seizures or panic attacks

[mary d]

Hi
Have a problem and hoping someone is able to help.

My daughter is a happy 12 year old who has no health problems, easy going and basically unflappable. She has a very good life in a stable loving family she is the youngest of 4 children although i cant say her brothers are children anymore lol. She has many good friends with an excellent social life.

This is where her story begins. In september of this year she began to complain of severe headaches, no nausea,this lasted for 3 days she also was complaining of a heavy right leg unable to step up or down stairs etc. She said she thought she had lifted her leg high enough to step up or down. I took her to the GP who said it could be her eyes, tested them and said no it wasnt that. We were sent home saying come back in a week. That same night i went to check on her as she said she felt funny before going to bed. I entered her room with her having, all i can say was, it looked like a seizure, her breathing was raspy and she was dribbling her lips were blue, i thought she was dying, she was curled up in a ball she was shaking etc. Her dad called an ambulance her 'seizure' lasted 5 mins i talked to her throughout although it looked as though she was totally out of it. Ambulance came they were fantastic.She came round, was very disorientated shaking and unable to stand. She again could not judge where she was stepping. To cut a long story short she went on to have 9 'seizures' in A&E and on the ward. At one time she had 5 one after the other they had to sedate her. She said she could hear us talking to her although she couldnt see us, she asked us if her eyes were closed, they werent. She knew when they about to happen and said at one time that if she concentrated she felt as though she could stop them. When the 'seizures' settled down she was left with all the above symptoms still, but not the headaches, it took another week for her symptoms to stop, although she has twitching limbs now and then ( she had symptoms for 2 weeks in all ). The Doctor put her on epileptic medication although they are now saying it could be panic attacks. When i asked why they thought this they said because if she was having seizures she would not beable to hear or remember them.

She has had eeg's, MRI scan which came back fine although the eeg doesnt prove anything. I have heard that panic attacks can be so severe you can think you are having a stroke. I am not convinced that it is panic attacks, surely you would have to have problems or anxiety to have these ? etc. Any advice would be appreciated. She is such a bright easy going girl. The only thing i could think of is her hormones are all over the place but when i mentioned this to the Doctor he said definately not ! and laughed.
Please help.

Mary

[london]

if she had a eeg and that was ok i dont think its fits so it sounds like panic attacks i do hope thay sort it out soon wish her better from me

[mary d]

Hi
Thank you for your reply but even people with epilepsy can have a clear eeg and people without epilepsy can have a positive reading believe it or not. There isnt a test to give a definate diagnosis.It is all on the reading of the lines of the eeg and how the person reading it interrprets it.

Has anyone had such extreme symptoms off a panic attack maybe ?

Thank you

[Ellie25]

Have any docs mentioned non-epileptic seizures (NES for short)?

I suffered from these for nearly 2 years - too many details to write here but please do PM me if you want to know more because a lot of your daughter's symptoms are the same as mine were.

Ellie
xx

[peter_griffen]

personally (after having PA for 9 years), it does not sound like Panic-attacks, although it can effect people in different ways. i would go and get another opinion, or try and have a private consultation as NHS has alot to be desired at time.

[spaced]

hi i'm so sorry your daughter is having such a hard time, i have a daughter of the same age. it doesnt soung like a panic attack to me. i think you should take her back to the doctors for a second opinion. my daughter had a very hard time at school a few years ago and did have a few panic attacks so it is possible to have them very young, but your child would be unhappy and showing signs of stress on the run up to an attack. hormones can cause lots of problems my daughter started fainting just before her 11th birthday and still does after lots of tests they decided it was down to hormones, but they did mention seziures as in some cases the change in hormone level in young girls can be the trigger of eplisepy. try the NHS website i found lots of info on there to the different types of sezures and cause.

[mary d]

Thank you to everyone with their advise.
we were looking at a second opinion as we are not happy with just putting it down to panic attacks surely these symptoms would not last for 2 weeks or more if they were p.a ? The symptoms never went away for 2 weeks that is what is puzzling us. My brother suffered from p.a and last year i started with them but that was through anxiety over health problems, so i do know quite
a bit about them.

I have read alot about NES, but again would you not need to be anxious
about things to have these attacks ? obviously i am only guessing. I will pm you if that is ok, just desperate for information.

Spaced
You have just voiced what i have been thinking but unable to put into words to the consultant ' wouldnt she be showing signs of being unhappy etc ' I have looked into all the reasons if it isnt epileptic seizures, what could cause them but every time they mention stress, anxiety etc. I am sure i would notice if there was a problem. She is so layed back it is unbelievable even when she was having attacks each time she came round she just said 'wow that was a strange feeling' even the nurses asked if she was always that easy going. Unfortunately the nurses didnt document all of her seizures and symptoms and how she was really feeling and what she was saying to them otherwise they might have getting a better picture of what she was suffering from. The day that she was being discharged she was still suffering from symptoms ie falling over, no spacial awareness she fell over the day before in the ward and it was not documented. They never once in hospital mentioned panic attacks it was always epilepsy. They have just mentioned it know as i am raising concerns about the care she received when she was discharged. She was still unstable on the day that she was being discharged she couldnt even walk properly it was only when we mention this to the Doc that he said 'ok it is epilepsy we will give her medication ' and walked out. We werent given the chance to ask any questions it was awful but thats another story.

I personally think they havent done their job properly and they are now looking for an easy opt out for them.

Thank you all so much for your comments its just a relief to have somebody to voice my concerns to. It has being so worrying made worse by the indifference of a Doctor at out local hospital.

Regards x