Night-time seizures

[Suzanne H]

Hi there,

Last night my husband had his third nocturnal seizure since Feb. He has them at almost the same time - all three times - between 1am and 2am. The first two I called 911 as I wasn't sure what was going on but since then he's on meds and the neurologist said only to call if it went past 5 minutes but to give him time and then call his name. If he responds just let him sleep. I did call his name but I think this woke him up and he has been to the bathroom NINE times since. He was shaky the first time but I was with him each time and he progressively got stronger. Does having a seizure make you want to go the bathroom - nine times?

Also - does low sodium play a role. The last 2 seizures, his sodium level was low. It as 128 and 135 is considered normal, so they gave him an IV to raise his sodium to normal. I'm hoping that when he wakes up, I'll take him to the hospital to get his seizure medication level checked and to check his sodium.

Man, it's scary watching him go through this and I just feel so bad. I'm not sure if he knows that he had a seizure yet and I sure hate to tell him.

I just feel so awful for him.

Thanks for listening.

Sue

 

[Nakamova]

Low sodium can cause seizures, and may also be responsible for your husband's frequent visits to the bathroom. When the body doesn't have enough sodium, it responds by decreasing water in the body, including via urination.

Perhaps his diet needs more sodium in it? And certain medications can decrease sodium levels, so those may need to be reviewed as well. Does he take diuretics for high blood pressure?

 

[Fedup]

Hi Suzanne H

The short answerer is yes, the amount of times depends on the individual, I get nocturnal seizures as well and my wife was told to call my name as well to see if I respond, some things I feel are, the weakness, loss of energy, need to go to toilet, thirst ( I always have a drink of water beside me, so when I wake up, its there) and the last thing I will do is sleep. But you have to remember these things do not apply to everybody, these are things that apply to me, you might only see one or two things that are the same, this does not mean your husband is going to develop the rest.

 

[Cint]

Some of the AED's can cause low sodium. When I took Trileptol, I also suffered from hyponatremia (low sodium).

Has your husband had his glucose levels tested as well? Diabetes can cause sodium/kidney problems, making one need to go to the bathroom numerous times.

And like Nakamova said, does he take diuretics for high blood pressure? Diabetes can also mess with one's blood pressure.
I know as I suffer from E and Diabetes.

 

[Fedup]

Hi Melanie

This is the thing about epilepsy, no 2 people are exactly the same, there will be thing that are the same eg me - when I get a seizure, I stop breathing - then start( 2 maybe 3 breaths), then stop breathing again (this is usually when I start to come out of a seizure, in between, I will through my hands around ( last time I gave my wife a black eye), probably hit my head of something ( done this - stitches from locker) , my body will go stiff like a plank of wood and will pull a muscell and this is on an average night, my face twitches all the time, my left hand shakes a little, with little or no feeling in it, so can you see the thing we have and have not in common, there is always something different.

 

[little fruitcake]

I agree with the others the sodium can be the culprit. I know for me it is a spike in sugar that causes my nocturnal seizures. I found this info right here. Thanks everyone!

 

[Suzanne H]

Thank you

Thanks everyone for your great responses.

Yesterday I took my husband for another blood test. They're still trying to determine his sodium levels and we get the results today. Next week we have an appt. with the neurologist to change the meds. because he had a seizure even though his medication level was perfect. We're going to talk to her about the sodium levels. His sodium was low before he was put on the seizure medications but now it's even lower.

He does take an infra red sauna every night for an hour - so that too, could cause the low sodium. So things are still up in the air for now.

We're also trying to get an appt. with his arrhythmia specialist because his atrial fib acted up after his last seizure. He was on a low dosage pill to control it but I guess the seizure plus the 10 times up to the washroom taxed his heart and threw it out of control. Anyhow, we've lots of appts to go to find out more information.

I feel so bad for him. He's battled heart disease, cancer and now has seizures. And seeing him in a seizure broke my heart.

Thanks for listening.

Sue

 

[little fruitcake]

Suz, sorry to hear all this. Please keep us informed, hugs.

 

[epileric]

He does take an infra red sauna every night for an hour - so that too, could cause the low sodium. So things are still up in the air for now.

Up in Canada all the infra red saunas have signs saying not to take them if you are epileptic or diabetic.

Maybe he should just stop the taking his sauna every night & see if that helps his seizures.

 

[Suzanne H]

Saunas!

Hey - thank you so much for the comment about the infra red saunas and seizures. I've never thought of that but we own our sauna and my husband does take a sauna every single night for one whole hour. But you're right - it does say that you shouldn't use the sauna if you have seizures. Mike's been taking this sauna for 3 years now but the seizures are new - just in the last 5 months. But the sauna probably does aggravate the seizures because the neurologist is puzzled over how come he had a seizure when the medicine was in an excellent level.

Thank you so much,
Sue

 

[epileric]

You're very welcome.

I hope it makes a difference.