Sunday, February 11, 2007

Good Weekend... Not So Much!

Scott had two gran mal seizures over the weekend. Two in a 20 hour period, one on Saturday afternoon and another this morning. Both came as he was eating here at home. I am grateful that Scott was not injured too badly. Other than a few bruises, no one would ever know that Scott had had a seizure... or two. Scott seemed to recover quite quickly after the seizure on Saturday but less quickly this morning after the second seizure. There does not seem to be a clear pattern as to why these seizures occurred. Scott has been taking his medication regularly and has not missed any doses. Perhaps he is still not able to get the rest his body needs. Dr. Dean has stated before that his seizure activity increases when sleep spindles form during his EEG. Scott has turned in early this evening in hopes of getting a good night's rest. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a seizure free day!

2 comments:

DogtorJ said...

Are you familiar with the serotonin connection to epilepsy? As you probably know,serotonin is a brain hormone that is mostly thought of as a mood moderator. It is tied to sunlight exposure and its levels drop as the days get shorter. In some individuals, this drop results in Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD). But, serotonin is also a seizure moderator, helping to protect the neuron against the potentially harmful effects of the neurotransmitter glutamate (and the high levels of this non-essential, neurostimulating amino acid in our diets). SO, as the days get shorter and the serotonin levels diminish, seizures DO get worse. In fact, I have seen seizure logs of individuals who ONLY seize during the short days of fall/winter (November to April). This makes sense through the eyes of serotonin. The key is to know WHY the levels drop as low as they do in some and treat/prevent this. Restricting dietary glutamate can also help tremendously.

I hope this helps,
John (aka "DogtorJ")

Winston said...

Sorry to hear about the new seizures. I don't doubt there's some connection to lack of sound sleep, as Jack's ESES naturally inhibits proper sleep, thereby leading toward seizures. Although steroids have put the kibosh on all seizures for a month and a half now.

Good luck. I hope are aren't having any more.