Seizures and school

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DD has a genetic condition which makes it harder to deal with illness, school are aware of this and to add to it her levels have been poorly controlled this year so we've had a fair few emergencies and illnesses and she's been off school a lot. She also has probable benign rolandic epilepsy and has had funny turns before.

She went back to school wed after having a day off tues for conjunctivitus. She seemed to be back to her normal self, her teacher and TA (she has one to one due to severe SLI/learning difficulties) commented on what a good mood she was in.

So I was really surprised to get my first call to say she was unwell two hours later- she had asked to shut the door to outside and said "I cold". She then got up and shut the door (its open access so they keep it open, it was a lovely warm day)TA said was she ok and DD said she felt poorly, TA took her to the table and sat her down and dd lay her head on the table and seemed hot. She was there ten mins during whcih time they called me. When I got there she was eating lunch and seemed very confused to see me, she got really upset and hugged me but then refused to leave, she screamed when she saw her class and seemed frightened of something and confused, she didn't look well but scooted home and then sat quietly watching tv till our hospital appointment that afternoon- the consultant said maybe she had had a small fit.

I think the confusion and seeming scared could have been due to the break in routine, shock of me taking her early- but she was a bit wiped out. She has had funny turns like this before but the last time it was more dramatic than that and she then was wiped out for three hours after, this time she didn't seem to "do" anything seizure wise and recovered within an hour or so.

Sorry so long, what do others do about this kind of thing? I kept her off yesterday but she was fine, so obviously wasn't ill as such. I guess its just a case of waiting to see if its frequent but if its as subtle as this, how does anyoe know if its seizures or just feeling tired for a minute?

It is always difficult to tell whether it was a seizure when you weren't around to witness it. It really depends what happened during the 10 minutes she had her head on the table e.g. was she aware of what was going on around her. After a seizure a child does tend to feel very tired and seizure activity can raise a child's temperature. However having a high temperature already can also cause a seizure as well. HTH

Thanks crazymum yes it is hard without me having been there-the strange turns she has had at home have even been hard to tell tbh as they are quite subtle. Didn't know that seizure activity could raise the temp so that is interesting as she wasn't hot by the time I arrived or not feverish anyway and apparently was during the time she had her head on the table. All they said was she seemed sleepy and not right and her condition can do that if she's unwell so too many complicating factors i think.

its typical as I had said the day before to her dad that I was glad I had decided against medication for the epilepsy as no further starnge events had happened since october despite her having been very very ill at christmas with complications due to her condition.

My cousin has epilepsy but it wasn't diagnosed for ages - his early seizures were like you say, very subtle. He would appear totally normal, just still, as if 'zoned out'. When he came round afterwards he would say he was aware of things happening but not really able to participate, and he was confused because although he knew things had happened he wasn't aware of the extent of the passage of time.

From what you've said and what your consultant thought I personally would assume she had had a mild seizure/fit.

I think probably although it wasn't the neurologist consultant as was an appointment about her other condition so will be interesting to see what he thinks- am worried he'll want to reassess the medication thing now though sad

Sounds like your cousin had absences? Must be really confusing for children or adults for that matter. In my DD's case she wouldn't have been able to know or say she had missed anything I guess too.

oops taht wasnt meant to be a link but a face!

Agree that absence seizure can be hard to spot - it can look as if a child is day-dreaming or having a nap. I am a bit concerned that 10 mins is a bit long for an absence seizure though!
It is usually recommended that you keep a diary of the "funny turns" giving information about what happens (it may be possible if you are at home to video it) and details such as date, time of day etc. as this may help with spotting a pattern. Often seizures have triggers such as tiredness or illness and doing this may help to identify them. You may find that things aren't as random as you think.
The other thing you may need to be is agree an Care Plan with the school to provide them with information on what to do if your daughter has another funny turn/seizure. The greatest risk with absence seizures is that the child may injure themselves and you need to have a plan in place to minimise the risks. I don't want to alarm you, but do need to say that in a classroom situation where they are working a their tables it is fairly easy to keep things under control, but if your child is playing in the playground / having a PE lesson it may be different. HTH

Hi, I'd def go with crazymum's suggestion of keeping a diary and trying to take video of any 'funny do's' as our paed called them prior to epilepsy diagnosis. eg. here My ds had a bit of a stop start journey into epilepsy with inital ?partial seizures that stopped before he was medicated, only to become a whole lot more complex a few months later, he's now on meds. I was lucky that ds school very good at reporting seizure activity and noticing when he wasn't himself, which meant that when the pead reviewed he had plenty of info which was then confirmed with an abnormal EEG.

Thanks carzymum and jogeroo. I did start trying to film her but found that there was nothing to see as she has these things so rarely, 3 x last year and all in the few months when she had just started school, the one before that had been a year before. Unless they really are so subtle we aren't noticing.

The turns she has had have been more going sleepy and floppy and sometimes her eyes flick up a bit, once she had one hand flicking after falling tot he floor seemingly sleewalking.

I think the consultant meant that she had had a small fit and then become sleepy after? But I am not sure and yes ten mins would be a long time. I need ti ask more about what she did in those ten mins I think, and get them to write it down.

jogeroo will click your link now thanks, am worried that dd's will become worse tbh and if they do I will be medicating. It really is a complicated diagnosis isn't it?

Sorry had to post v quickly earlier. Joggeroo what sort of things were the school noticing your DS doing?

Crazymum53 thank you I will mention the epilepsy again at the annual review of her statement as it is this week, good point about safety. I don't even know if we have a definate diagnosis, I know her eeg was abnormal and indicated benign rolandic epilepsy but I think her seizures if thats what they are have not been consistent with the usual type for BRE. But the neurologist felt that two of the turns I described sounded epileptic and offered medication-it did feel like this was based on my level of anxiety though iyswim, as they said it was my decision. I agreed as was secretly hoping it could help her SLI and was worried about SUDEP but later worried so much about it and how the drugs would affect her that . with her steroids being all out and causing all sorts of problems for her at the time, I saw my GP and decided to not go ahead with the meds which she wrote to the consultant about.

Sorry so long just this has been hanging over me had to get it out, am worried the neurologist will be annoyed I backtracked on the plan but our other consulatnt and the GP have said they think he won't since it was ultimately my choice.