night seizures and xanax?

[yorkie41]

Anyone have night seizures?

What helped you?

[Georgiagirl88]

Hi Yorkie,

I have night seizures. My seizures are always in my sleep and wake me up. They are not as common. I haven't really found anyone on here that has only night seizures..so I am anxious to talk to you. Do you have yours during the day also, or only in your sleep? My bad seizures are in my sleep and I do get small staring blips during the day occasionally..but I usually do not feel bad with them. Once in a while I will get jittery,dizzy,weak etc with the daytime auras and then I usually get a seizure that night. Please read my first post.and I would love to hear how your seizures feel to you. Right now I am Lamictal and valium (put on while I was ramping up on the Lamictal and will hopefully go off of) and I think it has helped. Feel free to private message me any time and I look forward hearing about your seizures. Hope you are doing well! Welcome to the group!! It is so wonderful!!

Michelle : )

[Wally]

Anyone have night seizures?

What helped you?

My seizures have only been in my sleep. But they are always very bad T/C's. I wake up later after scaring the crap out of my wife totally unaware that anything happened and spend the next week trying to get back to normal (whatever that is). I think there are several folks in the same situation on this site. I have found that it is much more common than I previously thought.

[yorkie41]

What is a T/C?

[Wally]

What is a T/C?

A Tonic Clonic, a seizure that used to be called a Grand Mal.

[homemom360]

up until about 18 mnths ago all my t/c were in my sleep. my husband was always carful not to "shock" me out of sleep, because 9 out of 10 times it would triger a seizure. more lately though they have drained over to my waking hrs and that is what has sent me back to the dr. i liked the in my sleep thing, alot less scary...

[Bernard]

My wife's seizure pattern has changed a lot over the years. There was a time when she only experienced seizures at night. I don't recall why her pattern changed (or what we changed that may have altered her pattern at the time).

[brain]

Anyone have night seizures?

What helped you?

It's called "Nocturnal Seizure" or "Nocturnal Epilepsy".
My Neurologists for years have tried various anti epileptic
drugs to bring it under control. The best way to know and
go is via Video Electroencephalogram at the Hospital or
Ambulatory Electroencephalogram (however, it's not 100%
perfect than what's done at the Hospital but it's far less
costly) - then there are Sleep Apnea Centers where one
can sleep overnight which isn't as costly for monitoring.

The Video is known as L T M or E M U; but there are some
"short stays" - but I never buy the story of "short stays"
in the Hospital, because it's almost always a week there
or longer for their goal is not just to capture seizures, but
to capture a lot of seizures if all possible and try to pinpoint
where it's all originating from. However the flip-side of the
coin is, it's not unusual for one to depart from the Hospital
and not have a single seizure at all.

I had been on Dilantin (Phenytoin) for decades to control
this but cannot be on that anti-epileptic drug anymore.

I still suffer from Nocturnal Seizures and always had since
a wee one. The scary part is, not even knowing you've even
had it, at least on my end.


Here's a link from Epilepsy Ontario on Nocturnal Seizures:

Nocturnal Seizures - Epilepsy Ontario, Canada

[Nancy]

When I had my very first seizure (I'm 99.99% positive about this) it was a complex partial that woke me up and about scared me to death. Of course I did not know it was a SEIZURE and I'd never heard the term "complex partial" -- That continued to happen for a couple nights and it was HORRIBLE.
Then I was "safe" for maybe a couple weeks then it started night after night again. It continued lasting a few nights then stopping for a couple/few weeks then returning. I have no idea how long that continued but I do know it was many months before these "spells" started happening during the day too. Whew.
Scary, scary stuff.

[RobinN]

I believe this would be considered kindling.

[Meetz1064]

And they are very violent t/c's. Normally they happen when I am dead asleep, once in a while when I am coming in or out of sleep, but not usually. There has been one or two blips during the daytime, but that's because I've been sleeping during the day.......

It takes me a while to figure out why I hurt so badly...I regress to the age of 2 for a while. Then I sleep again for 18 to 24 hours.

[Nancy]

Yes - that's what I was told when I FINALLY met a neurologist who knew something about epilepsy. That took years And I was told that the "pictures" I always "saw" of my sisters and me playing in tubs of water before the "spell" actually hit was de'javu)

But ---big but -- in the beginning - when it all started, my husband said I was just having nightmares. When it started happening while I was awake --- "Just having nightmares and imagining things."
I went to a doctor one time and tried to ask him what was happening. He, dear doctor, said I was just having nightmares. I said "I told you this was happening while I was awake!!!". He told me I needed to get more sleep. I left his office.

[brain]

It takes me a while to figure out why I hurt so badly...I regress to the age of 2 for a while. Then I sleep again for 18 to 24 hours.

BINGO! You took all the words out of my
mouth --- err, post!

I would wake up feeling (I know I sound
like a scratched record) like I've been
beaten up by a gang with baseball bats
and having no clue why and I'm on my
bed?



Never mind to the fact, I've been all banged
up, shattered my teeth, teeth knocked out of
the sockets, strained, strained, bruised, pulled,
yadda, yadda, yadda - even stitches... and
for the life of me, I'm soaking wet like I've been
running, and sometimes I do pee but it's rare,
and yes, the sides of my tongue has been bitten
and I've been found in all sorts of weird positions
even half on and half off my bed, on the floor,
and who-knows-what. HORRIBLE!

Last one ( Jan 2008 ) - I ended up with a Goose
Sized Egg on my head (not a clue how that got
there), lost 2 teeth, but was able to put one back,
cracked, chipped, and shattered teeth, vomited
(and was aspirating), and to make it even worse,
my left knee looked like someone removed my leg
off and whacked the knee on a pavement (?) and
then put it back on me; and battered up was I in
such a dire mess whereas I ended up in the ER,
for my son ordered it; and it didn't stop there either,
I ended up with another one in the ER, where, well,
umm - I don't think the Nurse appreciated it, but it
was a small one, and I had another small complex partial there;
however, my Doctors wanted me admitted, but due
to confusions - I ended up being discharged, but
fortunately I saw my Primary and Neurologist quickly.

Trust me, I was one big mess!



It took several months to heal from all of this, and
for added insult, March 2008 was HIDEOUS! I want
to DELETE 2008 permanently - 2008 has been a
horrible, horrible, horrible year for me! I've been in
a Yo-Yo for some time now (actually before 2008
to be honest), but I can't stand pity parties. I just
want this roller coaster to STOP so I can get OFF!

[RanMan]

Yorkie41

It could be the way you sleep and something is causing a blockage in your airway.

If your brain isn't getting enough oxygen due to mild Sleep Apnea, and you find yourself waking up in a "postictal" state (out of it, confused, angry or over agressive or still feeling tired and not rested) you should get your Doctor to refer you to a sleep specialist. They will do an EEG while you sleep.

You may find out that you have seizures during your sleep as a result of you stopping breathing and possibly reduce your medication.

This could cure other health problems as well.

Maybe it's worth checking into.

I have recently been dx'd with Chronic Obstructive Sleep Apnia.
After my sleep disorders test the Dr. showed me the EEG from one night, I would stop breathing up to 50 times/hour and had 3 seizures and that I was waking up "post ictal" (moody and spaced out)
I have recently purchased a CPAP machine which provides constant air pressure and have noticed a vast improvement.
No more snoring (the whole family sleeps better now), more energy when I wake up, better REM sleep, improved memory (less short term memory loss), and most of all ~ NO MORE NIGHT SEIZURES.
Now maybe my Neurologist can reduce my meds.
I'm surprised that finally after 28 years I finally get an answer.
All this came about as a result of my wife's complaint to her Dr. about my snoring.

Randy

[Paully]

Randy (Ranman)
I gotta thank you, what you said in ur post about sleep Apnea made the most sense when it comes to my seizures.
I don't often have seizures, but when i do it's when i'm sleeping. It's not cause of excess drugs or alcohol, cause i've tested that through and through. I can go up to a year and a half without having one episode and then, while on the medication, have one.
I've had the hardest time trying to figure out what's the cause, but sleep apnea actually answers alot of questions.
After my episodes i am, out of it, confused, or angry, or over aggressive or still feeling tired and not rested. I've never gone to a sleep specialist before, but getting a referral shouldn't be too hard.
Hopefully this is actually the problem, cause I'm tired of loosing my drivers license, chewed tounge, blah blah blah!
Paul
Thx Again

[RanMan]

Paully,

If you have a sleep study done, if you don't mind, could you let me know what you find out and if this solves your problem?

Randy

[Paully]

No problem, as soon as i find out I'll let you know!

[Paully]

Well, got to the sleep doctor and aparently i don't have seizures often enough to have a sleep study done. :S oh well, but one thing i am finding out that could be a cause of my seizures is my eating habits or my lack of vitamins.
Turns out that not enough Calcium and Magnesium can cause seizures, so i'm on that and waiting for any changes!
Paully

[RobinN]

Start with the magnesium first. Much more likely that you have a deficiency there than with the calcium. Ionic is absorbed by the cell the best, it is a liquid. Chelated is another variety that is in pill formm, but is also absorbed quite well.

At least from the research I have done.