Son had seizure during MRI...

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Just to give a background really quick.

I'm new the the forum. My son started having seizures 3 weeks ago when he had a grand mal in school during PE. My son is 9. This was his first 'noticible' seizure. A year ago, I'd suspected seizures because of 'spacing out' episodes that felt 'off' to me. I took him into a dr. and he blew it off as dehydration but to watch him.

Since 3 weeks ago, my son has had 2 grand mals seizures (both in PE at school), several partial, an EEG that was determined to be abnormal, and just yesterday had a seizure DURING his MRI scan. I am not sure which kind it would have been considered, but, I suspect he was having them throughout the entire scan.

This is all very scary and overwhelming. I'm not sure what this all means. Can they detect the seizure he had during the MRI, AND would that make his results be abnormal? The Dr. told me if his MRI came back clean that he has an 80% chance of growing out of these? Does this mean it most likely with NOT come back normal?

I've also read the most with epilepsy do have normal MRI scans. Is this true?
 
Yes, It is true about people with epilepsy having normal MRI's. I was dx'd with epilepsy at the age of 18 months old. During all my 30 years of knowing I have epilepsy, all my MRIs have come back normal, but my EEG's come back with abnormal activity. Slowing and different patterns in the temporal lobe area. Im so sorry to hear about your son. I hope you get the answers you need very soon!
 
Hi, What a traumatic time for you. I am mum to a 26 month old who has seizures among other unsual things. We have been told he has what look like Epiletpic events, several types of seizures, but they are not sure if he has Epilepsy. He as had 5 EEG's with them when they did the flashing lights his eye's rolled back but little movement on the EEG and it was only on his last that he had a slowing on the back right of his brain. Just to be "safe" his Nureo ordered an MRI when he was 18months old and it showed he has a lesian on his putamen, deep inside his brain. Due to it being deep in his brain the EEG didn't pick it up. He has since had another MRI to check if the lesion has altered but thankfully it hasn't so we can now wait another 12months before next MRI, unless something more worrying than usual happens. They are still not sure what exactly is causing my sons issues but we have been told it is probably metabolic although his metabolic team are still looking into this as it can be very hard to diagnose which chemical in the brain is causing the issues.
He is currently on seziure meds, one in the morning and 2 at night which seem to be helping but still he has "things" happen.
re "growing out of it" my sons Nureo and Paed and still hoping that this might happen at first they said by the time he was 1, then by the time he was 2 now it's "lets hope he grows out of it". From what his nureologist said every case is different and some kids you don't expect to grow out of it do others don't.
I also had Dr's "overlook" my sons condition early on and basically was told I was just exhausted from having 3 kids so close together, that Dr has since appologised!
I hope you can get some answers from your sons MRI and EEG which will help his Dr's work out the best treatment for him.
Take Care.
Donna
 
The EEG is the test used to determine if seizures are occurring, and if so what kind(s). The MRI is usually just used to determine if there are any structural issues -- like a lesion or scar -- that might be causing the seizures. It's correct that in the majority of cases, the MRI comes up clean and rules out any structural issues as the cause. For the majority of folks with epilepsy, no primary cause can be determined

Seizure disorders that start in childhood often can go into remission later. It's important to get control of them -- you don't want the brain to "get in the habit of" seizing. Since the EEG showed abnormal brainwaves, and since your son's had multiple seizure events, my guess is that the neuro will suggest medication of some sort. Make sure the neuro is aware of the absence seizures he may have been having prior to the grand mals -- it may have a bearing on which medication he recommends.

I know it must feel terrifying right now. You're doing the right thing by asking a lot questions. Don't be shy about pushing your son's docs for as much info as possible, and letting them know of anything you've observed that you think may be related (even if you're not sure). If and when medication is prescribed, ask a lot of questions about that to -- different options, dosing schedules, potential side effects, etc.
 
Hi there, just to add to what everyone else had said, my daughter, who was 11 at the time, had seizure activity during her MRI. She'd just had her second tonic-clonic of the day, although it was classed as one (her first) because she'd not got back to normal in between, or indeed after the second one. Hopes that makes some sort of sense :dontknow:. Her MRI was normal. She was diagnosed with epilepsy via an abnormal EEG the following day.

It is scary at first and there is a lot to learn (CWE is a great place to find out what you need to know) but you do get used to it to a degree xx
 
ok, thank you for all your thoughts. This is all very new to us. I will be hopeful that the MRI is normal then. Fingers crossed. :)
 
Welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear about your son's seizures. Know it must be really scary.

You mentioned the 2 seizures during PE - make sure you mention that to doc -- might be a photosensitive thing going on (sunlight triggering seizures). If that's the case, would want to avoid triggers like sunlight (esp. reflecting off water or flickering through trees, like when driving), being too close to the TV, computer games, etc.

Did they do the strobe lights when he had the EEG?
 
I did mention this to the Dr. and nothing was said of it at all. All they are trying to do is medicate him, and not trying to find the cause of his seizures. :( I expected more when I traveled 3 hours to see a good nuerologist. Many people may be able to accept the fact that they may never know why seizures are happening, but, that is a very hard thing for me to accept! I don't believe it's conincidence that his ONLY grand mals have been in the PE room.

I have already taken precautions on my own and have worked it out with the school that he doesn't participate in PE when it is indoors. They have florescent lights that flicker from time to time.. I think thay may have caused them.

I think there also may be a connection with his eyes and his seizures. He rubs his eyes before a seizure saying they 'feel weird'. Afterwards, they are bloodshot and dialated...and he rubs them the same way.

Yesterday, he was drawing and told me he felt like he needed to stop because he needed to give his 'eyes a rest'.

I have an appt. with an eye dr. coming up to look into this. And, in addition to everything else going on, I was just told by my kindergartner's teacher that her eyes have done weird things in class and have turned 'in' in a weird way. She can asking if she was ok. Autumn smiled and said she was after a little bit. She's the child with asbergers. She has similar issues to her brother behaviorly. My son having the seizures now has always appeared very 'asbergers' like. But, we live in a small area, and resources and testing are limited. I was turned down when I requested testing last year.

I'm overwhelmed now because I think my daughter may also be having seizures...or something else medically wrong to make her eyes turn in like that. But, my gut tells me it's seizures. It's only occasionally. Her eyes are not always turned in...only here and there, and then it goes back to normal. This morning I noticed that her eyes were dialated for a good hour just after waking up. She's fine now...but, when I called her older sister into the room, to compare, her eyes were dialated too! Mine were not, and my youngest son's were not (I have 5 kids). We were in normal lighting...My oldest use to have febile seizures and grew out of them at 3...but, did she? UGH!!!

Sigh...help! LOL
 
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