To be really anxious about this?

[Beesbeesbeesbees]

I'm not sure if I'm being overly anxious or if this is common?!

My DD is 8 and had a seizure out of the blue in the summer. It happened at school and we collected her and took her straight to a and e. She was checked over and we went home the same day. She was referred to the epilepsy clinic and they said to contact them if she had a second seizure.

Over the last few weeks she has been complaining of a headache, mild, on and off, not stopping her from doing anything, we put it down to the many viruses doing the rounds as she has had coughs, sore throat and so on.

Today she fainted, out of the blue. Not too hot, dehydrated or anything we know of. She didn't have any jerky movements and was fine within seconds, just shocked. She had a similar faint Christmas time last year, so before the seizure.

I am very anxious as she has been more clumsy, often falling over but she has always been very active / clumsy, so unsure if this is different or not. She is happy and doesn't seem unwell.

I dont know if I'm being overly anxious or if this is concerning?

We will contact the epilepsy clinic on Monday and I am also calling first thing and will book her a same day GP appointment on Monday.

Don't know if you are being too anxious. But I am sure you are doing the right thing, going to the GP and the epilepsy clinic. Hopefully they will be able to sort out whether these things are connected or separate, and how they should be treated.

Hi I would be pushing for more tests and even an MRI. Sorry to scare you. My friend had this and turned out to be related to brain and is needing some treatment possibly for a long time but she is glad it was caught. I can't remember the exact details but she is now moved countries to be close to her family.

The most serious part was the fainting episodes and she was told to stop driving and signed off work.

So, I might be able to give you an encouraging perspective here, because I have what looks like a seizure every time I faint. I’ve seen it happen to my dad too and it is quite alarming to watch, but it’s no more serious than an ordinary faint. Sometimes it happens to people once, and sometimes it happens to them every time they faint (as it does with me). But I don’t have epilepsy or any other brain abnormality, and I am in robust health!

I actually went through a phase between the ages of about 11 and 14 when I fainted quite a lot - if I had a virus or something or stood up too quick or got too hot, I just dropped like a stone and started jerking twitching. I think fainting is quite common in adolescence - obviously your DD’s younger than that, but even at 8 she’s doing a lot of growing and changing and I think all of that can certainly contribute to being a bit fainty (and perhaps clumsy too).

It’s really good that your DD’s being seen at the epilepsy clinic and they will be very used to seeing children with a whole range of issues and will know what they’re talking about. If there’s cause for concern, they will do everything they can to diagnose and treat it. But please try not to worry because it’s so, so much more likely that your DD is absolutely fine 😊 People will always have stories about people they know who had a seizure and had all sorts of serious issues - but most people don’t know about the (far more!) people who had a seizure and were 100% healthy, so you don’t hear stories about them! So keep this in mind and try to keep things in perspective.

Thanks very much for the replies, especially @KreedKafer for your very reassuring post! Hopefully it's just viruses / growing and so on. Kids like to worry us!