Different kind of seizure, lasting 30 minutes.

[Stephanie86]

Hi, I haven't been here in several months. A little background: My neurologist isn't very thorough, and sometimes it seems like he doesn't really know the answer to things (there are only 2 neuros. in the area that my insurance covers and the other one isn't very good either). He says I have generalized seizures, but I've never lost consciousness. I get a pressure in my head and some muscles twitch, then I have to work really hard to talk or move, then finally I have to lay down and I'm exhausted. When I have a seizure, I usually have a few close together.

I had a pretty scary experience last night. I haven't had a seizure in about a month and last night I had another one. My seizures have only lasted a few minutes at a time before, but this one was really long. I don't know if it was just one or several that were so close together that I couldn't tell. I gagged several times which I have never done before during a seizure.

I fell asleep and woke up an hour later and my throat and legs hurt really bad. My husband was in the next room and he didn't come in the room so I assume I wasn't convulsing. I'd say I was seizing for 30 minutes before I fell asleep.

Any insight on what this was or why it was so different from my other seizures? I'm going to call my dr. on Monday. I'm sorry for all the details, I'm just really concerned, but I don't think it's an emergency. Thanks everyone

 

[Endless]

Stephanie,

I'm so sorry you are going through this. It was really tough for me when I was first diagnosed. It took forever to get things figured out and to get on the right path, and it was really scary for me.

I'm not a doctor, so I can't say if your seizures are partial or generalized, but I think it might be a good idea to get a second opinion. You don't have to convulse to have a generalized seizure. Here's a description of the types:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/medical/seizures/types/genconvulsive/

The fact that you woke up with sore muscles says you might have either convulsed, or had a clonic/tonic clonic seizure.

A non-convulsive seizure that lasts more than 30 minutes is called "epilepsia partialis continua." It can be generalized or partial. Sometimes a long seizure like that will progress into a convulsive seizure (which may have been what happened to you).

A convulsive seizure that lasts more than 30 minutes is called "status epilepticus." If it's a generalized seizure it can be medically dangerous so you need to get to an ER ASAP. There is evidence that a seizure that lasts over 5 minutes can make permanent changes to your brain. Make sure your friends and family know to time your seizures then call 911 if it is over 5 minutes. Not terribly helpful if you are alone. If you are alone and you think it lasted over 30 minutes, you may still want to go to the ER. At the very least call your doctor's emergency number.

I've had partial seizures that lasted over 5 minutes, and I didn't call 911, but I called my doc right away.

Here's more information:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/types/types/statusepilepticus.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_epilepticus

Good luck. Will you let us know how you are doing?

 

[Stephanie86]

Endless, thank you so much for that information. It was extremely helpful. I didn't know about epilepsia partialis continua (had to copy and paste that one! lol). I'll bet that's what happened. I'm going to go look at the links that you posted, and I'll let you know how everything goes. Thanks again!

 

[Endless]

I didn't know about epilepsia partialis continua (had to copy and paste that one! lol).

I definitely can't say it! lol...

 

[RobinN]

I hope you are keeping a calendar of events, and possible triggers. Nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, etc This will help you to figure out what might be going on prior (even days prior) to cause these episodes. It has been extremely helpful in narrowing down my daughters reasons for her seizure threshold to be lowered.