Possible seizures in 4yo - am I being ridiculous?

[WorriedMum777]

I can't work out if I'm being ridiculous but over the last week I have noticed my 4yo has started with a sort of eye tic.

The reason I am concerned is whether this could actually be some sort of focal seizure.

Basically over the last week or so whenever he has been feeling a particularly high emotion (often excitement or anger), his right eye and eyebrow (always the right) will sort of roll upwards and for a few seconds twitch like a spasm.

It literally lasts for a matter of seconds, a sort of blink and you'd miss it thing and he seems completely fine in himself.

I am questioning myself as to whether he is just doing it deliberately to show his excitement or whether it's involuntary. Particularly as I clocked him doing it when he was angry too so it's not solely an excitement response, more just any strong emotion.

It seems to have developed just in the last week.Would this concern you?

He doesn't seem to be aware he's doing it as when I've asked what he did with his eye he just says what?

I've tried doing it myself and it's actually quite difficult to do just on one side! DH thinks I'm overthinking.

Hi OP, if it was me I would definitely go to the GP.

My DC started with childhood absence epilepsy last year when she was 4, for her seizures she would stop dead and stare up to the side for a few seconds, she wasn’t adversely affected in anyway had no idea she was doing it.

They were so fleeting at first I wasn’t sure if I was seeing something but then DH noticed too and after that they progressed to several a day quite quickly. Try and get them on video if you can, I know it’s tricky.

We saw the GP who referred us to the hospital and they started the diagnosis process, from the first seizure in November she was started on meds by February which stopped them instantly. She will take these for 2 years then hopefully wean off to see if she’s grown out of them which is fairly common and also it’s rare to progress to full tonic clinic seizures. Just giving you the full story in case you do get referred as I know it feels incredibly scary but it’s something we barely have to think about now.

I hope it’s nothing and you can get some reassurance soon x

My dc had tonic clonic seizures out of the blue. No history on either side of the family. They also had some absent seizures. After the first one, the medics asked us to film any further seizures to help with a diagnosis. It was very strange to film the many subsequent ones they had but it helped the neurologist to give a diagnosis and provide us with relevant treatment information. My dh caught an absent seizure by just filming our dc having breakfast even though it was fleeting. The tonic clinic ones lasted a couple of minutes. If you are able to film for long enough your ds might have the reaction you are seeing on camera. Your dc might be told to have an mri/ eeg or both if the doctor feels it is helpful.

Ask for a neurologist referral if you are concerned and speak to your gp. Our dc has is now weaning off of his medicine in the hope that he has grown out of having them. It took 18 months of our dc being seizure free for the consultant to approve of the weaning. We were also told 2 years like the pp but the consultant was happy to try earlier. This seems to be a standard time frame. For reference, our dc was 9 months old the first time this happened.

Def see GP

No four year old can manipulate you like that

Try and get a video of it for the GP, they will be able to refer you to the hospital to get an
eeg. My dd had seizures triggered by stress, lack of sleep but luckily for us they stopped after a few months and we are nearly two years free.