Seizures and Autism

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Is there a connection between those two conditions? When I was young, I had a few episodes of nocturnal seizures. I was put on medication for about 5 years. I grew out of it eventually. After I was diagnosed for seizures, I was experiencing traits that are similar to Asperger's and Autism. I was poor in school, and I was eccentric. It took me a while to tie my shoes correctly. I had and still have bad handwriting. I experience the same traits that Aspies endure. I can't keep a long attention span, nor learn tasks on the job. I have very few friends. I have a hard time keeping up with my hygiene. Several years back, I found a website that claims people who suffered from nocturnal seizures as a child tend to be socially quirky. They have a hard time keeping and finding a job and keeping up with hygiene. Have any of you heard the same thing? Is there a connection of any sort?

I had about four mild seizures in my early teens. But autistic symptoms had started showing up long before then.

From what I have read, seizures are caused by neurological problems (damaged, or improperly developed areas of the brain), causing electrical signals to misfire or get overloaded, so yeah, if you have problems in one region of your brain, you could also have other problems that are affected by that region.

My dad had schizophrenia, as well as bi-polar and seizures, so there is definitely a connection.

I have read (at least in the US) that 1 out of every 3 Autistic individuals has a seizure disorder.

I personally have witnessed one seizure (this girl is on the lower end of the spectrum). Also, I had a really bad problem with seizures as an infant. I was born having seizures, completely blue, & from what my mom says "you were born dead", aka-recusitated (can't spell it) twice, on a respirator for 2 days (48 hrs.) ( long term respirator use has been associated w/ speech delays & brain damage) went home after awhile, on seizure meds 'till about 2 months old. The speech delay my mom was expecting (I had it) & my mom believes the brain damage due to having no oxygen in my brain caused my Autism (PDD in my case). The only blessing to having these seizures was my mother monitored me very closely & I was diagnosed quite young (18 months).

I have been seizure free ever since ! This I am very grateful for, and I would advise avoiding driving since you have a history of seizures. I also had two instances of passing out & after the 1st one my doctor told me seizure disorders can start in Auties while in their teens. So in general I think it is something to watch for & seizures/Autism are definitely connected.

p.s. this is why I am avoiding driving at all costs (haven't even taken my permit test yet)

Yeah, 1 in 3 or 4 with autism develop seizures (that's Autistic Disorder), and it can happen at any time, but it's usually early childhood. They're highly related.

I had them for a year when I was...2 till 3. Tegretol stopped them. They were the full-on body twitching/convulsing and totally wasted afterwards type, rather than the staring spells.

I have what I believe are simple partial seizures (last about 5-10 seconds, no loss of consciousness, strange change in spatial perception and feeling as if I'm in two places at once). I had these between the ages of 4 and 8, then they stopped and began again when I was around 17.