Seizure while asleep?? Does this sound like one to you?

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jasgirl

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Hello everyone,

I'm new to this site and this is my first post. Feeling very worried because last night I think I may have had a seizure for the first time.

I'm 24 year old female and have been feeling normal up to this point.

First strange thing that happened... I always sleep with my dog in my bed and my bedroom door open. I slept this way last night. But I woke up in the middle of the night and my dog was gone and locked outside of my room. I live alone so I must have done it and have no recollection.

Then the scary part... I drifted back to sleep and a few minutes later I remember feeling my head violently shaking. This shaking woke me up and I was somewhat conscious and wishing it would stop. This uncontrollable head shaking (I'd almost describe it as vibrating!) probably lasted around 30 seconds. I'm not sure if any other part of my body was shaking, only felt it in my head.

I woke up immediately after and had a terrible throbbing headache and nausea which is very unusual for me. I thought to myself THAT WAS A SEIZURE. I was so scared that I was afraid to fall back asleep. This was around 5:30am.

All day I have been feeling very "foggy", not quite on earth. Can't focus well on tasks at work. In a slightly lightheaded and dreamy state.

Could it have all been in my imagination and I dreamed it? Or does it sound like a seizure? The shaking felt VERY real but I always thought people don't realize themselves shaking while having a seizure. Maybe I'm wrong.

Any advice, insight or kind words are very welcome. I'm feeling very anxious about this. Thank you.
 
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This sounds very similar to how my seizures are. :(

You can be any level of conscious during any part of a seizure. You very well could have entered a state where you were unaware and mentally fogged during the seizure and done any number of things during this time, including locking your dog out of your room.

During the seizure, the electrical activity in your brain is disrupted in certain areas, and as the seizure progresses these areas literally move around and spread and can grow and shrink. Depending upon where in the brain the abnormal electrical activity is occuring determines how you are affected. Some seizures cause convulsions, some seizures cause loss of consciousness or awareness only, some seizures cause sensations like flashing lights or hearing strange sounds. Of course, the seizure activity in the brain can span multiple areas, or even the entire brain, so one can have convulsions and loss of consciousness too.

Headache after a seizure is very common.

You definitely had a seizure.

Normally a person can have 1 seizure in their lifetime and will not have epilepsy. It is when you have more than one seizure that you are diagnosed with epilepsy. I suggest however that you see a neurologist just in case and get a good work up, CT scan at the least.

Typically with epilepsy there are triggers for seizures such as stress, lack of sleep, vitamin or mineral deficiencies, hormone imbalances, etc. Is there anything you can think of that might've caused the seizure? This would be helpful information to bring to a neurologist in helping to determine why you might've had a seizure.
 
Jasgirl
Have you been diagnosed with epilepsy?

Perhaps you should ask your family Doctor to send you for a sleep study to determine if you have a form of "SLEEP APNEA".

This can cause you to have night seizures without you knowing. YOU COULD BE HAVING SEVERAL SEIZURES during the night.

This can be a result of lack of oxygen to your brain due to some type of restriction like snoring.

This will be noticed in the morning by the way you feel, restless or a feeling of untested, headache, sore muscles, etc.

If it turns out that you do have sleep apnea, your Dr. can suggest a remedy and the night seizures may stop.
 
Hi jasgirl,

Welcome to the forum! I'm no Dr. but it sure sounds like you had a seizure in your sleep. This used to happen to me a few yrs. ago and then my Epileptologist who is a Dr. that specializes in epilepsy did a sleep study on me along with an e.e.g. (brainwave) and e.k.g. test on me. The test showed I was having seizures in my sleep 1-2 hrs. before I woke up but I didn't even realize it.
If you wake up in the morning feeling more tired than usual, have a headache and just don't have any energy these are signs of seizures in your sleep. Ask your family Dr. to refer you to see a neurologist or Epileptologist for some testing. Also cut back on the carbs, and starch food and cut back on the caffeine these are things that can trigger seizures for some people. Lack of sleep and stress are the 2 main things that can trigger seizures. Also get a calendar and write down what time the possible seizure happened along with a description by doing this the Dr. may be able to see a pattern if you are having seizures. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
Jasgirl
Have you been diagnosed with epilepsy?

Perhaps you should ask your family Doctor to send you for a sleep study to determine if you have a form of "SLEEP APNEA".

This can cause you to have night seizures without you knowing. YOU COULD BE HAVING SEVERAL SEIZURES during the night.

This can be a result of lack of oxygen to your brain due to some type of restriction like snoring.

This will be noticed in the morning by the way you feel, restless or a feeling of untested, headache, sore muscles, etc.

If it turns out that you do have sleep apnea, your Dr. can suggest a remedy and the night seizures may stop.

No I've never been diagnosed with epilepsy. I will take sleep apnea into consideration when I speak with my doctor but I don't have any of the risk factors (female, low body weight, don't snore or smoke, etc). I guess anything is possible! Thank you.

And thanks so much for the other responses as well. I will write down what happened and ask for a work up.
 
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Do you mind telling me what type of seizures you have? I see there's many names but having a bit of trouble differentiating between them.

You most likely had a tonic clonic seizure in your sleep. I have primary generalized epilepsy and I have had full blown tonic clonic seizures, though normally I have myoclonic jerks. I have had myoclonic jerks since I was about 12 and it was only a few years ago that I started having tonic clonic seizures. I'm now 32.

The reason I say your seizure sounds so similar to mine is because typically it is my head that convulses, and I am fully conscious and aware during the seizure. A myoclonic jerk is basically just a very short seizure that affects motor control only.

In my case, I have gone status epilepticus (where you continually have seizures over and over again) having myoclonic jerks of the head back to back. The last time this happened I actually went into full blown tonic clonic seizures and wound up in the hospital with so many drugs to stop the seizures only God knows how I'm alive. It is possible to have myoclonic jerks in your sleep and not be aware of them.

Keep in mind by the way, that you could have been having seizures in your sleep now for quite some time and that you are just now becoming aware of them because the seizures are becoming more severe. It is possible to have seizures only during sleep and not while you are awake. This is where a sleep study would come in handy. Sleep apnea can indeed cause seizures, and I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea myself, although I stopped using my CPAP machine long ago...
 
Keep in mind by the way, that you could have been having seizures in your sleep now for quite some time and that you are just now becoming aware of them because the seizures are becoming more severe. It is possible to have seizures only during sleep and not while you are awake. This is where a sleep study would come in handy. Sleep apnea can indeed cause seizures, and I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea myself, although I stopped using my CPAP machine long ago...

This all sounds very scary... Not sure I'm prepared for it. Just downloaded a software program to film me through the night from my webcam. Hope it might shed some light on whether I've been having them but not realized.
 
Good luck, I hope you can get a diagnosis soon.
 
I hope you don't have to wait long for an appointment. It's no fun worrying and wondering. Head shaking and the symptoms you have the following day can also be myoclonus (as opposed to myoclonic seizures), or a form of tremor that is currently happening at night, or a sleep disorder (ex. rhythmic movement disorder). If you continue to have this head shaking at night (or during the day) and seizures are not determined to be the cause, I would recommend requesting to see a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders. Hopefully what you had was just an isolated incident but should episodes recur and/or affect other parts of your body start to keep track of your episodes as best you can in terms of time of the night the episode happened and for how long you had been asleep before the episode occurred and duration of the event. A medical doctor specializing in sleep disorders (ideally one who is a neurologist) may be a great way to start as often their wait lists are shorter than other specialists and they can arrange for a formal sleep study to at least get the ball rolling towards finding answers.
 
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