Did I have a seizure yesterday in my sleep?

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Hi, thanks for your time in advanced!


My history: I am 22 years old, and have never had a seizure in my life. There is no family history of seizures that I'm aware of. I am on no medications other than the occasional Excedrine.
I have always had trouble sleeping my whole life, but it has gradually become more difficult in the past year.

Friday night (two days ago) I couldn't sleep at all (nothing new). I kept switching back and forth from laying in darkness/silence, putting a movie in, music... Nothing. At 5 AM, I set three alarms and decided to stay awake and ride it out for the day so I wouldn't accidentally miss work. I finally fell asleep at around 5:30 AM.

I woke up at around 6:30 PM (missed work), sleeping through all of my alarms. I'm normally a very light sleeper so that was strange. Then I noticed that my entire tongue burned as if I poured boiling water on it, and I had a few sores in my mouth on both of my cheeks. It was not like that before I went to bed.
More strange things: All of my pillows were on the ground with pillow cases almost falling off (unusual for me, I'm not an aggressive sleeper). My nightstand was neat and orderly before I went to bed. After I woke up, I saw that my drink was across the room as if I tossed it. The blank construction paper I had on the nightstand had random scribbles on it and it was all ripped apart. One pen was on the floor, broke and ink was everywhere. The napkins I left there all had writing on them. It was all illegible, except for the first few works. There was a few sentences on two napkins and a paragraph of writing on another. I don't remember doing ANY of this at all. I wouldn't in my right mind write on a napkin. Also, the napkins were neatly folded and orderly.

In doing research, lack of sleep can cause a seizure whenever you do sleep. I can see the cheek/tongue chomping as a sign, plus knocking things over. I can see that might apply to me, except knocking things over, destroying paper/pens, and writing on a napkin. Has this ever happened to anyone? Is it something other than a seizure. I don't know what I should do or if I should be worried.

Sorry for the long story. Any suggestions/opinions are appreciate!
 
I have done all of the above in a mix of a nocturnal seizure and sleep walking and doodling.
The only true way to 100% but even not then is go see a neurologist tell them everything that happened and then go from there they will prob run gambit of tests to try and see what's going on and try to help you.

Mike
 
Hi SarahTonin (nice screen name!), welcome to CWE!

It does sound like you may have had a nocturnal tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure. I suggest you write down everything that you can remember about the incident, including the days leading up to it, and make an appointment to see your doctor. If you can, avoid driving since you may be vulnerable to having another seizure.

And yes, fatigue is the #1 trigger, though there can be other contributing factors. You mention that you have had trouble sleeping your entire life -- have you ever had a sleep study done? Often poor sleep quality can be a sign of sleep issues (such as apnea or seizure activity) that are stressing you system. You also mention taking Excedrine -- do you suffer from migraines? Migraine and epilepsy are close cousins, their symptoms overlap, and they often co-occur. if you have noticed any other unusual sensations or symptoms -- things that you might ordinarily dismiss -- make a not of them, and let the doctor know.

I hope you've had a one-off a seizure, but to be on the safe side you should definitely get checked out.

Best,
Nakamova
 
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