Seizure anxiety!

[Stressless]

This post is not about me but about my 16 year old sister, although I am increbibly anxious!

About 9 weeks ago just after she finished her GCSEs she had a seizure of some form. Was taken into hospital and checked over but they discharged her as they said they couldn't find anything wrong.

Last Thursday, after feeling shaky and unwell she had another full seizure in the car on the way home from her first day of school. Again she was taken to hospital where again they couldn't find anything wrong with her apart from raised white blood cells. As this was the second seizure they have referred her to a fit clinic for a full assessment, which I imagine will include a scan of her brain.

My anxiety is about what is causing the seizures, obviously thinking the worst- a tumour! Apart from being confused for a few hours after she is absolutely fine now and in between. They seem to be isolated incidents.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Would there be other signs if it was a tumour? Could it be epilepsy? Or anything else? We are left feeling very scared and anxious about everything now!! Need reassurance whilst we wait for the follow up!

Thank you!

[BlueEyesShining]

Well it can be epilepsy. At least it sounds like that to me. Is she having more different types of seizures or only one type? When you say it`s a full seizure you mean she loses consciousness, she has contractions in the muscles and shaking?
Symptoms of a tumour include disturbance of the balance, headaches, hearing loss, loss of vision. I think it`s unlikely to be a tumour

[Pepperpot]

Hi - I wouldn't like to even begin to guess the cause. And don't google it cos it will bring up allsorts of things that it won't be, but will scare you. It's good they are going to do a full assessment of her. Please keep us informed. Thinking of you both x

[MyNameIsTerry]

Surely the hospital did the scan to discharge her? A scan would show up epilepsy.

There is a possibility of a Non Epileptic Seizure (NES) which occurs from stress, anxiety, depression, etc.

A neurologist can do a scan to rule out epilepsy and then decide whether it could be a NES. I know someone who was under a lot of stress and had a seizure whilst in a supermarket which after a scan showed no epilepsy and was diagnosed by the neurologist as a NES.

For reputable information about NES, look here:

http://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/non-epileptic-seizures#.VevFxdLBzGc

Note that one type of NES is a dissociative seizure. There are disorders that contain these, namely one of the Dissociative Disorders but there is no reason why it can't be stress or anxiety related either with her going through a stressful time of life.

[rsanchez]

I had a seizure as a kid. They also took me to the hospital and put me through a lot of scans, but found nothing. The seizure turned out to be an isolated incident for me, just one of those things that happen.

I'm sure your sister will get more answers soon.

[FeelLikeNeo]

Symptoms of a tumour include disturbance of the balance, headaches, hearing loss, loss of vision. I think it`s unlikely to be a tumour

I always think it's unhelpful to post symptoms on this forum, especially ones that are so common (all of those symptoms are also caused by migraines as well), but even more so when they're not really correct... brain tumours cause a range of symptoms depending where they are, and not necessarily those you outlined.