seizures? adolescence

[hsmum]

Hi,

 

My son is eleven. Recently he has become quite moody, bad tempered, anxious and prone to bouts of very hyperactive behaviour. Yesterday, as he was settling down, he said his head felt funny and he asked me if he was 'in heaven' because everything felt unreal. I talked to him and asked if he often felt like this. He told me that he had felt like this a few times, and I noticed his hand was twitching very slightly.

 

Although I told him the feelings were just part of 'growing up' I am not so sure. Would an EEG show anything, or am I just overreacting?

 

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

[Tally]

The "unreal" feeling does sound a bit strange, and could be related to epilepsy. The rest does sound like typical adolescence.

 

An EEG may show something if he has one of these episodes during it, but seizure activity can be too subtle or too deep inside the brain to show up on an EEG sometimes. An EEG can be a useful diagnostic tool, but it is not definitive. Your doctor will probably suggest keeping a record of the episodes, both what your son experiences and what you witness, how long it lasts, etc.

[mandyque]

It could simply be testosterone in his system, it tends to go a bit crazy during puberty, to all teenagers, not just those with ASDs. Sometimes a surge of testosterone can bring out agression and hyperactivity, frustration and getting upset for little or no reason. However, if you are concerned, then you should talk to your doctor about possibly having him tested. The problems with EEGs are that they only pick up on brain activity during the test itself, so if a person has seizures, but isn't having one at the time of the test, it won't show up.

 

You could also make notes of the times when he feels funny, it might show up a pattern that could be helpful in any medical examinations.

[Sally44]

Get it checked out via the GP to make sure there is nothing else going on.

My son finds it very hard to explain if he feels ill. Often he does not tell me even if he is in pain. For example once I only found out that he had a bad ear infection when his face swelled up on one side. When the doctor said it was a bad infection I asked my son "does your ear hurt you", and he replied "yes, I can't get to sleep at night". That was the first he had said about it hurting him. And I have often found that I have to ask direct questions to get an answer. He does not volunteer information, or understand that he has to tell me how he feels.

The fact that your son has said he feels stranage, may therefore be an understatement. So I'd really get it checked.

[justine1]

Hi,

 

My son is eleven. Recently he has become quite moody, bad tempered, anxious and prone to bouts of very hyperactive behaviour. Yesterday, as he was settling down, he said his head felt funny and he asked me if he was 'in heaven' because everything felt unreal. I talked to him and asked if he often felt like this. He told me that he had felt like this a few times, and I noticed his hand was twitching very slightly.

 

Although I told him the feelings were just part of 'growing up' I am not so sure. Would an EEG show anything, or am I just overreacting?

 

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have had these feeling when I have very low blood sugar and about to pass out.It gives like a "spaced out" feeling(often not aware of where I am) and my head feels like a cross between being numb and tingly(pins and needles),the feeling lasts 15min or so.Has he had his blood sugar checked? Maybe with him growing up he needs more of certain foods and his body is responding in this way to let him know.If there is any diabetes in the family I would think its even more important to check it.

[jessicaanne]

Regarding epilepsy... I may have absence seizures but there isn't any evidence from EGG and CT examinations. It happens when the stress is accumulated like less sleeping time and stress from everyday life, working hard... i have several symptoms and major one is that saliva goes into upper respiratory tract and I can't breath. It happens once or twice during the sleeping time and each time I wake up and try to breath but it is hard to do that because almost closed the upper respiratory tract with saliva.

 

If we determine the symptom as epilepsy, there should be some relations with autistic spectrum symptoms which I have. I've been the symptoms from earlier childhood.

 

I realized that I really have Asperger's symptom(Autistic Spectrum Symptoms) just in recent by having examinations at University hospital. They mentioned me that they aren't professional on Autistic Spectrum Syndrome and it is meaning less visiting the University Hospital.

 

Hopefully, I've been spending a everyday life without problem by minor tranquilizer and sleeping meds. I don't need SSRI once the University hospital psychiatrists prescribed. I didn't take it anyway.

 

The important things for Asperger's and Epilepsy are living environment.

 

 

jessica

[Mumble]

The important things for Asperger's and Epilepsy are living environment.

If I have understood your post here (and you made a similar post on another thread) you have self-diagnosed with AS and epilepsy?

 

I find it worrying enough when people self-diagnose with AS, but to self-diagnose epilepsy is ridiculous. I actually find it quite insulting as someone who has both ASD and epilepsy.

 

Epilepsy is not to do with living environment (unless I suppose you were to think about people living in a house with strobe lights if they are photosensitive?). It is a severe neurological condition. If you are concerned by your symptoms you should be seeing your GP for referral to a neurologist. But please don't self-diagnose. It's not a nice condition to live with and you're really making it out to be nothing at all, which is far from the truth.