Absense/mild seizures..how to tell?

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Hi!

I'm just wondering if anyone here can tell me how I would know if my 8yr old is having absense/mild seizures. What should I be looking for? We aren't back at the doc for a couple of weeks, but he has had some sus behaviour.

He does zone out from time to time. (doesnt last long)
He can look right at us but not hear us.
He complains sometimes that his heart is beeping fast ( his words)
He says sometimes that he feels dizzy, or his chest hurts.
He has issues with smells, ie says things smell bad they make him feel sick etc.
He appears to have panic attacks sometimes ie cant breath, feels dizzy, feels sick cant stand properly.
Occassionally I will look at him and he appears to not be aware of what is going on around him.

Can anyone help? Is this or could this be mild seizures, his as/autism diagnoses isnt in yet he is still being evaluated. Obviously there is more going on with him from what I've said for that evaluation to be happening. I know it may sound silly to some but he did the blank stare last night at my older son, my older son asked him what did he want why was he looking at him, it took a while for any response. Then all he said when questioned again was I dont know.
I remembered this morning Duh!! That my older sister was diagnosed with epilepsy as a kid but she grew out of it, she doesnt remeber it and our mum isnt around to ask her.
So if anyone knows any thing that would be great. Maybe Im barking up the wrong tree but better to be safe than sorry. Thanks in advance

ive heard starring off into space is a mild siezure, i dont know if its true or not though

Sounds like autism to me. Wait for the diagnosis/results of the tests.

The zoning out and stare COULD be autism/AS, and HARMLESS!! !!

The rest COULD be a heart problem. Have him checked out with an EKG or something similar. BTW try to have a decent cardiologist do it. I had a QUACK check me out at one point and 2 MONTHS later had a MAJOR problem.

somebody told me when i was little that when i starred off into space that the devil was telling me to do bad things,

I have epilepsy and it sounds like seizures to me. I'd take him to a neurologist.

I am going to second Lady Macbeth's opinion, as it sounds more like autism than seizures. My petit mal seizures tend to be a momentary lapse of attention with three physical indications (other than staring into space): a.) drool out of my mouth, b.) a clinched right hand, and c.) a dull headache. Unlike my grand mals, the absence seizures don't make me tired or have any other terrible physical side effects.

That sounds like it could be anything from a serious problem to virtually nothing. I agree--he should probably see a cardiologist and a neurologist. I had an EEG when I was a kid because I stared into space a lot and didn't hear people when they were talking to me. The EEG was normal. Years later, I found out it was AS and auditory processing disorder. I also have an abnormally fast heart rate, but I've been told by many doctors that there's nothing wrong.

Unfortunately, absence seizures are so subtle that it's impossible to tell for sure if someone has them. They tend to last less than a minute and can occur many times throughout the day. Mild (petit mal) seizures are something different. I believe they can be detected with an EEG or neuroimagining technology.

Have you asked him what goes on when he stares into space? He'd probably have a different answer depending on whether he's daydreaming or having a seizure. This could be a clue to point you in the right direction. The more information you can share with the specialists, the more accurate the diagnosis will be.

As someone with childhood epilepsy I can verify that is true (and I definately milked the issue in school once my doctor told my teachers this). You can even have a seizure without "zoning out" at all - the most common description of such seizures is a feeling of "de ja vu" though that feeling is not a requirement to having a minor seizure


From what your describing there is a very strong possibility your son is having seizures as everything you have described are indications of seizures. he needs an EEG to tell for sure though.


And I definately wouldn't put off getting one. My mom refused to admit i had epilepsy (for some reason it was more "socially acceptable to her that I be labeled crazy than someone with a seizure disorder). As such she ignored it/called me a liar when I told about the "funny feelings" I got off and on for two years starting when I was 12- she knew I had a history of epilepsy, that I had been describing a "funny feeling" before seizures since I was old enough to talk, I didn't know. Then when I ws 14, I got the funny feeling again, only far worse than ever before. Since we had a substitute in drafting I decided it wasn't too important to stay in class, and asked to see the nurse. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared considered leaving drafting - a classroom where I sat on a stool on a hardtile floor.

Anyway I must have appeared pretty badly when I asked to leave because I was probably only 20 feet down the hall, when two other girls came after me to walk me to the nurse. When we got there I opened the door and calmly explained my weird feeling. She couldn't make out a single word I said and asked me to lay down. Just a few minutes later I was in full seizure, unconcious and not breathing - this is the kind of seizure that needs IMMEDIATE medical attention or death will occur.

If I hadn't left drafting i would have been seriously injured. If my school didn't have 8th graders on a high school time, I would have been home alone, where I would have died from my seizure. In short, I came quite close to losing my life and all for no other reason than my mother refused to admit that I had seizures. Just because your son's seizures are mild now, and have been for a long time, doesn't mean they won't be serious tomorrow, or even tonight while he's sleeping. See a doctor before its too late.

re.EEGs.
it's possible that they will not show up on the EEG-unless it happens whilst being tested,this needs to be remembered,as it wasn't when am was tested,meds stopped a lot of abscences for am,although they think there is an epilepsy element in the meltdowns am have to.
all the tests and hospital visits are well worth it though because if it is epilepsy,at least will be able to get medication and more understanding of what is happening.

re.zoning out.
was told by the autism speech therapist am see that zoning out happens in NTs,but can happen a lot more in autistics and adhders.