Absence Seizure question

[Rownen]

Hi parents,

For those of you who have first hand experience with toddlers / children with absence seizures, can you help me?

I am not sure if my son has them. His pediatrician doesn't think so.

He is 21 months and for the last few months (3 months or so) I noticed that he spaces out in the stroller or in the car seat. There are times when it looks like he is fixated on something. I will call his name, but he ignores it. If I put my hand in front of his eyes, he will look away, but still ignore me. After a another second or 2 he will smile and giggle, like he was playing a trick on me.

I also have noticed that if he sees something that captures his interest, he will stare at it.... but much longer than I would think is normal... almost like he is lost in what he is looking at... then all of a sudden he would look in my direction, smile and carry on.

Throughout the rest of the day, he is active and alert or engaged and I don't notice these staring spells.

My question is, can absence seizures be trigger specific? Can it only happen in a carseat or stroller?

He had an EEG done at 5 weeks old for an unrelated concern and it was completely normal. Because of that normal EEG, our pediatrician doesn't think they are seizures. She thinks he is just trying to figure things out or is just zoning out.

Should I pursue this further? I get so much conflicting information from Dr. Google.

Thank you so much.

[momofthree]

It is such a tough question, firstly I always think that a mom't intuition and our sixth sense about our kids means something. I too think my 21 month old may have absent seizures but in my case I am being overly cautious because my 7 year old was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. That being said I think that as moms we also worry a lot more than need be sometimes and jump to conclusions. If your child is meeting all milestones I think I would just wait and see what happens. However because your child had a negative EEG it does not mean that they don't have epilepsy. My son had an normal EEG too and two days later had 3 Grand Mal seizures in a period of 2 hours, any good neurologist will tell you that a negative EEG does not rule out epilepsy, it may not rule it in either but certainly not out. I see my son's neurologist on Monday and I plan to talk to her about my baby's phasing out, I can let you know what she says . In our case my daughter stares into space and when I wave my hand in front of her face she does not blink or move, once she snaps out she is fine. She is has reached and exceeded every possible milestone so I am taking a chill pill but it is in the back of my mind. The only option for diagnosis would be in hospital EEG and after what i just went through with my son I am not quick to do that to her, I would need more evidence of a problem. A video EEG is invasive for a little one. Good luck

[mlbandura]

My son wasn't diagnosed with Epilepsy until he was 4 1/2. When he was way younger I would notice that he was "spacing out" in a middle of singing a song with me or talking for a period of time. I only noticed it when we were driving, maybe because we were always singing or talking, telling stories. It would frighten me so bad that I would pull over so I could check on him. I mentioned it to his pediatrician and she felt it was worth mentioning to his geneticist. I told her and she brushed it off as him just being a normal child and day dreaming. Which I understand... not really much to go on.But
I always knew in my heart that there was more to it. I look back and think if only I had pushed the issue then maybe we wouldn't be going through all this right now. My son never showed any signs of developmental delay either. He walked, talked and learned at the same rate as other children. If you feel it in your heart that something is not right then I would pursue it! Good luck with everything.

[Rownen]

Thank you for the replies. Momofthree, please do keep me posted on what your neurologist says about your daughter.

The "spacing out" definitely happens when he is quiet and staring at something. If we are engaged in song, chatter or actions, he doesn't space out. However, if I say, "Rownen, look at this piece of paper." I notice that he will stare at it for much longer than usual. I will have to touch him or call him to redirect his attention.

The only way I can describe it is that curiosity or boredom leads him to space out.

[juliewolf]

I have a 6 year old that was diagnosed with epilepsy at 4 1/2 as well. We went through a round of drugs for almost a year. He had the absence seizures. He was having them for about 3 days before we figured out what it was which made me feel very bad as I have focal facial seizures and have dealt with seizures since I was 7. At the end of his meds we had an EEG, the doctor said that there was barely anything on the EEG and he was on such a low dose of meds that it would be ok to take him off. Now, I catch him staring off like he did with his seizures. The only difference is that he is slobbering and he wet his pants every time. After a few times of me saying, "ethan! look at me!" he looks up and laughs like he was doing it on purpose. He has been having frequent nose bleeds and behavioral problems at school. When we take him back to the doctor I will ask his neurologist. I think it may be a build up to the seizures that he was having. I dont' know though and it scares me. Please, keep writing.

[juliewolf]

*isnt slobbering.

[donnajane]

Hi, I am going through the saga of with my Nureo and Paed of trying to work out what is going on with my 10 month old. I have posted a couple of other longer posts re whats happening with him so won't go into detail here. One thing he does which they feel are abscence seizures is he will be playing happily then suddenly stop, eyes go vacant and often fall to one side. Sometimes his mouth will move, like almost chewing, when he does it. re the EEG. My 10 month old has now had 3. One when he was admitted to hospital via ED after after having a cluster if "Events/Seizures' at 3am, he as around 7 1/2 months, the next he had a 24 hr EEG about 3 weeks later as something still didn't seem right. I was told he was fine to clear EEG's diagnosed with "Shudder Syndrome" and told he would grow out of it but then he started having other different seizures was told to go back through ED to see hosptial Nureo so ended up finding a private Nureo who explained how much a babies brain grows and how an EEG one month may differ totally to the following month. The new Nureo organised another EEG, again all clear and we have been told bub will probably have another one in mid Dec. as he and several of his associates agree my little man is having epileptic events. Nureo expalined EEG's are non invasive and have no risks so he is happy to do them each month if needed. Good luck with it and let us know how you go.

[RobinN]

My daughters first seizure was at the age of 14. No signs of absence seizures as she was growing up, though she has had a processing problem, and was in special classes for this.

Her story is in my signature - a loooong roller coaster ride - tried a handful of meds which made the situation worse. She was diagnosed with hypoglycemia after a year of my suggesting this might be an issue. The neurologist only offered more meds which were declined. We made nutritional changes and she is seizure free (10+ months) after having approx 50 tonic clonic seizures.

I learned that some people are extremely sensitive to certain foods. Especially in today's Standard American Diet we don't always know what is in processed foods, even when we think we are being careful. For my daughter a potato or a banana might put her over her threshold, if she was not careful in other areas.

If I had it to do over again, I would most definitely do an elimination diet for a year, just to make sure there are no sensitivities causing the problems, before I put my child on a lifetime of medications. I have a list of woulda, shoulda, coulda's ... and since I didn't it is my mission to share Rebecca's story.

She just turned 20, and is finally able to consider the possibility of driving.