About 2 months ago Oksana was being evaluated for OT at the private therapy center near our home. During the testing there were a few times that she would "zone out". The OT, who is a dear friend of mine, noticed this happen and asked if I see it often at home. I told her occasionally but not much. She told me this could possibly be a seizure and I should start to document when I see it and what she is doing at the time. For about a week I documented but when I only had 2 down and they were both at dinner time I decided it was probably nothing. Then last week during OT (she is seen by a different OT so this was not my friend with her) she was playing a game and she was belly laughing so loud that I could hear her in the waiting room. After she came out the OT expressed concern that in the middle of the game she "zoned out". As we were talking about it we both looked up and she was doing it again. That was a Friday and I saw it again over the weekend so just on a whim on Tuesday I said to the para, "Do you ever notice Oksana zoning out?" She said "YES! In fact she did it quite a bit today." I told her a bit about the history leading up to this and she mentioned that she was once a para for a child who had seizures that looked just like that. I told her that I rarely see them at home and that I can snap her out of them so I was still doubtful they were seizures. Still, this was becoming more than a coincidence so I went home and immediately started researching.
What I learned is that there is a seizure called an absence seizure. Their onset comes between the ages of 4 and 14. They can be hard to identify because they just look like the child could be daydreaming, or are not seen at all because they only last 10-20 seconds. Hmmm...that could explain why I don't see them at home. When Oksana is home she is very busy. She loves to go in her room and read books, play downstairs in her ball pit, walk around the house talking to her imaginary friends, etc. I don't sit around looking at Oksana when she is home. The 2 times that I saw it while I was documenting was at dinner...when I was sitting down looking at her. I also thought I was snapping her out of it but realized that when I see it I will sit and look at her for awhile, then mention to Larry "Look she's doing it again", then I will call her name. It probably appears as if I'm snapping her out of it but actually, if it really is a seizure, it could be over then.
To be honest, I'm STILL not convinced that is what we are dealing with. This morning as I was stretching her I saw her looking off into space and I really don't think it was a seizure, she was just staring. Regardless, if it is any sort of a seizure it is nothing to mess with. The worst I've done is paid a co-pay and lost some time at a doctor's office to find out for sure. I'm currently trying to find a neurologist, which is another story all by itself, but I hope to have an appointment on the books by the end of the week. If you have any experience with this I'd love to hear from you!
6 comments:
We don't have any experience with seizures, but the neuro we see at Children's is awesome. Dr. Jeffery Leonard. I'll be talking to you soon.
Erin, I don't have any experience with absence seizures, but Rob over at the blog "Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords" had his 11-year-old daughter Schuyler tested because he thought she was having absence seizures as well. Check out his blog at http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/ - the posts regarding the absence seizures are from April 2011 and before, or you could just e-mail him.
Hi Erin.
For what it's worth, I have a dog who is prone to this form of seizure. It's exactly as you describe in dogs too. He's on medication that controls the seizures very effectively, so I'm sure they'll do the same for Oksana. With the medication, we don't see seizures at all anymore!
I do know that epileptics (humans and dogs alike) are prone to other forms of seizures, particularly as a side effect to medications.
I've seen this in one of my children who suffers from grand mal seizures and my epileptic dog. Both are prone to seizures from medications (with seizures listed as a potential side effect.)
So that's just something to be aware of with Oksana. If she's prone to this type of seizure, she may be more prone to suffering seizures as a side effect of medication, strobe lights, and other triggers.
I hope she gets sorted soon! :-)
-Truewell
Erin,
First off, my apologies that my comment has nothing to do with this post. My husband and I are considering adopting through RR, and I would love to ask you some questions if you have time (and willingness) to answer them. If so, please contact me at ashleical@gmail.com. Thanks!
Ashlei
A former colleague of mine has a daughter with that kind of seizures. My colleague noticed them because her daughter didn't like to draw/colour - and it was because of the seizures; she lost track of what she was doing. She got medicine and it totally took care of the problem! Hope you'll find some good help and get the right medication for Oksana. It might help her a lot!
Erin,
The CP clinic at Children's is about the best place, and Dr. Brunstrom has CP herself. But, the drawback is the wait to get in to see her.
FYI: In order for them to diagnose a seizure, they have to actually be conducting the EEG test while the seizure is happening, which if they aren't frequent, can be hard to do.
Pat in St. Peters
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