Non-Epeleptic Seizures and PCS
 

My daughter has had 9 NES in 23 months since her head injury. The first 4 mos. after her injury where she was in a noisy environment which she normally would remove herself ASAP when her symptoms began. This time she was happy and excited to be at her 8th grade graduation ceremony and I think got caught up and forgot to leave soon enough and had a seizure. Every subsequent seizure she has had she was either exposed to loud noise or concentrating or a physical activity and then had a seizure. She was happy and with friends or family when they happened. They are saying that they are caused by anxiety or a anxiety not perceived or an underlying emotional issue. I find this very frustrating. Especially since prior to the head injury she had no academic, behavior, emotional or social issues whatsoever. Anyone with similar experiences? I think this is the default diagnosis.

Linda,

I think they are using the term anxiety very broadly. What they should be saying is she is being 'over-stimulated.' The reaction to the over-stimulation is an extreme version of an anxiety attack.

One of the technical terms could be adrenal-cortical hyperfunction. In response to the stimulation, her system over reacts with epinephrine/nor-epinephrine. This speeds up the timing of the neurons firing in the brain. Her brain does not tolerate this fast firing in that particular part of the brain. It could be the firing becomes erratic. This would likely be the seizure.

It also may be an adenosine malfunction. Adenosine controls the speed by binding to adenosine receptors and slowing the speed of the neural firing. It also cause the blood vessels to enlarge. The vascular enlargement could be the cause of her headaches.

Here is a good explanation of this function as it relates to caffeine: http://health.howstuffworks.com/caffeine-awake.htm

So, it would seem that she has a malfunction happening in this adenosine and adrenal system.

What are her seizures manifesting as? Does she get a concomitant headache?

I wonder if calcium and magnesium added to her diet can help her system with adenosine production and regulation. Calcium and magnesium are good for general health. Just more reason to be on a good nutritional supplement regimen.

Linda,these are more questions that solutions. Worth asking doctors about. Google adenosine and concussion and you will find many articles discussing this link.

A google of "cerebral autoregulatory dysfunction concussion" will also result in some interesting articles. Most require subscriptions to read the complete article.

I have not found any references to treatments, but rather strong evidence that cerebral autoregulatory dysfunction can be a problem with concussion.

Again, I have just added extra mud to the already muddy waters of Danielle's diagnosis and treatment.

This article is a stretch but may be worth a read by her neurologist: http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/co...full/36/8/1627

My best to you and Danielle

excellent Reply
 

Excellent reply mark to very complex symptom, I was at a xmas do for my head injury group and the wives were talking, sleep seizure's seem to be common I and another guy get them but don.t know any thing about it

just one thing to add Omega 3/6 supliments helps me in general

welcome to you both