Hi ! We have a family member who's a 23 year old boy. He recently started experiencing mental confusion, like he's often unable to tell what time or date it is, he also asks questions repetitively and constantly forgets things (like what he wanted to do or say). Many times he can't remember the day something took place, but will often remember an event. He's very restless and agitated too. Switches between anxiety and excitement. He's also very indecisive, can't prioritize his thoughts and has difficulty understanding meaning of complex things.
He's constantly absent minded and does things on "auto-pilot", often forgetting what he did or said. He feels as if recent memories (like what happened earlier in the day) are far and distant, as if they are from years ago. He experiences dejavu and Jamais vu's many times during the day. He also has strange emotions that he can't really explain.
They did an MRI at the hospital, along with many blood tests, which came back negative. His blood pressure and pulse are a bit high, but it may just be due to anxiety (his resting pulse is 100)
The doctors don't know what's wrong with him. He was taking some supplements from a health food store when the problems started, but we are not sure if it has anything to do with that. It's been weeks since he took those supplements and his mental confusion has not improved.
After a bit of research, we found that there's something called absence seizures. His symptoms don't fit the description exactly, but there are similarities. He is absent minded most of the time, can't keep a train of thought, and has frequent memory "blanks" of what happened recently.
We really would like to know: does this sound like Epilepsy to you? (We know we have to get an EEG done and see epilepsy specialists, but what's your opinion)
To anyone who has tried benzodiazepines: His doctor prescribed Klonopin (a benzo) to help calm him down, but we are wondering if it's a good idea to let him take it. Would klonopin worsen his confusion? Or could it improve his confusion and absence mindedness (like in case it's epilepsy related or something else)?
He's constantly absent minded and does things on "auto-pilot", often forgetting what he did or said. He feels as if recent memories (like what happened earlier in the day) are far and distant, as if they are from years ago. He experiences dejavu and Jamais vu's many times during the day. He also has strange emotions that he can't really explain.
They did an MRI at the hospital, along with many blood tests, which came back negative. His blood pressure and pulse are a bit high, but it may just be due to anxiety (his resting pulse is 100)
The doctors don't know what's wrong with him. He was taking some supplements from a health food store when the problems started, but we are not sure if it has anything to do with that. It's been weeks since he took those supplements and his mental confusion has not improved.
After a bit of research, we found that there's something called absence seizures. His symptoms don't fit the description exactly, but there are similarities. He is absent minded most of the time, can't keep a train of thought, and has frequent memory "blanks" of what happened recently.
We really would like to know: does this sound like Epilepsy to you? (We know we have to get an EEG done and see epilepsy specialists, but what's your opinion)
To anyone who has tried benzodiazepines: His doctor prescribed Klonopin (a benzo) to help calm him down, but we are wondering if it's a good idea to let him take it. Would klonopin worsen his confusion? Or could it improve his confusion and absence mindedness (like in case it's epilepsy related or something else)?