Was this a seizure?

[rege]

Looking for some advice from those with experience ...

I'm a man in my 50s, never had a seizure before last night. Have a daughter who had one grand mal seizure as a very young girl. I do have occasional optical migraines and am a type 1 diabetic.

Yesterday evening shortly before dinner I was standing in the kitchen when suddenly my head felt like it was going to explode. No pain, but about three short pulses of pressure accompanied by dizziness and confusion over the span of several seconds. I think I also felt some tingling in my limbs. I was conscious through the episode.

I was greatly distressed by the episode and my heart was racing. I sat down and had dinner, but afterwards felt extremely tired and ended up napping for about three hours after dinner. I felt a little pressure and slight pain occasionally on top of my head, more on the left side. I also felt a little nauseated off and on -- although that might have been due to having had a fatty meal and then lying down afterwards (I have a sluggish gall bladder).

The after-effects felt a little like after an optical migraine, except much sleepier and without any optical symptoms.

I looked at symptoms of various types of seizures and this doesn't seem to correspond exactly to any of them. Has anyone here experienced anything like this and know what it is? I'm wondering if I should see a doctor or wait to see if it happens again.

The only other medical thing going on right now is that I caught my son's strep throat the night before and had taken a dose of his Amoxicillin, which seems to have knocked out the strep.

Thanks for any of your insights.

 

[giveasmile]

I don't think you should wait to see a doctor. It could be related to the strep/antibiotics but regardless your doctor should know.

 

[rege]

Thanks -- I guess it couldn't hurt to see a doctor, but I'm not eager to get a lot of tests done if this is a one-time occurrence, as apparently most seizures are.

The literature says seizure is an infrequent side effect of Amoxicillin, but that Amoxicillin reduces the seizure threshold; it doesn't cause seizures.

What I'm trying to figure out now is whether the phenomenon was a brain seizure or whether it was something else. If the symptoms ring a bell for anyone with experience having seizures, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks again!

 

[Cint]

Since you have Type 1 diabetes, what was your glucose level at that time? I also have E and Type 1 diabetes. Back in December I had an accident. I went in to a CP seizure and when the paramedics measured my glucose level on the way to the hospital, it was 40 something. The physician at the hospital reported that the seizure was due to low blood sugar. People with diabetes can have seizures if the glucose isn't kept under tight scrutiny.

 

[rege]

Good point. The same thought occurred to me and I sampled my blood glucose level immediately after. It was 72, which is borderline low but not problematic.

I had my first optical migraine during a severe hypoglycemic event when I was 23, so I know that low blood sugar can trigger problems in the brain. In this case, though, I don't think it likely played into it.

I hope it's just one of those one-time ideopathic events. I just wanted to find out what category of event it was. My 13-year-old son was exclaiming during and after the episode that I was having a stroke and needed to go to the ER. I think it less likely to have been a mild stroke (although strokes are definitely something we diabetics are susceptible to), but I don't have much experience or knowledge in these areas.

It sounds from the responses so far that the symptoms aren't ringing a bell with anyone on this forum, so maybe this was not a brain seizure.