New here - Epilepsy or migraines

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Was wondering if anyone could help or reassure me that I'm not alone. My dd (3yrs) started suffering from debilitating headaches on Wednesday. She goes from playing quite happily to screaming in agony holding her head, unable to walk or function really in a split second. It lasts about 10 - 15mins. Afterwards she's very sleepy and sleeps for about 30mins or so. When she wakes up she is 100% fine, like nothing happened.

After the 3rd episode on Thursday I went to the GP who said she needed to see a paed and would do a referral. Then on Friday she had 3 episodes by lunch. The final one was so bad she collapsed and nursery rushed her to hospital. The hospital were next to useless. A&E consultant kept saying she needed to see a paed but couldn't get us one and eventually at 9pm we were sent home with a bottle of calpol and an instruction to go to the GP on monday to get a paed appointment which I didn't think would work.

On Saturday she had 2 more episodes and then had one in the night where she woke from her sleep screaming. 15 mins later she was peacefully asleep again. I took her to the big childrens hospital A&E this morning because we're worried out of our minds. The consultant was brilliant and has referred her to the neurologists as urgent. They think she either has epilepsy or non-typical migraines.

I'm really worried about it tbh. I know that we've now got a referral to the right person but they've scared me. I haven't got a clue whats going to happen, how they're going to diagnose her or how they're going to help her. We can't continue like this. I'm a wreck, can't sleep, struggling to be out of her sight and my mind is running riot.

Can she really have suddenly developed epilepsy at 3yrs old? She's not had any head trauma or illness. This has come as a bolt out of the blue. But then can such young children have migraines and only last 10 mins? That does sound very short for a migraine to me.

Sorry its so long, I hope that someone can relate to this, I really do. Thanks for reading.

I don't know much about children but my father developed epilepsy at about 55. He says that he now realises that he has had it all his life but previously just had petit mals rather than the grand mal. Nothign noticable until 55 though. He is now fine - on various drugs to control the siezures but no different to how he was previously and living a noraml life.

Thank you both of you. I hadn't realised you could develop epilepsy at anytime in your life without some sort of contributing factor.

Riven - Thank you for telling me what I need to ask for. This is all new to me and I don't know what to be asking for. From my experiences with my ds who has a number of problems I know that I might have to fight but with him because I know his conditions inside out I know what to push for and what questions to ask.

My son had a series of seisures at 3.5. He did not have headaches just dropped ( literally) into unconsciousness. Then came round ( after 10 - 25 minutes) and was very sleepy for hours. Like a febrile convulsion but without the fever! We never found out why! He was never diagnosed with epilepsy because they stopped just as suddenly a few weeks later. It is very frightening for parents. I hope you see the specialist quickly.

Thank you magso. How odd what happened to your son but I'm glad that he got better by himself.

She's had a funny turn today and I'm not really sure what to make of it. She just went all quiet and didn't want to move or talk (not the screaming in agony like before) and then 10 mins later said she needed to sleep and slept for 15 mins. When she woke up she was fine again.

Today though I've noticed she can no longer jump and she must have been jumping for nearly 2 years. She's back to how she used to be when she was learning to jump, lots of stamping foot and bouncing her knees but not actually getting both feet off the ground. I don't know when she stopped being able to do this if it was today or last week or what. Her balance seems normal for her. She can't stand on 1 leg like the A&E consultant said to make sure she could do if I was worried but then I don't think she has ever been able to.

Have got the urgent appointment through today, Friday morning. Complete logistical nightmare as my ds has an appointment at another hospital in a totally different direction as well on Friday but I think there is enough time between the 2 appointments for them both to happen. Hope this isn't going to become the norm as there are times when I struggle with all my ds's appointments which are all at one hospital without adding another child and another hospital into the mix.