Postpartum Seizures - can an epidural really be responsible?

[lutonlass]

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this...after giving birth to ds2 i had 5 seizures within 24hrs, the 1st being about an hr after giving birth...this was also the worst one as i was holding ds2 at the time which caused me to drop him and fall on top of him! (im not the smallest of ladies either!! lol) thankfully he is absolutely fine. Pre-eclampsia was ruled out...I had no clear diagnosis after plenty of tests and am awaiting an appointment with the neurologist. My mum had heard from somebody that the epidural could have had something to do with it! i have googled it but not much info there so was wondering if anyone else had heard of this at all. I dont suffer from epilepsy although i did have 3 fits in sucsession approx 2 years ago but nothing was found after lots of tests. Any advice would be gratefully received

Never heard of it to be honest, but thats not to say its not right. The 3 fits you had 2 years ago, were they before or after the birth of ds2? Did they take blood from you after the birth of ds2 to rule out pre-eclampsia?

The fits i had 2 years ago were before ds2 was born(he is only 4 weeks old atm), they did take blood and pre-eclampsia was definately ruled out as this is what they thought i had...they were at a bit of a loss as to why this happened. Im currently waiting for an appointment with the neurologist (was supposed to be 4-6 weeks after the fits but you know what hossie's r like....i will prob be waiting another 6 weeks!) i have been given medication (lamotrigine - an anticonvulsant) to take until i do see the neurologist

I googled this a bit yesterday and found something about epidurals and seizures, but it was saying that it could happen if the epidural was sited slightly in the wrong place and some of the drug got into a vein. It said it would happen while you were been given the initial bolus dose. So it doesn't sound like thats what happened with you.

2 years ago when you had the fits - were you stressed/tired more than usual? I'm just wondering as I did know a woman who had a serious of fits while pregnant and epilepsy was suspected but then ruled out, it turned out her fits were psychosomatic. Thats not to say she was putting them on, she genuinely was out of control and wasn't "fakig it". But it was how her body coped with being stressed. I take it they ruled out epilepsy after the original fits.

Sorry, not been of much help. I hope the neurologist has some answers. Good luck.

Herpes Simplex Encephalitis is a possibility.

I recall a patient who had an emegency LSCS at 32 weeks for presumed Eclampsia.

Post natally the diagnosis was confirmed as the above.

The only case I knew of in pegnancy.

in what circumstances did you have the fits three years ago?

what happened during the birth - did you loss blood? what was your blood pressure and heart rate like?

The circumstances surrounding my previous fits (from what i can remember) i wasnt stressed out at all...i do remember lying on my bf's sofa feeling rather ill, i think it was later on that evening i had my 1st fit, called an ambulance, was taken to hosp but discharged notlong after. the ambulance person had left their breathing equip so when he came to pick it up i had had another 2 fits and was taken straight back to hosp, i was kept in for a week and given all the tests (MRI, EEG and lots more besides!) i remember when i was in hospital that i was suffering from really bad headaches on the right hand side which were making me phisically sick, i was never given any clear diagnosis as to why this happened, i went to see the neurologist approx 3 months and 6 months later and then discharged as i had no further episodes. i have been completely fine since until my recent ones.
During my birth (again from what i remember...which isnt a lot at all!) and just before my bp was slightly higher than normal but my heartrate was normal...well actually they said i had the heartrate of an athlete! i can assure you i definately am not an athlete! i didnt loose any blood during my birth, i was in est. labour for approx 7 hours and everything went normally from what i am told.
this is sooooo frustrating as i have also lost the last 3 months or so of my memory and im still experiencing some hort term memory loss.
i have googled HSV and it is something i am definately going to discuss with my doc (i have an appointment 2moro morn).
Epilepsy has deffo been ruled out (as was pre-eclampsia) but am on anticonvulsants until i see the neurologist (whilst readin the leaflet you get with your medication it says they are also anti-psychotics....my bf is having great fun telling ppl im a psycho lol)
i am really worried as this could just happen at anytime and if they havent got any clear diagnosis i will be discharged from hosp again only for it to happen in the not too distant future...i also dont want to be taking this medication for too much longer as the side effects are notmaking me feel too gr8...im constantly tired and have been having some awful headaches...unfortunately there is nothing i can do about this apart from pop more pills (so my doc said!)

when you say heart rate of an athelete - do you mean lower then normal? If so, that needs to be investigated.

Did you ever have any fainting /fits as a child?