 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Epilepsy / September 2003Seizures while falling asleep?
Subject: Seizures while falling asleep? From: peterfinan@aol.comNOSHITE (Victim of a Stagedive) Date: 25/08/2003 16:42 GMT Standard Time Message-id: <20030825114227.11818.00000451@mb-m11.aol.com> Hi there all. For as long as I can remember I have had these strange episodes while falling asleep, but they have become much more frequent and intense recently, probably due to anxiety, or work, or both. Just as I fall asleep it feels like a powerful battery has been attached to my head, and I jolt up, everything feels like it has flipped inside my head, then I feel utterly disoriented and confused; sometimes I can remember a howl or moan. This may happen more than once in a night. A few beers lessens the severity of the episodes, but doesn't eliminate them. The day after one of these episodes I am completely exhausted and ache all over, especially my shoulders. I'm asking the questions now because it is beginning to affect my work and family life. Just out of interest, my daughter who is 8 has had severe epilepsy from the age of two, and I used to have seizures as a child. Thanks for any help, Peter (35, Yorkshire, U.K) > Subject: Seizures while falling asleep? > From: peterfinan@aol.comNOSHITE (Victim of a Stagedive) [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Peter (35, Yorkshire, U.K) I have heard there are some people who only have nocturnal seizures. I have had many seizures while trying to fall asleep, and it really didn't matter if it was a daytime nap or retiring for the night because they felt exactly the same. Once in a while, I would wake during the night because of a seizure, but apparently I was sleeping through most of them. I would be in that twilight stage when you've just dozed off when the beginning of the seizure would jolt me awake. I would be awake for the seizure and then fall asleep exhausted. In the morning, I felt more tired than when I went to bed. Peter, you do need to see a doctor for two primary reasons; first, a past known history of seizures and secondly, they are affecting your life. Barb Barb says: Peter, you do need to see a doctor for two primary reasons; first, a past known history of seizures and secondly, they are affecting your life. There are millions of "doctors" out here, and unless one is found who has experience with this particular condition, it may well be a waste of time and money. I wish folks would ease up on the panacea of "seeing a doctor" as if this was a guaranteed solution. It just creates a very temporary illusion. It seems to be more about the need of the speaker for having an "authorative" solution. Tim > Barb says: Peter, you do need to see a doctor for two primary reasons; first, > a past known history of seizures and secondly, they are affecting your life. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > guaranteed solution. It just creates a very temporary illusion. It seems to > be more about the need of the speaker for having an "authorative" solution. You know, for 20 years I tried to fix this problem by myself, and it didn't work. I have never met or heard of any adult who was able to permanently cure themselves of epilepsy. Why waste all the time experimenting on yourself. Why spend all the money on useless cures. Why should a person miss work, repeatedly wake up feeling cra**y, put themselves or someone else in danger, and so on. I have met a couple of people who were involved in accidents because of their seizures and were being sued through the teeth. Now is that fair to the families of these patients. I mean, a responsible adult has to do what is required even if they don't like it. At one point, I reported this problem to a doctor, and he didn't know what was going on, so I agree that getting the right doctor could make a big difference. In my region, you just can't make an appointment to a neurologist; you have to be referred by another physician. A primary care physcian is going to try to rule out anything else that could possibly cause similiar symptoms before he/she sends a person to neurology. Doctors, including neurologists, are not Gods, but they sure as heck know a lot more about the medical aspects of epilepsy than we do. Barb > Tim it has taken me over 10 months to have all the referrels to get other tests and see other docs before i got to see a neurologist. it took him another 2 months to put me on meds. then another 2 months on these worthless meds til i see him again. this diagnosis took a long while. i don't expect the cure to come overnight, if ever. am i disillusioned? yes, but i'm still hopeful. i'm not ready to give in without a fight. i'll see any doc they want if there's any hope i can be helped. Jacki > it has taken me over 10 months to have all the referrels to get other > tests and see other docs before i got to see a neurologist. it took him [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > yes, but i'm still hopeful. i'm not ready to give in without a fight. > i'll see any doc they want if there's any hope i can be helped. Whoops! I didn't see your response until today. The referral time seems awfully long to me too. The medication time frame is par for the course. For myself, the first med I was allergic to, and then they put me on Dilantin. It took almost a year from the date I took my first pill, the one I was allergic to, until the final dose was established. That was back in 1989-1990. A couple of years ago, they upped my dose because of incomplete control during illnesses. I don't know if there is such a thing as a "cure" (not including seizures that can be resolved by surgery). I've known people who have gone long periods of time without problems, but I also know a lot of people who were doing great and suddenly started having problems again. I think every person I know with epilepsy has had either a medication change or dosage change at some point. Barb > Jacki > I would be in that twilight stage when you've just >dozed off when the beginning of the seizure would jolt me awake. I would be >awake >for the seizure and then fall asleep exhausted. In the morning, I felt more >tired >than when I went to bed. Hi Barb - what you say here rings so true to me - it always happens in that twilight stage, and it jolts me awake - then some strange stuff happens, then I fall asleep, then I wake up thinking "Oh no, not morning already, I could do with at least another 6 hours in bed" You know, it may be that I am just aware of the beginning of a seizure but am not aware of the rest. I used to think I was just a lazy bastard, and as my wife will tell you, I can sleep anytime, no problem, because I am just so tired all the time. There was a program on sleep disorders on TV here the other night, and they showed a guy having a night-time EEG - I think that's what I need, because they're never gonna pick it up in the daytime. I think I will see a doctor - trouble is I can't in the next month - on hols for the next week then two weeks abroad for business. There's a part of me that says "Well, it's not that bad, you can carry on OK for most of the time", then another part of me says "Something is going on, it's beginning to affect your life, it's not getting better, in fact it's getting worse, so get some help". Thanks for all your help, Peter > > I would be in that twilight stage when you've just > >dozed off when the beginning of the seizure would jolt me awake. I would be [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Thanks for all your help, Peter, I'm not saying your symptoms are or are not epilepsy. I just wanted to present what happens to me and see if resembled what was happening to you. You've got to trust your instincts; if you think something is wrong, you've got to get it checked out. Glad you are smart enough to have realized that. Barb > Peter > I'm asking the questions now because it is beginning to affect my work and > family life. Just out of interest, my daughter who is 8 has had severe epilepsy [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Peter (35, Yorkshire, U.K) Peter, Go to your GP. You will be sent for tests which might or might not show a problem, then to a neurologist. Your symptoms won't be ignored or laughed at. Once you present with certain conditions in UK there are procedures laid down which must be followed. I used to have minor incidents like yours, which didn't affect my life but weren't pleasant but I didn't go to the GP until I had a grand mal. Luckily it was early enough to have a tumour removed and all was well. That was ten years ago and I'm fine now. You must persist, you don't want your condition to worsen. Mary (64, Leeds) >I used to have minor incidents like yours, which didn't affect my life but >weren't pleasant but I didn't go to the GP until I had a grand mal. Luckily [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Mary (64, Leeds) That makes me a little nervous Mary, but I will see a consultant tomorrow. I don't want to leave my wonderful wife and children without a friend, so I will look for the help. Thanks for your input, Best Wishes, Peter |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.