seizures after an anaesthetic

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

DD1 has her tonsils out today (long overdue..she was blue lighted to hospital when the last bout closed her airway!) She is 22.

Thank GOD I was here..(She is 240 miles away at uni and a medical student) ..she wanted me here because she was scared of the anaesthetic..with good reason as it turned out.

Post op she had a seizure.. a full on 5 minute tonic clonic ('grand mal' biggie) Then another.. and another...

By the time they called me she was on no 5.. I arrived and she was awake, dopey but 'there' but a few mins later her head nodded and then she was onto no 6. It was, frankly.. fucking scary. They don't allow relatives in recovery but brought me in because she wasn't going home any time soon.. and though I work with disabled children and routinely cope with seizures at work, seeing my PFB in a full tonic clonic seizure was frankly the worst moment in my life.

She had NINE before they stopped. Totally doped..post ictal..in between. My beautiful articulate amazing girl, being suctioned and rigid.. terrifying to watch. if I didn't know how much she is the center of my world I did then..and during the subsequent seizures.

She is ok now.. drugged and comatose but should be ok tomorrow. It has emerged she has probably had them before..when ill and after too much alcohol :( The neuro says she has a low seizure threshold and needs treatment as it is probably connected to her POTS (she faints once a week on average and her heart rate and BP is very low.. 45 bpm!!!)

But I wondered..is this rare? I've never heard of seizures due to sedation (which in her case includes alcohol or pain killers when she has tonsilitis)

I have never felt so helpless :(

[SauvignonBlanche]

Poor you, that must have been horrible!
Many things can lower your seizure threshold, a general anaesthetic could certainly have this effect. Tiredness is my main trigger.

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Hi Sauvignon.. do you mind me asking your opinion as to what should happen now?
The docs wanted my DD1 to have an eeg and mri immediately.. but after 7 hours of trying to find a bed they couldn't and she was sent home with instructions to see her gp asap! I was gobsmacked at this to be honest.. after 9 tonic clonics!

DD1 has said she will go (and the cardio referral is pretty urgent too) but she has major exams coming up..she's a 4th year medic.. and getting anything done in the time left before she goes abroad for her summer placement seems unlikely, but I am very concerned that she will have more.

In the day following, once home, she still wasn't at all right.. she had a couple of smaller seizures..partials, and was post ictal for most of the day. But today she has been more herself (thank god) tho in horrid post op pain.

It just seems very chancy to leave it to the slow system when she obviously has a low threshold.. :(

[SauvignonBlanche]

I'm sorry she couldn't get any investigations as an inpatient, it must be causing you great anxiety.
Has she seen her GP yet? She needs to do that ASAP. I only had 3 seizures in my 20's and since starting medication I haven't one in over 20 years, please be assured that in many people this can be controlled.