Understanding epilepsy: what are the different types of seizures?

Hello..

My little boy Frankie has ASD (autism) and cortical dysplasia (the cause of his seizures/epilepsy)  Frankie is 5 and was born with this congenital condition but it wasn’t until he was 2 1/2 that he had his 1st seizure! It was tonic/clonic and lasted 40 minutes! The most scary thing I’ve seen (and I was a qualified nurse of 16 years at the time!) the noise was horrific.. Frankie has recently had his 2nd seizure roughly 2 years later (feb this year!) it lasted 5 minutes of tonic clonic but twitching occurred for sometime after... he has a few absence seizures and recently had his epilim increased... he’s very aggressive at the time of increase, which is normal and can take 2 weeks to settle!!! Frankie is a very happy and clever little boy and is still in mainstream with an educational statement in place so his needs are met with 1:1 support. He has yearly MRI scans to ensure his condition is monitored. We are under the care of neurology,autism specialist and the children’s epilepsy nurse. 

@Carys79‍ ... God bless you all and especially little Frankie! 

I have had epilepsy since the age of 16 which mainly consists of tonic clonic seizures. At the age of 14, I hit a diving board and 2 years' later the epilepsy started. It took 3 years of testing before epilepsy was diagnosed. Living in Africa was very limited with no knowledge or information on the condition, and very few recognised Neurologists, so obviously this presented its problems over the years. My seizures were 35 minutes long and many causes triggered them off. My Mom was my pillar of strength and made me accept the epilepsy at 16, but realise that I was still human and 'normal'.

Medication obviously took its toll and so did the effect of the seizures on the body. In all my 45 years with epilepsy I have only seen one person having a seizure; very distressing and frightening especially when the aggressiveness sets in. This made me more aware of how each person is so different, and how having a different type of epilepsy could affect one another. 

I relocated 16 months ago to UK and must admit, I certainly have noticed changes in the type/pattern of seizures, as well as the less frequency period in between. This of course is new to me adjusting to the weather and obviously a different lifestyle. I have just had MRI/MRA testing for the 1st time ever and await results soon.

Frankie is a great little boy and will always need your constant love and support... Am always here to chat to in case you ever want to message personally.   

As a child my seizures were relatively well controlled until pharmacy gave my mother wrong prescription I had a status at school & when questioned by medical staff they accused my parents of not giving me my meds when my mum handed over the drugs from pharmacy they disappeared isn’t that strange . Luckily I got back on track until my hormones played me up every month I would have two or three seizures a month & it wasn’t until I went to a speech thearapist at a different hospital I transferred to the latter hospital as there was a neurologist who specialised in adolescents with epilepsy after about a year I was controlled his attitude was so much better, the one prior used to shout at my mum for answering as A, I couldn’t speak , B, I couldn’t remember what happened during a seizure where as my parents kept a detailed record to tell the consultant exactly what & where 

@Speech‍  Epilepsy is also hormone related as you found out... mine at 16 were also due to puberty. I fought with the doctors for years about how hormones were related to the seizures, but they wouldn't listen! 

I am glad to hear you are now happy with your Neurologist who listens; hoping when I visit the Neurovascular clinic for the first time I will have a Doctor that listens! It is so important they listen to the patient and tries to understand further. I changed Doctors recently due to the previous doctor not listening to me; I am now happy with the new one who has the time to listen. 

I had epilisey since i was 5 years old i have all sorts of seizures such as tonic clonic seizures;absence seizures im on loads of tablets and still suffer 2 or 3 of them a week it depends 

I had epilisey since i was 5 years old i have all sorts of seizures such as tonic clonic seizures;absence seizures im on loads of tablets and still suffer 2 or 3 of them a week it depends 

@lesmal thank you for ‍ your lovely comments.. it’s nice to know there are other people who understand. Frankies agression is our main issue. I understand it’s medication linked and then the autism comes with anger issues. It’s hard when he becomes angry and aggressive. He kicked and bit my mum last night.. the kick was in anger but the bite was because he was trying to tease her!!! He had her foot! We wouldn’t mind but he’s so strong (he’s built like a 7/8 year old not a 5 year old! And he’s tall!) 

@Carys79‍ Sorry to hear about the bite to your Mum... Hope she's okay?

I understand the aggression coming through with autism and know it must be hard to deal with. 

Remember we're all here for support when needed. 

To anyone here with epilepsy, I've just been put on Vimpat? Does anyone else here take it or know much about it? I've done my evaluation but just wondered from others?