Absence-type things

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

J

JaneC

New
Messages
315
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi, hope everybody is well :e:. I'm looking for a little help. For the past 2 or 3 weeks, off and on, my daughter hasn't been quite herself. What she is experiencing is a bit like absences but not entirely like the absences I've seen her have before. It's really like a delay in answering when you speak to her - as if she goes off for a few seconds and then comes back.

She also asked me the other night if I would come and check on her in the shower because she didn't feel right (an absolute first, she has never before said she doesn't feel right.

She dropped her lamotrigine from 150mg to 125mg a day about a year ago. I'm thinking it might be worth trying going back up again. I realise I should probably be asking the E nurse this question. If I could get hold of her I would!
(Not to mention that people here are a lot more help than she ever is). x
 
When I would have a simple partial, I would have to stop talking to gather thoughts (in retrospect, wait for the seizure to end). If I tried to talk, it would come out slurred or I may not actually use real words. It is certainly a weird feeling that may be alarming.

I'd put money on a simple partial. Keep in mind, everyone's is different (after reading your profile, I'm betting you already know this) and may change. Maybe its time for some unfortunate medication adjustment.
 
Last edited:
I think your daughter's sense that something doesn't feel right is a pretty big clue. I take a low dose of Lamictal like your daughter, and last fall after a period of sleep deprivation (done for an EEG, ironically), I didn't feel right, and was worried enough that I upped my dose by 25mg.

If there's no obvious stressor lowering her seizure threshold, it may just be that your daughter's metabolism is changing, and that a slightly higher dose of Lamictal is required as a result.
 
Does she know when a seizure is coming on? When I was first diagnosed I didn't know, I would just have the seizure.

It's only been with in the last few years that I've sometimes realized when one is coming on. I get aura's or simple partials.

I may be talking to my husband and have those little 'out of it' moments. Be in the middle of a conversation, stop talking for a second or get confused about what I'm saying, then back to normal.

I have times too when I don't feel right. I really don't know how to describe it but I know things aren't feeling like they should be.

I have a VNS and really never knew when to use it because I didn't know a seizure was coming on. Now that I'm having these things going on I know to use it to stop the seizure from coming on.
 
Apologies for not being back to read your replies - can't believe it's more than two weeks since I posted. My daughter has been bad up to 150mg of lamotrigine a day for about .. well just less than 2 weeks. Things still not quite right but I think I'll give it another week before we contact the E nurse.

N (sorry I don't know your name) - I don't think it's SPs because she usually has visual hallucinations with them and we've had none of that.

Nak - you are always so generous with advice. I can't think of any obvious reasons why she'd be stressed. She has exams just now but she already has her university acceptance so nothing to worry about there. She was probably overtired around Christmas but shouldn't be now, although her sleeping pattern remains chaotic.

Valerie - that's great that you have VNS to help. I've tried to explain this before but still can't entirely get my head round it. She will often know something is going on but if you ask her at the time she will say no. Later, she will say, yes she did know, but she is unable to say so at the time :ponder:

Anyway, starting to think about her going to uni now - I've been in touch with their disability service and have found out that in the UK we have a disabled students' allowance which she might be able to get some help from. Luckily she'll be home every weekend, so I will be able to see what's what. She'll prob be sharing a flat with 4 or 5 people - hope they are fairly understanding and responsible (maybe asking a bit much from students?).

She won't be going till September but I'm trying to plan ahead before I get really busy at work again.

Thanks for letting me ramble, hope everyone is well tonight xx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom