do you hold your breath after a tonic-clonic?

[petero]

I'm told I hold my breath for a very long time and I'll clench my whole body (after doing the shaking) and my face will turn purple and blue...

it's my understanding this is fairly normal

 

[C0urt]

i have in the past. it can be a little unpleasent.

 

[Fedup]

I still do it and now I know it myself, I gasp for breath when coming round I can feel the oxygen so to speak.

 

[Autumn Breeze]

after seeing myself on video, yeah kinda. My breathing appears very labored

 

[jayde-101]

Yes i do ... Well its lile my body doesn't know how to breathe ...
When Ive been status before ive had to have breathing tubes put down me until my body has "remembered" how to breath

Its not pleasant bit i guess its just part of having seizures

 

[Maisy]

Yeah, like ive ran the 1000m sprint and so out of breath!! it sucks

 

[Autumn Breeze]

For me it's less like when I run and more like a forced exhale, sharp inhale PAAAUUUSSSEEE, exhale, sharp inhale. And it's like I'm breathing through my teeth.

Again, I only know this because my husband caught a good one on video.

 

[Bernard]

My wife does it after a TC too. The period of no breathing usually lasts about 10-15 seconds.

 

[petero]

Yes i do ... Well its lile my body doesn't know how to breathe ...
When Ive been status before ive had to have breathing tubes put down me until my body has "remembered" how to breath

Its not pleasant bit i guess its just part of having seizures

I've had the nose tubes put in (I was reminded by my mom) - and I do recall it is a disturbing noise to begin to gain consciousness with

but that's what people tell me - my face will get blue and purple

 

[petero]

thanks you all - that does make me feel better, at least, about my apparent tendency to do it

 

[jayde-101]

I've had the nose tubes put in (I was reminded by my mom) - and I do recall it is a disturbing noise to begin to gain consciousness with

but that's what people tell me - my face will get blue and purple

its it horrible to regain consciousness with them in place because your automatic reaction is to gag :/

but i suppose if there wasnt such a thing some of us would be stuffed

its kinda nice to know there are other people that know what your going through, i hope your okay

 

[KarenB]

Jonathan does that in the tonic phase of the tonic-clonic -- usually at the beginning of the seizure (scream out first, then rigid with no breathing, then convulsions, then gasping for air and then he's often unconscious for awhile).

Thank God we haven't seen one of those in some time. His last one (forever I hope) was on August 23 -- right before he started Zonegran.

Praise God the tonics seem to be pretty much gone now as well.

 

[arnie]

I have been told that I stop breathing during the TC, but I've never had to be intubated (I've only had 5 TCs that I know of.) By the time I regain consciousness the seizure itself has been over for a while so I have no real knowledge of what has gone on. My wife said that I turned really blue during the last one I had (last April). I also bit my lower lip so hard that it was numb for about a week. That has never happened before!

 

[Prosperitee]

Apparently I held my breath at the beginning, it was shallow & laboured throughout the clonic phase and then I held it again afterwards (although apparently I was opening and closing my mouth like I was trying to breathe but not taking in any air... weird?).

 

[KarenB]

I think that trying to breathe but not taking in air is because the respiratory muscles contract, and this forces the air out of the lungs, and you can't get the air in until the muscles relax.

This can happen even with just a tonic seizure, although it's not usually as bad, since tonics usually last less than a minute, while tonic-clonic usually go for 3 minutes or more. If Jon has several of these in a day, he'll start getting low on oxygen -- nails start getting blue, etc. That's when we pack him off to the hospital for supplementary oxygen.

 

[Prosperitee]

^ That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Autumn Breeze]

That does make sense.

And WHY does my doctor say "That's pretty long!!" when I tell him my seizures are AT 2.5 minutes. Closer to 3?

 

[Crash]

I asked someone who has seen me have plenty seizures and they told me no,to the breathing issue.So i guess it's different for everybody.

 

[petero]

That does make sense.

And WHY does my doctor say "That's pretty long!!" when I tell him my seizures are AT 2.5 minutes. Closer to 3?

I guess to a doctor anything longer than 0 seconds is too long, technically

 

[KarenB]

I guess to a doctor anything longer than 0 seconds is too long, technically

for any of us...more than 0 seconds is too long