Seizures in sleep.

[rsmitty304]

My husband is a 35 yr old healthy man. About two years ago he had one seizure in his sleep. Bit his tongue woke up with horrible head ach and vomiting. Very disoriented and confused. Now the seizures are getting closer together in episodes. They are always in his sleep. Usually before he falls asleep hot and cold sweats occur and he says he thinks he may have the same reoccurring dream? All EEG EKG And MRI's come back as normal. How exactly to you rule out epilepsy?

[flipper336]

First I would like to start off by saying I am sorry to hear about your husband. I know how he is feeling and I know the stress you are dealing with because of this issue. It sounds like he is having a form of Simple partial seizures. Sometimes the seizure activity is deeper in brain and a normal EEG cannot pick up the activity.

You might want to look into EMU. A week long EEG done in the hospital that is also recorded on video. Caregiver222 is correct, he should not be driving until everything is under control. He will hate it but you too need to realize that it is for everyone's safety.

[caregiver222]

Essentialy, the diagnosis is made by the existence of siezures themselves and not an MRA, EEG or EKG..  Most hospitals don't begin  drug treatment until the third episode. Clearly this means that driving is out of the question, at least for a year, and an appropriate medication is in order, usually dilantin. What is difficult to determine is the cause. He needs a so-called "flicker" test, among others. After being on medication, and after an appropriate period of time, driving priviliges are usually restored. I would seek further evaluation from a facility specializing in epileptic treatment.