdbomb]

I suspect I'm having nocteral seizures. Last month I woke up with a broken toe, middle one, left foot. Yesterday when I woke up, my finger that I messed up in the famous "Wal-Mart Seizure" was hurting like hell as if the nail was pulled off. I have on other occasions woken up with a mildly chewed tongue. Not like when the big ones hit where I could attach jewelry or ear gauges.
sigh

[C0urt]

soaked in sweat, or I kick the wall. I used the wet the bed. really bad head aches. or i smell really bad. like i have been tossing and turning for a long time. I wake up confused, or i cant talk.

depends on the drug I guess.