Grief and Epilepsy

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My best friend took her own life back in January and my 10 year old Son who is best friends with her son took it really bad he was crying constantly everyday , and he was jumping at shadows to scared to be in his room alone, to cut along story short my Son started having focal seizures in April and i've often had people say to me do you think the stress he suffered from grief caused this to happen? Ive never thought to ask my GP this but i do have an appointment this week with a neurologist i will defentley be asking him i was just wondering what others thoughts are on this subject .
 
Condolences! How awful for you, your son and her son. We have been told by ours sons paed that she is pretty sure emotions trigger some of his seziures. She tried to explain it to me saying that what ever was happening in his brain was "made worse" by his emotional state and to make it simple the combination could bring on seizures. My little man is just on 29 months old so his communication at times is quite limited.
I will be interested in seeing what Nureologist says to your question. I am going to be also discussing this with our little mans Nureologist when we see him in July.
Hope you can get some assistance and some answers.
 
My condolences to you also. Emotions can/do play a part in seizures, especially something as upsetting as this. He could be suffering from PTSD that could bring on seizures, too. Maybe get your son in to a pediatric therapist, too.
 
:agree:
All sorts of stresses (including emotional ones) can potentially be seizure triggers. It's also possible that his crying and the jumping at shadows were actual seizures, since those can take the form of mood swings and visual disturbances.

Either way, finding ways to relieve stress -- perhaps through a therapist as Cint suggests -- can be very helpful.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and your son as well. How is his friend handling things?

Stress was a big trigger for me.

Keep us posted. I'm thinking about y'all. **hugs**.
 
Condolences! How awful for you, your son and her son. We have been told by ours sons paed that she is pretty sure emotions trigger some of his seziures. She tried to explain it to me saying that what ever was happening in his brain was "made worse" by his emotional state and to make it simple the combination could bring on seizures. My little man is just on 29 months old so his communication at times is quite limited.
I will be interested in seeing what Nureologist says to your question. I am going to be also discussing this with our little mans Nureologist when we see him in July.
Hope you can get some assistance and some answers.

Hi DonnaJane

My heart goes out to you i never realised little babies can get seizures as well i still have so much to learn , this whole year including my frieinds death has been a life changing experience for me , emotions have run high in my family and my Son has always suffered anxiety, i spoke to the neurologist yesterday and he said that he was certain that my freinds passing never triggered it off , i also asked him if constantly playing the xbox and the ipad could have done it and he said no to that as well. I feel this all started last year as my Son kept coming to me saying that he had twitching in his head and when i asked him what does that mean ?he said it is like my head is moving inside from side to side , and he said this often to me so i took him to my GP and he said it is nothing to worry about , i told the neourologist this and he said that is a sign of epliepsy i never knew that . and just before he started having seizures my son kept getting up and down during the night saying that the twitching was waking him up . and he also lost feeling in his right arm last year and the docs couldnt figure out why so i rushed him into ER and they done all these test and were dumbfounded as well , so he had to go and have a brain scan and thankgod it came back clear , well now because of the seizures ,they want him to have another one just to make sure nothing else is causing the seizures to happen .The neurologist said i dont have to come back and see him again only if something is irregular on the scan .
 
My condolences to you also. Emotions can/do play a part in seizures, especially something as upsetting as this. He could be suffering from PTSD that could bring on seizures, too. Maybe get your son in to a pediatric therapist, too.

Hi Cint,

Just before my Son was having the seizures he was going to see a counselor at his school for his grief , but with everthing happening it has all been thrown out of wack .I will look into a pediatric therapist Thank you for your kind words :e:
 
:agree:
All sorts of stresses (including emotional ones) can potentially be seizure triggers. It's also possible that his crying and the jumping at shadows were actual seizures, since those can take the form of mood swings and visual disturbances.

Either way, finding ways to relieve stress -- perhaps through a therapist as Cint suggests -- can be very helpful.

Hi Nakamova,

The neuroligist did say to me that stress trigger seizures to happen , my Son was having lots of mood swings as well i just put that down to my friend dying at the time i feel as if i am slowly putting the peices of the puzzle together with the signs of epilepsy . Thanks for sharing your insight:e:
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and your son as well. How is his friend handling things?

Stress was a big trigger for me.

Keep us posted. I'm thinking about y'all. **hugs**.

Hi CathyAnne,

My Sons friend has mild autism and is doing ok yet his Dad said the nights are the worst and my heart goes out to him, as i had him here for a sleepover one night and he was crying for his Mum my heart broke into a thousand peices . I will never understand how she could have left him he was her world she was the best Mum. Thankyou for your kind words :e:
 
Wow what a lot of info for you to take in. We have realised my little man might have been having seiuzres from a few months old or earlier but Dr's were saying then probably just his reflux blocking his airway breifly thats why he would suddenly seem to "vague out". I loved the term you used putting pieces of a jigsaw together that is exactly what I say re my son. I can't believe how man pieces there actually is. I know I am constantly shocked when his Nureo or Paed look at footage and say something I thought was unsure of was a seizure, often it is something I put if for them to say thats normal. My son has a brain lesion on his putamen after 4 clear EEG's his 5th over a year ago showed slowing then his nureo though he would do an MRI just in case and in it they found his has a brain lesion deep in his brain which is why it does not show on his EEG's. He had his first MRI at 18months although he was suppose to have on when he was first admitted via the ED at 7 1/2months old but due to breathing difficulties at the time and then a clean EEG they decided it was best not to do it. I know I wonder what that MRI might have shown. He has since had another MRI last Jan and has to have follow up ones until he is at least 10 yrs old or longer if there is any sign of change.
He also has times when strange things happen like he can't walk for over 24hrs, or forgets how to use a slide which he has just been playing on for 10minutes, which I thought of when you said your son lost feeling in his arm. But then we get a toddler who can be so normal.
Sometimes I just wish his condition would be obvious so they could just help him not have these bad times but then if it was more obvious that might also mean I might not be getting these wonderful normal toddler periods, which sometimes are brief, but which I cherish so much.
I have been on such huge learning curve with my son. Before being a parent of a child with seizures I always thought of Epilepsy as someone lying on the ground and shaking. Now I have had my eye's opened to what a complex world the brain is.
Thank you for sharing your sons story and please keep us updated.
Donnajane
 
Wow what a lot of info for you to take in. We have realised my little man might have been having seiuzres from a few months old or earlier but Dr's were saying then probably just his reflux blocking his airway breifly thats why he would suddenly seem to "vague out". I loved the term you used putting pieces of a jigsaw together that is exactly what I say re my son. I can't believe how man pieces there actually is. I know I am constantly shocked when his Nureo or Paed look at footage and say something I thought was unsure of was a seizure, often it is something I put if for them to say thats normal. My son has a brain lesion on his putamen after 4 clear EEG's his 5th over a year ago showed slowing then his nureo though he would do an MRI just in case and in it they found his has a brain lesion deep in his brain which is why it does not show on his EEG's. He had his first MRI at 18months although he was suppose to have on when he was first admitted via the ED at 7 1/2months old but due to breathing difficulties at the time and then a clean EEG they decided it was best not to do it. I know I wonder what that MRI might have shown. He has since had another MRI last Jan and has to have follow up ones until he is at least 10 yrs old or longer if there is any sign of change.
He also has times when strange things happen like he can't walk for over 24hrs, or forgets how to use a slide which he has just been playing on for 10minutes, which I thought of when you said your son lost feeling in his arm. But then we get a toddler who can be so normal.
Sometimes I just wish his condition would be obvious so they could just help him not have these bad times but then if it was more obvious that might also mean I might not be getting these wonderful normal toddler periods, which sometimes are brief, but which I cherish so much.
I have been on such huge learning curve with my son. Before being a parent of a child with seizures I always thought of Epilepsy as someone lying on the ground and shaking. Now I have had my eye's opened to what a complex world the brain is.
Thank you for sharing your sons story and please keep us updated.
Donnajane

Dear Donnajane ,

My heart goes out to you i feel your frustration as with the little ones it is hard especially when they are sick in general let alone with having to deal with siezures as well. Do they think he has a chance of growing out of it ? My son is having another mri in august , they want to see if there is anything else causing the seizures to happen , he also had a sleep deprived EEG a couple of weeks agao and i forgot to ask the neurologist about the results grrr i could kick myself as i asked him heaps of questions how could i have forgotten that ? I have another appointment tomorrow at the hospital with the peadiatrician (ifeel like i have never been away from the place) so i have made a note to ask her this time . It is a life changing experience , yesterday i was godmother at a christening and my son didnt want to leave my side for fear he might have a seizure in the church .It is the little things that now that i guess we never worried about before , like letting him shower himself , playing outside on his bike , jumping on the trampoline .Going for sleepovers at his frieinds , which is a big issue as he has to have a dose of tegretol morning and night, and i worry that his frieinds parents will notget him up early enough in the moring so he can have his medication on time , all these worries are going through my head .I guess i will feel more cinfident as time goes on . Thankyou Donnjane for sharing your story as well . It is a relief to know that i am not alone and can post to someone who knows what i am going through.

Please keep me posted as well on how your little one is doing

Wishing you alll the best

Love and hugs Maggie :)
 
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