Nocturnal seizures

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gnault

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I am curious if anyone has had this happen. Every so often I wake up with the inside of cheek feeling like raw meat. I'll just think that I was grinding me teeth and happened get my cheek. I read about biting your tongue, but what about biting your cheek? To me when I try to "similate" it it seems difficult. A seizure may seem more likely because it may be more of an uncontrolled movement of sorts.

Any thoughts or similar experiences? It hasn't happened in a while but still on occasion.
 
I frequently bite my tongue during a nocturnal seizure and have had my cheek feel raw. When you have a seizure I think your body manages to do things it normally couldn't it which is I suppose why I am so sore and confused after one.
 
gnault: doesn't necessarily mean a nocturnal seizure. Some people grind their teeth (sometimes like chewing motions) or clench their jaw at night. And because at night you're lying down and very relaxed, your mouth and jaw might assume positions and movements you cannot consciously make very easily. I was a night-time jaw clencher long before I started having nocturnal seizures, and I also had scrapes and sores in my mouth. I got/get tremendous relief from this with a dentist-made night guard. Don't get the kind of guard you can buy off the pharmacy shelf, as they are not fitted tightly enough to your teeth and can dislodge if you do have a nocturnal seizure.

Another way of determining if you had a nocturnal seizure is how you feel in the morning. If you feel like you do after a daytime seizure despite thinking you had adequate sleep, then likely it was a seizure.
 
Yes, it could be either one, nocturnal seizures or just teeth grinding/chewing.

I have nocturnal seizures and have often munched the inside of my cheeks in addition to the tongue. I think it can depend on what position you happen to be in.

Great home remedy for keeping the munched spots from getting infected and taking forever to heal is Tea Tree Oil. Tastes a little nasty but very effective and all natural.
 
For me, one of the Lamictal side effects is that I clench my teeth at night. Nothing extreme, no grinding, but it will occasionally irritate the inside of my cheek. I still have all my teeth (including my wisdom teeth), so that may be a factor too...
 
The hard part for me since I actually saw a copy of the neurologist's letter to my family doctor indicating that I had frontal lobe seizure disorder is the education of epilepsy. Sometimes its hard as you try to distinguish between long term effects from the seizure and what may be effects from the medication. I don't want to over examine some of the issues I'm having as possible side effects but I don't want to ignore them either like I did with all the simple partial seizures that I had. Could I have avoided the clonic tonic seizure that from wife's description was a major event, start to finish probably twenty minutes and loss of a couple days worth of memory afterwards?

I may have been able to control the partial seizures but who knows about the tonic clonic? Can't look backwards, especially with medical issues like this.
 
Can't look backwards, especially with medical issues like this.
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I agree. I can fret endlessly over "what ifs," -- what could I have done differently prior to my very first seizures, could I have prevented them if I'd known I was vulnerable, etc. But the fretting isn't particularly useful. It can help to examine the past for patterns or triggers, but looking forward and being proactive in the next steps you take with your overall health can be much more empowering.
 
Well I saw my family doctor today and explained the issues I had been having. She is calling neurologist to talk about my medication. She did bump up my lamotrigine 200mg twice a day instead of 150mg a day to be on the safe side, especially with me leaving the country next week. She is also sending for some blood work.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 
My family doctor called my neurologist and he didn't think the things I was describing had anything to do with my meds or epilepsy issues. We'll see what happens in the future.
 
gnault said:
My family doctor called my neurologist and he didn't think the things I was describing had anything to do with my meds or epilepsy issues. We'll see what happens in the future.
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Could be worth making an appointment with your dentist to see if there are any tooth or jaw problems that could make you more likely to graze the inside of your mouth when sleeping. Like I mentioned further up on this thread, a dentist-made night guard did the trick for me, and in the 8 years I've had it I've had very few problems with mouth sores. Again, a sports mouth guard or one you buy off the shelf to make at home are NOT good options for a night guard to wear at night.
 
I do have a one that I need to start wearing. The one thing I guess I was almost scared to tell my doctor was drifting to the opposite side of the road without realizing it. It wasn't like I was drifting off and felt head drop. One minute I'm driving the next minute I'm drifting the wrong lane. Also I realized it got back to the right side of the road. Luckily it was a four lane hi way.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 
gnault said:
I do have a one that I need to start wearing. The one thing I guess I was almost scared to tell my doctor was drifting to the opposite side of the road without realizing it. It wasn't like I was drifting off and felt head drop. One minute I'm driving the next minute I'm drifting the wrong lane. Also I realized it got back to the right side of the road. Luckily it was a four lane hi way.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
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Sounds like this could be medication-induced sleepiness, or just plain insufficient sleep. Again, doesn't necessarily imply a seizure :) If this is happening - whether due to sleepiness or a seizure - you should find an alternative mode of transportation.

I've been in this situation, and like you wasn't even aware I was feeling sleepy. I now have been able to manage this simply by restricting my driving to the afternoon when the initial effects of the morning medication dose have worn off. Virtually all anti-seizure medications have the warning "Do not drive or use machinery until you are sure you are safe to do so" or some such wording because sleepiness is a common side effect. Side effects can become an issue even months after taking a medication.
 
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