Seziures in Children

I'm only slightly familiar with the test you are talking about but they seem to be pretty informative. I just wanted to lend some hugs and support from a fellow special needs Mom. My 3 year old daughter has Angelman Syndrome and although she doesn't have seizures now, she did have quite a few one day when she was 5 weeks old. She went on seizure meds for 2 1/2 months and (knock on wood) has never had another one that we know of. She has done the staring thing but we can usually interrupt it but I always wonder if we are interrupting or if she's just done. We'll be getting one of the sleep EEG's sometime in the next year or so just to make sure because they can be hard to identify.
I also wanted to add, since you said your daughter may have Autism, that they came out a couple of months ago and said that a good indicator of Autism is if they respond to the name at age 12 months. They said that something like 75% of kids that didn't respond to their name at 12 months ended up having Autism or some other delay. Here's a link to the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17920545/
Best Wishes to you and your daughter,
J.

My son was born with Petit Mal Seizures also known as absense seizures...He would not jerk or anything either...he would just stare and he was unresponsive until the seizure was over. His were to the point where he would stop breathing during them, around his lips would turn blue...he was in the NICU for 2 weeks after he was born and they didn't find anything wrong with him. They ran every test known for him and everything came back ok...1 week after he was home we ended up in the emergency room for the same thing and finally during his second 2 week stay at the hospital they ran an EEG during a sleep study and found out that he was having seizures. They put him on medication and since he's been out of the hospital has not had an episode since! He is now 1yr 2mo old. One thing I do suggest is that when she goes into her seizures try and snap her out of them. pinch/tickle her feet, clap her hands together, try and stimulate her. Monitor her breathing and heart rate (make sure she's breathing!) and definately take her in for that sleep study!!! They may not catch something like that the first time around. Good luck and i hope you can get this figured out and that she gets better soon.

I know two children who have these type of seizures and they were both tested the same way with a sleep deprived EEG. I, myslef, have had a Grand Mal seizure and a couple like your daughter had. I was only able to have an EEG, because I have a pace maker type implant in my body which prohibits me from getting MRIs. My EEG was normal, but they say they often are, unless you happen to have a seizure while doing it. Fortunately, mine were caused by a a combination of medication I should have never been on. A couple of my doctors made mistakes with prescriptions. Anyway, both the kids I know are doing fine.

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GFRC%2CGFRC%3A...

Hope it helps...

My son is autistic and one day I thought he had a seizure. The doctor didn't think so, but we had an EEG anyway. We did the same as someone else mentioned, kept him up all night and went in first thing in the morning. It went very well. They got him all set up, took some data while he was awake, then turned down the lights, put a warm blanket over him, turned on some soft lullaby music. He fell asleep very easily and they got what they needed. It was very easy on him, and I even dozed off myself while sitting with him. The results didn't show anything and he hasn't had once since, so maybe it wasn't a seizure. Who knows.

As a health care provider, I know that the sleep EEG can give more information. But remember, medicine is not 100% and your daughter may not show any s/s of a seizure during the procedure. It is painless. That does not mean she doesn't have seizures though , even if a test does not indicate it. I always recommend my patients, parents, caregivers, keep a journal to bring in, as it can provide valuable information , it is actually priceless, often more informative than any test we can order, and less expensive:)

My step daughter has absent seizures and they are similar to what you are describing. We found hers by doing and EEG with her sleep diprived. We had to keep her up all night then do the test in the morning. It really showed her seizures. She has been on meds for about 5 years now and they have really helped!