Hi,
my 3 year old son has been having mostly very mild short lived seizures for 2 weeks. Either getting more frequent, or possibly we are more alert to them.
Locum GP referred on the basis of my description, but first appointment is 4.5 weeks time. The Health Visitor (who has personal experience) said don't expect much from that assessment.
At this point all the medical care he has had is a cursory inspection by GP.
So no diagnosis, the doctor thought it slightly atypical for absence seizures that he has a random arm jerking motion during some seizures, although the more I read the more convincing "absence seizures" sound. Most of the literature seems to suggest EEG is required for proper diagnosis. Doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency on the NHS side, only we (his parents) and his pre-school teacher seem to have a sense of urgency. I think that constipation may be a trigger. My main concern at this point is that it could be something else that won't wait 4.5 weeks placidly.
Also wondering if this explains some of his other behaviour. It is hard to tell what is normal, and what isn't at times. He is quite capable of not answering to his name even when he is fine, and does a fair amount of excited jumping around with the same jerking arm movement he had in one of the fits. He's been quite tired of late, so slightly concerned it might be affecting his sleep quality. He also complains he feels unwell, and wants to be better, but shows no insight into the seizure (as if he can't perceive them), and doesn't expand on the topic although he has quite a vocabulary of body parts he might complain about if he could say.
Any pointers on what to expect. What to ask for. Even good primers, as I'm still getting my head around the naming convention for epilepsy.
my 3 year old son has been having mostly very mild short lived seizures for 2 weeks. Either getting more frequent, or possibly we are more alert to them.
Locum GP referred on the basis of my description, but first appointment is 4.5 weeks time. The Health Visitor (who has personal experience) said don't expect much from that assessment.
At this point all the medical care he has had is a cursory inspection by GP.
So no diagnosis, the doctor thought it slightly atypical for absence seizures that he has a random arm jerking motion during some seizures, although the more I read the more convincing "absence seizures" sound. Most of the literature seems to suggest EEG is required for proper diagnosis. Doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency on the NHS side, only we (his parents) and his pre-school teacher seem to have a sense of urgency. I think that constipation may be a trigger. My main concern at this point is that it could be something else that won't wait 4.5 weeks placidly.
Also wondering if this explains some of his other behaviour. It is hard to tell what is normal, and what isn't at times. He is quite capable of not answering to his name even when he is fine, and does a fair amount of excited jumping around with the same jerking arm movement he had in one of the fits. He's been quite tired of late, so slightly concerned it might be affecting his sleep quality. He also complains he feels unwell, and wants to be better, but shows no insight into the seizure (as if he can't perceive them), and doesn't expand on the topic although he has quite a vocabulary of body parts he might complain about if he could say.
Any pointers on what to expect. What to ask for. Even good primers, as I'm still getting my head around the naming convention for epilepsy.
