Getting sick with Epilepsy

[kashani19]

Has anyone noticed that the slightest sickness that comes about, you have aura's or seizures? My daughter who is 7 years old can have a small case of Diarrhea and have aura's all day. Or have a runny nose, or sore throat. If she runs any kind of fever over 98.6 - she has really bad and scary aura's. Even on her meds, she still has these when she is the slightest bit sick. onder:

Thanks!

 

[donnajane]

I often know my 21month old is going to get sick even days before it happens as his events and periods of being NQR (not quite right) increase. When he is sick his events increase a lot, thankfully we now know thats what happens and are comfortable enough to know just to keep an eye on him. The first few times it scared us so much we contacted his Nureologist who said to keep an eye on him and contact him again in 5 days to let him know if his events had settled back to what was normal for him or to contact him earlier if they seemed to be staying at the increased level for more than 2 or 3 days in a row.

 

[jyearta]

Has anyone noticed that the slightest sickness that comes about, you have aura's or seizures? My daughter who is 7 years old can have a small case of Diarrhea and have aura's all day. Or have a runny nose, or sore throat. If she runs any kind of fever over 98.6 - she has really bad and scary aura's. Even on her meds, she still has these when she is the slightest bit sick. onder:

Thanks!

This has been the case for me also. Just as you stated, when my body is off just a little like the sore throat I will have auras that sometimes go onto seizures.
Since I been on this forum and learned about triggers and keeping a dairy, is when I found that when I take vitamins over the counter I will have a seizure, that is just one example of my triggers.

 

[Chelsea]

Yes; in fact, I have noticed this. A couple days before I had a tonic-clonic seizure, my sinuses backed up into my ears (causing a double ear infection). I was miserable, weakened, and my body was compromised by the infection. Also, when a person w/epilepsy runs a fever, this can be a trigger (my neuro says a surefire trigger). I know that some infants and small children also get febrile seizures (unrelated to E, I think), where their fever is so high they seize.

Have you taken the toddler to an immunologist? Maybe this would help. (((Hugs))) Hoping things improve, Chels.

 

[momof3boys]

Ive been feeling like crap all day today. It hit me most when i took a break from doing the housework, and went to watch some tv. i started to get achy, and feel horriable. Then came on the chills, and just not feeling good at all. Im just praying it has something to do with getting the flu shot yesterday. But I pray to god no seizures come about.

 

[Chelsea]

momof3boys, I'll be praying that you get well; you have been slammed with SO SO much lately. In learning to cope with finally being formally diagnosed with E, I thought to myself, "This is going to be lifelong, but life is lifelong." You know? I realized I have so much to be grateful for including all of you on this forum. Had I not had such a big support network, including the Ep Foundation, I wouldn't be able to cope as well. It's encouraging to see you, definitely, with 3 kids! I thought in some way it would be impossible to have kids (let alone 3 boys!). How cool is that? I'll be praying that it's not the full-blown flu. I hope that you get well, and stay warm. It's like 66 here; and nice day for a walk.

 

[Chelsea]

Ive been feeling like crap all day today. It hit me most when i took a break from doing the housework, and went to watch some tv. i started to get achy, and feel horriable. Then came on the chills, and just not feeling good at all. Im just praying it has something to do with getting the flu shot yesterday. But I pray to god no seizures come about.

What are you doing for Connor's birthday?

 

[momof3boys]

What are you doing for Connor's birthday?

We dont know just yet what were going to do. He keeps changing his mind about what he wants! :roflmao: He will say he wants to go roller skating one day, then says chucke cheese the next day!

I told him he better make up his mind soon!

 

[KarenB]

Well, the diarrhea can keep the seizure meds from absorbing, if the food is passing through the gut too quickly to digest properly. Our little guy just got out of the hospital -- he had 18 tonic seizures in 2 days, and was admitted for 3 days because a bad bout of diarrhea apparently kept his meds from being absorbed, and also, he's on the ketogenic diet, and apparently the diarrhea skewed that as well, because his ketones were much lower than they should be.

A couple years ago, a bad sinus/ear infection put him in the hospital (38 tonic clonics in one weekend). Docs said that sinus infections are notorious for causing seizures -- even in people without epilepsy -- apparently they're so close to the brain that the inflammation presses on the brain, or maybe even the infection crosses over? Not sure.

However, a lot of parents of kids with epilepsy (especially if the child is on the ketogenic diet) have noted that sometimes the seizures get better when a child is sick and running a fever.