Night seizures..

[cjole]

Ok, I know this may sound silly and even dumb to those of you who have night seizures, but if you have them while you're sleeping, how do you know you have them? Do you wake up afterward, or do you just know when you wake up? I am single, and the only person anywhere near is my 90 year old dad down the hall. So, how would I know if I had a seizure during my sleep? (I guess I can't say night time, cuz I work shiftwork, and sometimes my nights are days!)

Thanks!
CJ

[Melpier]

I always wake up right before or during my seizures. I think this is the biggest reason I have been so terrible about Tracking my srizure my entire life - until recently when I found seizuretracker.com. It makes tracking fairly easy.

[Nakamova]

When I've had tonic-clonics at night, it's not obvious at first because my memory is non-existent. I figure it out later when I realize how fuzzy-brained I feel when I wake up in the morning, and much my back hurts.

I'm not sure how you would tell with other kinds of seizures. If you have a computer in your room, you could set up a little camera that might record if something happened.

[Bernard]

If you are alone, you can tell by indirect evidence - bitten tongue/cheek, unusually sore muscles, incontinence, excessive sweating, pools of drool on the pillow, etc.

[RanMan]

Sounds to me like your brain could be lacking oxygen while you sleep, could be for various number of reasons.

IMO ~ I would try to get a referral to see a sleep specialist. They can do an EEG on you while you sleep. From this, they can see if you're getting enough oxygen while you're sleeping and/or if you're having seizures in your sleep that you don't know about causing you to feel tired, no energy, soar throat, sore chest muscles, You could have a form of sleep apnea, easily cured, which is causing your problems.

Maybe worth checking in to.
Randy

[epileric]

I only have partials (petit mal) so when I have a nocturnal seizure I wake up in the middle of it. I sleep with a pen & pad in the headboard so that I can mark down what time it happened & go back to sleep. Then in the morning I record it on the computer.

[RanMan]

Hi Epileric
I'm suprised that you are coherrant enough during a petit mal (partial) to take notes, but hey, if it works ~ GREAT.

Randy

[epileric]

For some reason I can copy from the clock (or anywhere I read) perfectly. Not a hope if I'm being told or need to comprehend what it is I"m copying though.

[Loopy Lou]

If you are alone, you can tell by indirect evidence - bitten tongue/cheek, unusually sore muscles, incontinence, excessive sweating, pools of drool on the pillow, etc.

This is how i found out i was having seizures in the night. Well, not for definite as i haven't had any tests done for it, but my neurologist and my nurse said that they are 95% sure.

Luckily the incontinence doesn't happen very often, but i definately get the bitten cheeks, (ever tried using mouthwash after this? - OUCH!) drool, achy all over and completely exhausted the next day, as well as sometimes waking to find my sheets drenched in sweat. Oh yeah and specifically a sore back and left shoulder - doesn't seem to bother the right so much. Dunno why this is.

It's funny that for years it's been like this, and it's only recently i found out the reason i was feeling so terrible sometimes after waking up.

[Meetz1064]

know when I'm having night seizures by two things. I either wake up TOTALLY exhausted (electrographic seizures) OR I've bitten all the way through my tongue on both sides and broken a few bones in my back, part of the bed, and part of the dressers. (Tonic clonic) The other 2 types, I never know when I have them, all though I do have them in my sleep. And I can't talk for 2 weeks, and even make sense during that time. I revert to being about 2 years old again. We won't discuss my memory....

I NEVER want to have a tonic clonic again. (knocking on wood, VERY hard)

[knothing]

Of the 3 nighttime seizures I have had that are known the first one was mild but had a side effect which lasted for 5 to 6 hours. The side effect was that I kept repeating words and could not stop myself. Plus I was in a mental fog for about 2 hours. The second one was a grand mal and outside of being extremely soar there was the mental fog. The last one I apperently went tonic while rolling over and did not stop until I fell about 3ft. Somehow my wife was able to give me a verbal command to get back in bed but I have no memory of that.

Both the grand mals happened with my wife as a wittness. But if I lived alone I would set up a web/video camera to monitor my sleep.

[darcness]

I often wonder about this with my wife too. I mean as far as I/she knows she hasn't had any seizures in almost 5 months. The thing is, how do you ever REALLY know unless you have a 24/7 camera system and never leave the house.

The thing is that I sleep very deeply. My wife could have a t-c next to me and it likely wouldn't wake me up. Let alone a partial. Thing is, she usually doesn't sleep after hers. She tends to want to wander around and/or do strange things. If I get up in the morning and find things out of place or something of that nautre, I suppose I would know.

Other then that, I really wonder if she's had nocturnal seizures without either of us knowing it.

[knothing]

My wife is a deep sleeper and I would have never thought she would be as alert as she has been.

[Bernard]

... The thing is that I sleep very deeply. My wife could have a t-c next to me and it likely wouldn't wake me up. ...

I'm a deep sleeper too. As a child, I once slept while a a hurricane blew through. I didn't even know about it until the morning when I rode my bike through the neighborhood and saw all the broken trees and houses missings roofs and walls - I didn't hear a thing during the night when the devastation was occurring.

There is no way my wife can have a tonic clonic without me waking up. I know the minute something is wrong with her. On some level, I'm aware of her breathing pattern or something.

[Belinda5000]

If I have a seizure during my sleep my Dh Dennis almost always wakes up,
or i lose control of my bladder one way I know or I scream.

Belinda