Seizures

A

Aborted_Fetus

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Registered Senior Member
Hey guys, this is sort of a medical question, hopefully you can help me out.

My girlfriend was walking to a class the other day, and she basically just fell over and had a seizure. The guy that helped her told the paramedics she just looked out of it, almost walking like a zombie, then she grabbed her stomach, and started going into convulsions. She doesnt remember anything from that morning, and obviously she is very scared. An initial brain scan showed nothing abnormal, but she is going for a full follow-up exam in a few days.

I was wondering if anyone else had this sort of experience, or if someone you know has. Can these sort of things just happen once, or will it most likely lead to epilepsy? She has never had this sort of thing happen, she doesnt do drugs, and she has never had a serious health problem before. I guess we will find out more after the follow-up, but does anyone know anything about why this would have happened, or if it will lead to anything?

Thanks.
 
In my expert medical opinion this is a real noodle scratcher...
 
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Fetus,

I understand how freaky that can be. A good buddy of mine had a seizure about 2 years ago just out of nowhere. We were sitting and talking when all of a sudden he broke out into convulsions. Afterwards he has had a series of MRI, CT Scans, blood work, etc... They were never able to find anything wrong with him and to this day we still do not know what caused it. His neuro said that sometimes seizures happen just once and the cause is never known why. I hope that everything works out okay for your girlfriend.

Best wishes,
Absent
 
The best I can do is share my experiences as a dog breeder, but that's not too far off because in a lot of ways mammals are just mammals.

Our first dog started having seizures at age seven. He was poorly bred -- a "puppy mill" dog -- and it turned out that his pancreas was starting to fail. Dogs with "liver shunts" that prevent the toxins from being throroughly cleaned out of their blood are also very prone to these seizures.

We got involved with a responsible breeder and became a site in her "virtual kennel" after that, and have had healthier dogs ever since. Nonetheless, every now and then we get one who has such seizures. It's called a "petit mal." A "grand mal" is the full-on classic epileptic seizure where the subject does not just go inanimate, but keeps twitching violently and has to be protected from injuring himself. Typically a dog has a seizure once every two or three months -- not common enough to be prepared for it, but often enough to be scary.

Sometimes the seizures begin early in life -- say 2 years, which is the dog equivalent of a human in her late teens or early 20s. (Forget that "dog years" thing, it's not a simple linear scale like that.) sometimes they come later, when the dog is 7 or 8, which in our small breeds is like a human in her late 40s or early 50s.

The doctors never call this epilepsy. I think if you have epilepsy you have grand mals, not petit mals. It can be a symptom of an illness like the pancreas thing, but often no underlying cause can be discovered.

We have not yet had a dog with petit mals and no diagnosed illness get old enough to die, so we can't tell if this condition will correlate with a short life expectancy. But it certainly doesn't do the subject any good: one dog had a seizure while lying comfortably on the back of the sofa and tumbled onto the floor. Just toppling over on your side on a hard floor over and over again will eventually take its toll.

I suggest your friend get the best doctor she can, if these tests come out inconclusive. A teaching hospital or the Mayo Clinic or something like that. She needs a better diagnosis. We put up with these things in dogs, because no matter how much we love them we just can't spend ten thousand dollars or more on medical care for one dog. But people deserve better, and most people have insurance that will go a long way toward covering it.

It won't help us to know what's wrong with our dogs because we can't afford the treatment. We just make sure not to breed them because it seems to be genetic, and hopefully we'll weed that gene out of the bloodlines.

But you need to know what's wrong with your friend. If these things are this common in dogs, they must also be common in humans. Somebody will be able to help her. Keep trying. Do NOT let her give up and figure maybe it won't happen again. It could be a year before the next seizure hits her and she could be swimming or driving on the freeway when it happens.

Good luck,
F.R.
 
Thanks for your input Fraggle, I didnt even know it was possible for a dog, or any other animal for that matter, to have a seizure.

You are definitely right about the physical impact a seizure can have, she was standing up when she started convulsing, and she fell face-first into the ground. She had a big lump on her head the day after.

Also, thinking about it more, is it possible to go into convulsions after hitting your head really hard? I ask this becuase, although never going into convulsions, she has fainted before, I dont really know why, but it has happened. I was wondering, is it possible that she fainted, fell to the ground, and hit her head so hard it caused her to have a seizure? Just a thought.

Also, I assume if she is diagnosed with epilepsy, her drivers license is revoked. Is this true? And about the medication that treats epilepsy, how good does it work, does it completely prevent seizures, or does it just lower the occourances of seizures?

Thanks
 
Seizures can happen for many many reasons, the reason she looked like she was a zombie before the seizure is sometimes a pretty normal thing, alot of seizure patients see auras before they start to have them and can prepare for it. But how had she been feeling that day and a few days prior? did she have a fever or had she been taking any over the counter drugs? also its very normal for a person to have a seizure and not remember anything. also she could she have gotten around any chemicals and such? Seizures start for many reasons thats why she will have to look at everything.
 
almost forgot NO her drivers license will not get revoked for that period I have a friend that has had epilepsy all her life and she still has her's she even takes medication for her's.

Also yes people can have a seizure from head trauma but usually there is something else there to help it along and with a history of fainting its possible but something is not adding up there is some kind of imbalance in her system to be causing this.
 
She has been taking birth control pills for a while, Ortho Tricyclen Lo, I beleive, and she also has perscription allergy medication that she takes whenever she feels that she needs it. I don't know if she took the allergy medication that day, but I know she takes her birth control everyday when she wakes up. I have a feeling her fainting has something to do with this, she has only fainted a few times before, but it still may have something to do with it.

Also, I don't know if this has anthing to do with it, but I think it is important to note, that the night before she had a bad reaction to some shrimp that she ate. She was never allergic to shellfish, but then last year she had a bad reaction to some lobster, and now, the day before she had the seizure, she ate some shellfish for the first time since her first reaction, and she got another reaction. Her eyes swelled up, her sinuses got clogged up, and she had symptoms similair to the flu, including a fever. This may or may not have something to do with it, but like you said, we have to look at everything.
 
ok here is a list of things that cause seizures

A severe chemical imbalance in the blood — Abnormal levels of blood acids, sodium, calcium or blood sugar (especially in diabetics)
Drug reactions — Reactions to illegal drugs (crack cocaine, amphetamines and others), anesthetics or prescription medications (penicillin, anti-asthma drugs, anticancer drugs and many others)
Drug withdrawal — Withdrawal from alcohol or sedatives
Medical illnesses — Extreme high blood pressure (hypertension), eclampsia (a complication of pregnancy), liver failure, kidney failure, sickle-cell disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus or SLE) and many others
A local problem involving the brain — Head trauma, developmental brain disorders, stroke, brain tumors, and infections in or near the brain (brain abscess, encephalitis, meningitis)
Other causes — High fever, sleep deprivation, starvation, flashing lights (even from video games), intermittent noise and, rarely, menstruation
 
If your friend is epileptic there are actually seven different types of siezures ranging from petite mal(small) to grand maul (large). Sometimes it could just be a temporary thing that happens once. There is no telling what brings it on or how bad it will get if she hasn't seen a doctor. However even if it is epilepsy it can be controlled through meds and sometimes a service animal can help to predict or respond to seizures. It can be scary to people who aren't used to witnessing such things but very sucessful people with epilepsy have lived full lives. Julius Ceaser and Joan Tarc, AKA Joan of Arc were epileptic and did fine until they met their ends. Or with any luck it could be an isolated incident.
 
She may be a Juvenile Diabetic, I am one, and have had similar things happen to me before.

Once I started freaking out and twitching at work, even though my blood sugar levels where fine. And when I was a Kid, I would sometimes go without memory for half the day becuase my blood sugar levels where all screwed up.

I have also had a seizure before. I went to bed one night, and next thing I know, I wake up on the family room couch, with both my parents standing over me.

Was I ever scared after that.
 
i'm an epileptic, and i found it hardly interfeared with my life at all. The tests didn't show anything, but after about 3 years from my first seziure they took me off the meds and i had my second seziere, but ever since being back on them i've been seziere free for almost a year.
The medication you get these days is brilliant, little to no side effects. I find i got a bit tired when first getting onto the meds, but after a few weeks there were no side effects whatsoever. The licience can be a bit of a problem, it changes depending on circumstance. i got mine back after three months of seziure free.
Good luck
it's not as scary as it sounds
 
N, I don't think so cosmic.

Another question: How should I prepare myself if she has another seizure? I know I should call an ambulance, but what should I do, and is there any way to end the seizure quicker? I'm hoping it never happens again, but it's always good to be prepared.
 
cosmictraveler said:
Are there any family histories of this type of occurence?
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For us dog breeders it's much easier to trace family histories. We can get a new generation every couple of years and dogs have much larger litters than humans. Nonetheless we haven't yet been able to establish a genetic link.
 
A Canadian said:
She may be a Juvenile Diabetic, I am one, and have had similar things happen to me before.
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As I understand it, diabetes is a disease of the pancreas. In dogs there seems to be a slight statistical correlation between seizures and early pancreas failure.
 
I didnt even know it was possible for a dog, or any other animal for that matter, to have a seizure.
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Ever heard of the fainting goats? All it takes is a scare and they go into convulsions. Pretty funny really.

faint.jpg

Although, the seizures that these goats are prone to are not real epileptic seizures. They're muscular rather than neurological seizures.


Edit: I had a Yorkie once that was incredibly ancient. It would have weird little seizures every now and again. They never lasted more than a second or two and he always recovered quickly.
 
Hard to say without looking at the girl....
Anybody can throw off the odd petit mal and any number of other little tics and vibrations that could be pigeon-holed as "fits".
Wait for the work up before you start stressing about epilepsy.
As we say 'round here

"You get your first fit for free"

I'm sure she'll be ok.
Dee Cee
 
invert_nexus said:
I had a Yorkie once that was incredibly ancient. It would have weird little seizures every now and again. They never lasted more than a second or two and he always recovered quickly.
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Ours twitch for a few seconds, then go stiff, and fall over on their sides -- or tumble off of whatever furniture they're on. We're always too startled and worried to think of clocking the recovery, but I'd guess that it never takes longer than five minutes to be completely well and upright again, and perhaps it's even quicker than that.
 
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