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Karma

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Hi I am new here just joined. Thank you for adding me. My husband had event # 3 on Monday and he is trying to convince me he just fainted. We are going to the doctor soon to get referral to neurologist. After event 2 (he was sitting in chair it was sitting up that time) he went to family doc and had all tests done, all looked good. This last time he had flu and was coughing a lot, took a lot of Zyrtec along with nasal sprays thinking he had allergy attack - he is suffering from allergies a lot and he drinks tuns of coffee and plays a lot of video games. Several hours a day. Not completely obsessed but some. So I am so confused what is the main difference in the way person acts during the episode to say: is it the fainting or seizure? This is what happened during this last episode:
1) All day he felt sick going though hot/cold spells
2) he had a lot of coffee
3) he left work as he felt sick and came home and took Epsom salts bath not hot
4) he felt dizzy and was turning pale several times during the day I saw it in the evening too
5) he didn't too much that day as he had no appetite
6) I made chicken soup to make him feel better, he ate it very fast as he got hungry from smell
7) Right after he ate he felt sick (throwing up) - he got up fast and went to the bathroom - this is where I heard sound of him hitting the floor and I saw him laying by the bathroom
8) I had turned to the side as he has soup coming back out and his body was twitching a little bit - jerking like.

Please share your thought. I am so worried now - I know my husband needs to stop doing all those things like too much coffee and games.
 
howdy, caffiene is a hard addiction to quit, and idle hands are the devils playground, just politely suggest something else, he might find another hobby he likes or is good at
 
thank you for you reply. I must tell you my husband has additive personality and it runs in the family. He quit alcohol because he can't moderate it and I had to pretty much interfere to get him to stop, even after he had pancreatitis. So now, caffeine. Whats nest? I think I need to get him hooked up on lettuce somehow, its provided fiber for a good poop and totally harmful. I was thinking he can moderate coffee? Or hr has to quit it completly?
 
Hi Karma,
Welcome to CWE! I'm sorry to hear that your husband may be having seizures. I will tell you that a person needs to cut back on caffeine and sometimes video games can trigger seizures especially if the person is photosensitive which means certain colors can trigger seizures.
Often when I've been sick with a cold or virus and I take any over the counter med it will trigger a seizure for me do to what's in the medicine.
I've had epilepsy for 47 yrs. and I had brain surgery twice to reduce my seizures. Just like your husband I had all of the testing done but it wasn't until I had surgery that the Drs. found damage on my brain that not a single test showed and this is because the damage was to deep in the brain to show. If I may ask has your husband had a PET or SPECT scan, these tests show a lot of what's going on in the brain.
One thing that really helped me a lot is taking vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day along with the cbd (medical marijuana) it did wonders reducing my seizures.
I found the best thing I ever did is see a Epileptologist which is a Dr. who specializes in epilepsy you can have your family Dr. refer you to one or your husbands neuro. Also try going to a Epilepsy Center which are usually at large hospitals or university hospitals. At an Epilepsy Center you will see a team of Drs. working together, Epileptologist, neuropsychatrist and neurosurgeon they work together as a team to help the patient and the patient is on the least amount of med. Tell your husband to stay away from anything with NutraSweet in it because it's been proven that NutraSweet causes more electrical activity in the brain which in turn could trigger a seizure.
Get a calendar and write down any time your husband may have had a seizure and what the seizure was like by doing this the Dr. may see a pattern in the seizures as to what time of day or night the seizures happen or what days of the month.
Tell your husband to stay stress low and get plenty of sleep because lack of sleep and stress are the 2 main triggers for seizures. I wish you and your husband only the best and May God Bless the Both of You!

Sue
 
Hi Karma --

From what you describe, it seems likely your husband had a seizure during the last event.
There's a chance it could be a one-off brought on by a combination of factors (illness, dehydration, over-caffeination, etc). The neurologist will help figure out whether this is the case, or whether your husband has a chronic seizure disorder (epilepsy). The neuro will review symptoms your husband experienced recently as well as his overall medical history. He may also recommend tests such as an EEG.

Whatever the neuro determines, it sounds like your husband should consider making changes to some of his behaviors/habits. Maybe cut down the caffeine, eat a balanced diet, don't get dehydrated, get plenty of sleep, don't overdo the video games, etc. And he should be careful when taking medications such as Zyrtec -- antihistamines can occasionally cause seizures in someone without a history of epilepsy, and they can be problematic for people who do have epilepsy.
 
thank you for the detailed answer. can you please clarify why you think this last one is in FACT seizure? what made you think that
 
Hi Karma,
The facts that I think it was a seizure was the dizziness, the drop to the floor along with the jerking/twitching these are all signs of a seizure. Ask your husband if he felt confused, tired or had a headache after this happened because many times this is what happens after a person has a seizure. I've had this type of seizure in the past it's called a drop seizure. I felt fine and then all of the sudden I hit the floor and I'm out of it not realizing what's going on. My husband has told me when this happens my body jerks a few times then when I come out of the seizure it takes me a few seconds to realize where I am and what happened and I feel very tired, sometimes I have a headache and other times I don't. I hope I'm wrong. Here's wishing you and your husband only the best and May God Bless the both of you!

Sue
 
Hello & welcome to the CWE. I also believe it was a drop seizure. I recently had a seizure which I think was this type, too. My son came home from school to find me laying on the floor in the entrance to our kitchen. I had no idea of what had happened when I "came to".
 
Hi Karma --

Yes, the twitching is what makes me think it was a seizure. Without that aspect, illness-related fainting seems a more likely scenario (though also concerning). It still might have been a one-off seizure -- one in 20 people will have a one-off epileptic seizure at some point in their life.

Did you hear your husband make a sound like a sharp intake of breath or a scream before he hit the floor? Was his breathing labored after the event? Those things don't happen during every seizure, but they can be additional confirmation that seizure might have occurred.

Another thing to think about -- does your husband, or anyone in his family have a history of migraine or seizures? If there's a family susceptibility that would also suggest epilepsy. (Only some kinds of epilepsy have a genetic component -- mine doesn't -- but it's something the neuro may ask about when making possible diagnoses.)
 
Hi, Nakamova. I read that small twitching is also happen with fainting. No sound or vision issues prior and like I said he got up fast to go throw up (so he will not do it on the floor) and rushed to the bathroom. I actually know what sound, my mother had this seizure type and when that happened she screamed that is going blind and made ungodly sound that scared us all. About fam history, yes his brother has migraines.
 
So it seems like it might be too hard to tell at this point. Hopefully the neurologist will shed more light.
 
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