I am woundering if anyone can tell me how they know when and if they have a petit mal seizure?! I need a description.

I went to many sites describing them and I don't get the "feeling" part only the medical side. Can someone please tell me what happens and the feelings you get?? If they last only 2-10 seconds, how do you know you have had one?? I am so confused.

I am asking because if I can relate then this will explain some things in my life that I can't put a finger on. I think I might be having them but not sure.

Please tell me as much as you can if you can. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you all for your time. You are the best, truely.

God Bless You All,
KittyMom

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Mother of 3 beautiful kids and wife to a Great husband! I love helping others...it helps me grow!

You mean to tell me that no one has Peti Mal Seizures??!! No one on here at all??!!

Please help someone...I am in need!!

God Bless you,
KittyMom

Hi,
To be honest,when I have one (absence siezure)I probably wouldn't know If I am alone.As I have said in another post.I can recall coming round in class with the teacher thumping me in the back and the rest of the kids laughing at me.I am totally gone and I don't think it was the teacher that brought me out of it,I honestly think It has to go the course.Later at work,It was workmates that knew when I was spaced out.They are (for me) missing time.they don't start with dejavu or aura's,It's usually my eyes that go blurred and I will feel dizzy like I am in a dream state,then of course it's unconciousness.All I can say really,I hope this helps.
garry

Garry,

You are the best!! Thank you! How do you feel afterwords if I may ask? Do you feel slightly confused, can't concentrate, etc. or do you just feel like you do normally??

Thanx a bunch for your time and effort!

God Bless you sweetie,
KittyMom

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Mother of 3 beautiful kids and wife to a Great husband! I love helping others...it helps me grow!

Hello again.

My Peti Mal are worse than Grand Mal to recover from they start off with what feels like and elastic band around my head. I then get very anxious and scared and everything become very far away they come quickly violently and go quickly a matter of seconds. however, leave me feeling very disoriantated (crap spelling) Simon know I am having one because apparently I tend to put my hands over my mouth or fiddling with things, rubbing my hands together or chewing my lip. I have wet myself having a Peti Mal but only a couple of times - still takes a good few days to recover and I tend to get de ja vu and aura's for the remainder of the day.

Before going onto Keppra I could have up to 15 Peti Mal szrs on a bad day.............

Hope this help babe

xx

ok, so even if the seizure lasts only a second or two, it can effect an individual for several hours or even longer? I'm trying to understand what it is like if you have one lasting 2 seconds, for example. Not very long, maybe not even enough for anyone to notice, but is it like a "skip" in a tape? Like you missed a tiny piece of information during those seconds? Would that then be enough to make you feel confused, like if a person had been speaking to you, then you have lost what they are saying? Forgive me for being so vague, I just can't seem to describe to my son's neurologist what is going on. He thinks if I'm not seeing "obvious" staring or jerking, then it isn't a seizure. What? I just want him to go sit in his office and read some of these posts! Who is educating who here?

Absouletly - when I come back after a Peti Mal - I have idea where I am, what I was doing before I went, how long I have been out - I also struggle with what day of the week or time of day it is

Gavman
Yes it is like a skip in a tape or like tiny tiny pieces of your life are missing. I had the hardest time getting my son's doctor to understand what was going on. I kept telling them that he had all these spells where he zoned out and was unresponsive. THey told me he had a short attention span. He had already been diagnosed with Epilepsy when he was 6mths old. Took me the first 6mths of his life just to that. They would tell me all babies shake --I know that they did not shake the way he did. at 6mths he was placed on Dilatin. When he was about 1yr I started noticing the staring spells and noticed alot of them and that he was not speaking. When he was almost 2yrs old, I switched neuro's and She said he was having Petite Mal siezures and was having so many of them that it was affecting his ability to learn--speech in his case. She said Dilatin was not good and controlling Petite Mal's so she placed him on Tegretal. What a difference that made--he has now been siezure free for 2yrs and is catching up in his speech.

Hey Kitty!

I have what I thought were just "auras" going on for several days....But, I would have no seizures afterwards. They were just for a second or two, I didn't have the pysical effects that I did with the seizures, just mainly "mental" if that makes sense. It would last long enough that I would kind of lose my surroundings. When I talked to my doctor about them, he thinks I am having petit mal seizures.

I hope that helps you!!!

Amy

Lil Ole Me,
I'm still not sure if what is happening with my son is petite mal/absent seizures. He does seem to miss "pieces" of information, but I don't see staring or zoning out. I'm wondering if they are just so short, we cant catch him in one. The doctor says to try to video tape them. Well, I can't. We just don't see them. We just see the manifestation of them. We see him having a great deal of difficulty comprehending anything involving more than 1-2 simple steps. We have to repeat steps over and over again. Could also be side effects of meds I suppose. I've read many post from individuals who say the medication "slows their brain down". Very frustrating.
So glad to hear your son has been seizure free for 2 yrs. and is doing well developementally.
Take care

YES AMY!!! That helped wounderfully!! I think I might be on to something. I don't want them to happen but it would be nice to have an answer.

Miss you and Grumps. We don't have our A.M. chats anymore...Why??

God Bless you all,
KittyMom

P.S. Where is LisaG also?? Missing her too!!

Kitty,
I have thought for 28 years that my auras were just that...auras. I was told a long time ago that these were warnings. So, I would just hope and pray the aura would not turn into a grand mal seizure. Only recetnly, while reading on this board, did I realize that the auras are a type of seizure. It really made me angry that doctors have not explained this to me. Mine are just a few seconds of time standing still. I usually feel sick to my stomach ( on and off)...like my stomach is rising up (sounds silly). Sometimes I have difficulty getting my words out. I know what I want to say, but there is a brain block. Sometimes, they will happen over and over again throughout the day. Usually I will take extra medication, hoping to stop a grand mal seizure from occurring. I have always felt like such a wimp complaining to my husband and trying to explain how I felt. I think they exhaust me...I am unsure if the exhaustion is from the partial seizure or from worrying and trying to fight off a grand mal. Hope this is helpful.

Emma,

I knew that auras are seizures. They are simple partial seizures but what I am concerned about is petit mals. I think that the increase in Neurontin took care of them and my CP seizures. Neurontin isn't designed to help CPS but it seems to be doing the trick unless I am just on one of my 7-10 day breaks that I get every now and then.

Thank you though sweetie. I hope yours GO AWAY!! I know the feelings of panic you get just before a seizure...the auras. They are terrible! They wear me out to and I always attributed that to the fact that I panic. Who knows??!!

God Bless you sweetie,
KittyMom