I think my 19yo son had a seizure

[PrincessOfPreschool]

I'm not sure if I should do anything. We were all eating yesterday when suddenly he went stiff and slid down his chair. His eyes were wide open just staring, we were calling his name. It only lasted about 10 seconds I think but felt like a long time. Then he came to and said, "What's wrong, I just slipped down in my chair." We all saw it and we were all scared (DH, my other DC in their teens). Apparently he got some tortilla chip stuck in his esophagus quite low (he said in his chest) and he moved to dislodge it but today he did say," My brain switched off. " He didn't eat any more dinner and said he felt dizzy afterwards. Would at go to the doctor? He is a bit underweight as he doesn't eat well, but at 19 it's difficult to force him to go to the doctor and he never wants to go.

Not sure what to do.

He needs to be checked out.

I have no idea if this is the right way ethically to go about it but I think you need to be OTT and scare him into getting checked out!

My epilepsy developed when I was a teenager, something about hormones changing apparently. I’d definitely encourage him to get checked out.

Agree he should be checked out. One of dh friends had a similar incident which was heart related.

Could be his heart could be epilepsy or something else

I have had these episodes when eating or swallowing gas bubble and it getting trapped. It's a faint, but can look like a fit to the untrained.
I got mine checked and all was fine. I'm just prone to fainting! But I would definitely go to the GP as it could be something else.

Thanks all. Will see if I can lay it on thick so he goes. Trouble is, I don't go in with him anymore so he can say anything and he always minimises. Last GP trip was a nightmare. Waited ages to go in, he was in and out in 5 minutes. He came out with nothing but a huge form to fill in for an ADHD diagnosis when he already had a diagnosis at 8! He always says "Doctors won't do anything..." but sadly on that occasion he was right.

Definitely he should get checked out but just in case it's similar I sometimes get things stuck in my oesophagus too, including water air bubbles if I drink too quickly. This can be quite painful and on one occasion the air bubble from drinking water caused such pain in my chest that I fainted. I did get checked out by GP and all fine but I can understand how his brain might have "switched off" as he describes it in response to the experience of the chip getting stuck.

We had a similar incident with a child at the school I used to work at, but it wasn't a seizure - the child had an undiagnosed heart condition. Your son definitely needs to be checked over.

It could be vasovagal syncope (fainting)@PrincessOfPreschool - but he needs to be checked out.

https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk/seecmsfile/?id=6699

Yes I know two people with that.
But the stiffening up sounds like a seizure.

Please insist (if you are able) he gets checked out. If it was a seizure, and that sounds quite possible, there are various reasons for having them, some requiring looking into with a degree of urgency.

I don't want to frighten you but have a friend who's first obvious symptom of a brain tumour was a brief seizure. I have another friend who's epilepsy developed in her late teens, but her earliest seizures were misinterpreted, and not recognised for what they were, and so not diagnosed. It was only following a seizure that caused her to have a (thankfully not too serious) accident during a sporting event that led to her diagnosis.

It might have been. Or it could have been a faint - I know that sounds odd but when I faint I act very strange and it looks like a seizure. My father had had similar when eating so it may have been Swallowing Syncope - a vagally mediated reflex where a stimulus, such as food getting stuck, triggers a rapid heart rate slowdown and vasodilation, reducing blood flow to the brain and causing a temporary loss of consciousness.

However I have been checked for seizures since and had the all clear. He should certainly see a doctor to rule them out.

I hope your DS has been able to get medical advice by now OP. It is perfectly okay to write to his GP explaining what happened and why you are concerned. Obviously GP cannot feed any information back to you without adult DS’ consent.