My little sister is 20 years old. Yesterday she had FOUR seizures within hours of each other. She has NO history of seizures. She lost conciousness with 3 of them. She was only admitted to the hospital after the fourth one, which I found surprising. I am very nervous for her and don't know anything about this kind of thing... What could possibly cause this to happen? She is not a drinker, she does not do drugs (she is in the Army). Her CT scan came back and she does not have cysts, tumors, or bleeding.
2007-12-08 09:35:53 · 4 answers · asked by aknjcp 2 in Health ➔ Other - Health
I just got a progress report... They confirmed that she had 4 grand mal seizures and 2 partial seizures - all in the course of a day. The hospital is not being very helpful and they said that they do not know if they will be doing any further tests... She is supposed to be discharged from the Army on 12/14 and they said that she should just go to the VA when she gets out!!! I'd think they should be more concerned?!?
2007-12-08 12:16:43 · update #1
The medical center she is at does not have the capabilities of doing an EEG! They are not yet wanting to transfer her, either. She has had several more partial seizures. Her potassium levels are dangerously low, they keep giving her potassium drinks. She is vomiting profusely and has blood in her vomit. Her neck is stiff and she has had a huge headache for days.
2007-12-09 05:20:41 · update #2
Great that she has no cysts, tumors or bleeding. That would be most worrisome. At that age, injury, tumor or birth defect (yes) would be the most common causes seen on CT. A very low blood sugar would be my next thought. An abnormal serum sodium would be next. Low serum calcium rarely causes seizures outside the newborn period, unless perhaps some parathyroid abnormality.
I hope you are right about drugs. I would be concerned about huffing in younger teens.
Idiopathic (meaning "cause unknown") epilepsy is always a possibility.
Hope all goes well with your sister. Could you give us a progress report when you chose best answer?
2007-12-08 09:59:50 · answer #1 · answered by greydoc6 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
About 9% of us will have a seizure once in our life. The previlence of epilepsy however is only 0.65%. Most people that have a seizure will never have another one. Though having 4 without history of head injury or disease, febrile illness, hypoglycemia or low blood pressure or family history one would lean toward the possibility of epilepsy. There are many different types and should be discussed with your neurologist.
There is the odd chance of seizures from pregnancy.
If she had these seizures at night the chance of them reoccuring are greater.
I have seen seizures from elevated BUN/Creatinine as seen in kidney failure.
A good neuro exam is very important, not everything is found initially on CT exam. People may be able to hide their memory deficits. Help your heath care provider test her short and long term memory and inform them if she is not remembering something that you think she should.
I hope there is no reoccurence of seizure.
Good Luck
2007-12-08 18:30:42 · answer #2 · answered by Joe B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Low blood sugar can cause seizures, too.
She should have an EEG to check for epilepsy, just to cover all possibilities.
2007-12-08 17:49:46 · answer #3 · answered by gracelyn 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A high temperature can cause seizures I believe..
2007-12-08 17:43:52 · answer #4 · answered by Crys 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋