Yesterday afternoon as we were driving to Town, Daughter had a seizure. With a digital clock in front of me, I timed things. It lasted 8 minutes, and then she was unconscious and unresponsive for another 12 minutes. I was headed to the local ER when she came around. She was fine while we went to the grocery store, and then, as we were headed home, she passed out. I called my co-youth group advisor and arranged to drop off the potatoes the kids were going to scrub for the potato supper and told her verbally what they needed to do for the prayer service they were to plan. Then I headed to the ER in City, having promised my sisters I would take her in if she had any more problems. She was unconscious for about 30 minutes, but came around as we got closer to the ER.
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The ER was busy, and when we finally saw the doctor and he called Neuro, Neuro said he was coming in. By then Daughter had been in the ER seizure free for about 6 hours, the longest she had gone yesterday. So, Neuro and I had a discussion in the hall. These are epileptic seizures she's having, and he pointed out a number of reasons why. I agreed with him. He thinks they are attention seeking, I think they may be Pseudoseizures. As I pointed out to him, she certainly falls into the group that is most prone to them. We have told her quite firmly that she isn't going to have any more seizures. I'm going to follow up with Psychiatrist and Therapist. I brought her home last night, though he was willing to admit her. We went into his office today. The challenge is going to be convincing the workshop not to feed into these.
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I have very mixed feelings about the whole situation. I can't say I'm surprised. It seems like the more I do to keep her safe from herself, the more creative she becomes in finding unhealthy ways to cope with stress. Since these are psychological, we decided I should take her back up on the cymbalta today, which I did. Neuro noticed she'd left her bracelets (ID and fall risk) from the hospital on, and told me to make sure I got rid of them as soon as we got home. I cut them off and they are now in my pocket, since he suggested I not put them where she could reclaim them.
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We didn't get home from the ER last night until after 11:00, so I am exhausted today. C came over and we were going to do some work. Instead I ended up offering her pastoral care. I knew she was hurting when I hired her, which was part of the reason I hired her. I figured it would give me a way to provide support and care to her. Anyway, as Daughter heard C crying, she went upstairs and got a prayer pillow someone had given her. She brought it down and gave it to C, telling her she thought she needed it more than Daughter did. C and I were both touched by Daughter's thoughtfulness. It almost made up for the stress she has caused me this past week. Almost.
7 comments:
Um, they're called non-epileptic seizures.
As part of Sarah Blake's ministry, she provides a great deal of information on these.
Growing Strong with Epilepsy
So that means, there are no electrical seizures going on?
The Etilogy section of this place seems to sum it up (look at the Treatment and Prognosis tables too):
American Academy of family Physicians: Nonepileptic Psychogenic Seizures
Thanks for the website. Lots of good information. It will help me show more compassion for Daughter. To complicate things, Daughter also has epileptic seizures with the electrical stuff going on. Those have been controlled by medication. She isn't even normal in her abnormalities....
There's a lot of triggering stuff which happened last year, at the time of the potato supper and the severe winter weather. (And the sex offender boyfriend/male acquaintance).
Speaking of "normal in her abnormalities", the author Donna Williams has presented something about her atypical epilepsy, which shows you how many factors you have to take in and isolate.
Donna Williams' experiences with atypical epilepsy
Her diagnostician was not overly clear with her, either.
When I was reading about the length of Daughter's seizures, I thought, "Most seizures [that I know/have heard of] go for what? 2 minutes? And often much much less than that." But I have heard/known of some really long ones.
ack!!! as if the normal stuff wasn't enough, Gosh I am sorry you are having to deal with MORE stuff. I know just what you mean about dd finding more trauma to go through sigh. Owl
I never heard of these until my Molly began having them. She was an adult and it was one of the reasons we took K. She 'fell out' on the sidewalk one day and was taken to the hospital by ambulance with baby K. We had to go and rescue K while they treated M in the ER. No abnormal electrical activity -- the psychiatrist read her the riot act but it didn't work. I think it might still be going on at times.
So sorry you have one more thing to deal with. Can you find respite and take a break?
Adelaide,
Yes, there have been plenty of triggering events. I will check out the new link. Thanks.
Owl,
I think I'd rather be dealing with this than baggy pants....
Maeve,
Interesting about Molly. Is she diagnosed borderline personality? Somewhere I read these are more prevalent with borderline personality. Daughter's birth mom had that, and there are times when I worry that I see characteristics of it in Daughter.
Yes, Borderline PD. Also Identity Disorder. Therapists hate Borderlines, and she's been fired by a couple of them. She did congnitive behavioral therapy for awhile but we didn't see any progress at all. I'm sure you know that Borderline is a common dx for RADults. She's also a huge hypochondriac -- don't know if that's related to BPD or not. Last time I talked with her she told me that she'd applied to get a motorized wheelchair.
If it makes you feel better I can tell you for sure that your DD is nowhere near as emotionally impaired as Molly is.
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