arm jerking in sleep

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pattid12

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Hi, my son had a full swing arm jerk over his head into the wall while sleeping. His hands were also clentched. My other child sleeps in the same room and witnessed this and woke me up. I kept an eye on him for 2 hours and of course was extremely nervous. When he woke up for school, I could see he was very tired. I asked him if he hands hurt or anything, and he said no. He looked not right to me so I kept him home from school. He took his morning med of keppra 750ml. I noticed that most people on this site take higher doses. I go back to neuro in August.

My question is could that have been a start of a full blown seizure?
 
I had my leg start to jerk in my sleep like I was going to start a seizure and and it stop and I talked my neuro ask him if a sz could stop all of a sudden and he said yes.
 
The amount of medication for a child is more or less based on his/her weight. But also key is to use the lowest dose possible for seizure control so as to minimize side effects. You don't say how long your son has been on medication, but it is possible that his neurologist is wanting to see how he does at this dose before increasing - this is common for both children and adults.
If you're concerned about what occurred by all means call the neurologist, especially if this incident is unusual for your son. Keep track of your son's symptoms and seizures, what he is doing and what occurred around the time of a seizure (eg. sleeping, video games, stress at school such as exams, high level of physical activity, missed lunch due to stomach upset, etc.) in hopes of identifying any seizure triggers.
Last but not least: is your son seeing an epileptologist (neurologist who specializes in epilepsy)? This is by far the best way to go.
 
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Thanks for your post. He has been on Keppra 1 and 1/2 years. His dosage was just increased in March. At that time when his blood levels were drawn the neuro said that he is stilll on the low side for the med. I have a call into him today. I take him to Dr. Miles of NYU Epilepsy for Children in Manhattan. Thanks
 
I would go into a punching/kicking fit. Woke up many times when I was younger, punching the wall. My sisters would also her it all night. My neurologist said he was sure it was a partial. This was happening 2-5 times a night and was previously diagnosed as RBD. I was 2000mg of Keppra at the time. We added Vimpat and I sleep like a baby. I rarely move in my sleep anymore. Previously I was literally doing sit-ups and freezing in contorted positions that less fit people couldn't dream of doing. On the downside, I don't get a good workout in my sleep anymore.
 
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N Sperlo said:
Previously I was literally doing sit-ups and freezing in contorted positions that less fit people couldn't dream of doing. On the downside, I don't get a good workout in my sleep anymore.
Click to expand...

:lol:
This is how I see the better nocturnal seizure control in my case, too. My abdominals don't look so good anymore.
 
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I've woken up many times with bruises on my arms and legs. I even had a huge one on the palm of my hand once from hitting the corner of the coffee table super hard. I've also broken a lot of things including my alarm clock. I have my first appointment with my neurologist the end of this month to discuss all of this.
 
Hi, what did your family do when they saw you punching and kicking? Did they try and lay you down? I'm not sure what I would do, that's why I get nervous. Thanks
 
What did your family do for you when they saw this. Did they lay you on your side? Not sure what I should do. Thanks
 
I don't think I would suggest intervening unless it is by moving something that could hurt him. When I was younger, my family just thought I moved in my sleep a lot. I learned to move anything fragile, hard, dangerous, or expensive away from my sleeping area.
My wife would get kicked, punched, and slapped when she tried stopping me. I'm glad no one ever thought I was beating her. The only time my wife would roll me is if I began a t/c. So, if you don't mind the beating, I guess you could roll him any time you want. :p
This got so common for me that I would never feel strange when waking up. Except for the time I almost broke my foot on the coffee table.
 
I sleep alone so nobody has ever witnessed anything. Which is also why it took me so long to figure out what was happening.
 
walkerjm3 said:
I sleep alone so nobody has ever witnessed anything. Which is also why it took me so long to figure out what was happening.
Click to expand...

As things were getting worse, my wife was a flight attendant. I was very lucky she was around when things got to their worst. I had to have had some tonic clonic seizures when she wasn't home, but she was there for the worst and I'm so happy for that. How did you find out?
 
I woke up two weeks ago to my cat yelling and tearing off across the bedroom. My leg was shaking and I had knocked stuff off my night stand.
 
My daughter also has nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. She would sit up, reach her arms up or around her, eyes open with no reaction to talking or snaping fingers to get her attention. N Sperlo, are your seizures under control now? Have you ever had a daytime event or have they been restricted to sleep?
 
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