Many of you know that my youngest son suffered a “first seizure” three days after Christmas. My wife and I have taken steps to try isolating some of the differences in our household, in the hopes we might head off any future seizure activity. Obviously, it didn’t work.
On the evening of Tuesday, February 9th, he suffered a second seizure. As a family, we handled the event much better, getting him to the “rescue position” within the first few seconds of it starting. We were also much more disciplined about the length of the event, quickly checking the time, and his body temperature, to rule out febrile activity. The seizure event itself lasted 30-seconds or less. The entire event, from initial seizure at 6:25pm to him having “recovered” and talking to us (7:15pm) lasted less than an hour. I don’t know if that’s something to be thankful for, or not.
As soon he settled down, we started making a list of the medications, chemicals, and foods he had eaten over the course of the day. He was sick, so had been home from school. Here’s the list…
Second Seizure – Looking For Triggers
What he ate today:
- Cinnamon Rollup
- Strawberries
- Easy Mac
- Cake (vanilla pound cake with butter cream icing)
- Peanut butter & Jelly
- Graham crackers with marshmallow cream
- Chocolate milk (2 cups – Nesquik)
- Kool-Aid
- 2 cups water
- Dinner
- Frozen broccoli, seared in olive oil + lemon juice
- Roast – cooked with Lawson’s seasoning and dipped in catsup
- Beans/Cornbread
- Carrots cooked with the roast
Medications
- Cheratussin - Had a dose night before (02/08/2010) and a dose today (02/09/2010 at 2pm)
- Zyrtec – Had a dose the night before – (02/08/2010) Kids solution
- Benadryl – Had a dose the night before (02/08/2010)
Just going through this list leads to a lot of potential triggers, or they could also be ghosts, with nothing responsible for the event. The fact also remains that he had been up late the previous Saturday and Sunday, and was obviously tired.
We’re probably going to have to start keeping a “daily diary” of all these types of things, in the hopes that we may be able to isolate the possible causes of these events. Of course, that’s just a hope. This may not have a “cause.”
But I sure hope it does.
For him.
I hope you can find a better doctor and a cure for the seizures. My cousin started having seizures when he was only 1 because of brain tumors. Through receiving the best care possible in Boston, the tumors were removed. He is now 6 years old and seizure free!
Wow! Sad that he had to go through all that, but a great outcome for your cousin. They ran CT scans the first night, and those came back clear. We’re just watching and hoping…
It must be incredibly frustrating not knowing. I hope you folks figure it out.
I know how Scary this can be, my son had seizures as a small child, I think they called it Benign Rolandic Syndrome, they said he would probably outgrow it and he did, but we had some very sacry moments!
@Ron – From what I understand, the benign rolandic generally occur during sleep. Is that what happened with him? Glad to hear he outgrew them.
My brother has seizures at least once every couple weeks. And what I have noticed as a BIG trigger for him is if he is tired. If it he wakes up too earlier one day, if he doesn’t get enough sleep he’ll have what I call ‘small seizures’ where he might fall but get right back up. Or just shake for a few seconds.
It’s been like this for a few years now, he’s 27 and it’s very sad. He can’t work, can’t drive, can’t do anything.
Sleep is very important, so is diet.
Good luck,
@JayLoss – Sorry to hear that about your brother. It’s amazing how many people suffer from seizure activity. We’ve read that fatigue plays a massive role in reducing the seizure threshold, and noticed it may play a role with our son as well.
I don’t know the contents of all of those sweets, but my cousin has seizures when she eats anything containing Nutra Sweet.
Yeah, we definitely slacked on the sweets. No artificial sweeteners in them though. I’ve heard that artificial sweeteners can be triggers.
I hope that you all figure this out. I didn’t suffer from seizures but i suffered from migraines when I was younger. They knocked me out and were incredibly painful — my parents did a daily food log and it turns out that the cause of it was CoCoa — I haven’t eaten chocolate in roughly 16 years.
Thanks Seth. I’ve heard that chocolate can be a trigger for everything from seizures to migraines, which my wife as well as brother/sister suffer from. No cocoa in 16 years — wow.
We’re starting to explore this question of food allergies now. I’ve got to believe there’s some explanation or trigger…
Hi,
I just ran across your website this mrning while trying to figure out how to administer my sons medication since daylight savings began this morning and was really amazed to read your situation and how completely similar it was to our story.
My son suffered his first seizure on\ dec12, we thought it was video game induced and were sure that we would be able to isolate that trigger and prevent future seizures, unfortunately on Feb 17 he suffered another siezure which we could find no identifying triggers. It’s been such a whirlwind of emotions and trials these last few months. His doctor prescribed antiseizue meds which he had a allergic reaction to, and now were starting a new one and hoping it works. We have a referral to the pediatric neuroloigist who read his EEG and have gotten the diagnosis from his pediatrician of generalized idiopathic epilepsy as well.
I really couldn’t just read this without commenting. I have scoured the web trying to find similar situations to ours and just couldn’t find any, your blog really struck a cord with me…thanks for letting me know there’s someone else out there who is adjusting to the same life changes as us.
@Melissa – I understand how you feel. Its both a scary and frustrating. As a parent, you’re trying to help your child, but end up being stymied by the lack of knowledge and bureaucracy in the medical field. Finding the doctors at Vanderbilt was a blessing to us. Now at least, we have hope. Hopefully you can find someone who’s as understanding and knowledgable.
Hello all. I was just surfing the web for info on epilepsy and food triggers. I’m not sure if your blog is only for children with seizure disorders or everyone, but I thought I’d share my family’s experiences in hopes that it will encourage and help others.
For the past year my 75 year old mother has been having “episodes” of some sort. This started out of the blue. The events last for less than a minute. Just before an episode happens her breathing begins to “amp” up and she begins to breathe very hard. After the episode her speech may or may not be affected. Sometimes she can speak. Sometimes she can’t. Sometimes her speech is garbled, and other times it’s perfect. There does not seem to be a patter that I can follow.
Before being diagnosed with seizures this past week, we had taken my Mom to ER three different times (within the past year) and was told that it was probably mini strokes (ITAs) since she’d had a stroke in the past.
This past Easter Sunday I served green beans and roasted potatoes both brushed (lightly) with olive oil. Several hours later my mother had a severe seizure that lasted for several minutes with foaming at the mouth. The seizure happened on the table in the ER. It was the most severe seizure she has ever had. It scared everyone watching it.
I’ve noticed that every time my mother eats certain foods she seems to have an episode.
OLIVE OIL seems to be a huge trigger for my mother. The more I use, the more likely she is to have a seizure.
I asked the doctors about triggers and possible food relationships. They all scoffed at me.
My mother also had been eating dark chocolate (3-4 1 oz size pieces a day) the week before the seizure on Easter. Some of the dark chocolate seems to be high in saturated fat. I thought it was okay for my mom to have because it’s supposed to lower blood pressure, increase circulation to the brain, thereby lowering stroke risk.
I’ve also noticed that ribs has caused her to have these episodes also. I’ve stopped serving ribs.
I strongly believe and suspect that oil/fat is a major trigger for my mother.
I’m determined to find out what is causing these episodes.
I too keep a daily inventory of my mother’s food consumption.
If you suspect that food is the culprit, don’t let anyone (doctors) discourage you from investigating the issue further.
Wow! I’ve not encountered anyone with olive oil as a potential trigger. I wish you the best of luck with your Mom.
I’m convinced that “the experts” don’t understand as much about this as they would want us to believe. Hang in there! You know your mother better than they do.