Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: latebind on 29/10/2009 12:24:53

Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: latebind on 29/10/2009 12:24:53
Hey there

She said that for about 30 seconds her whole body was twitching and her toungue felt numb and very strange. She said she felt extremely weird during the ordeal and had a headache afterwards...

What could be wrong? What should she do?

Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: rosy on 29/10/2009 13:07:56
She should go and see a doctor.
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: BenV on 29/10/2009 13:26:56
She should go and see a doctor.
I agree.
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: latebind on 29/10/2009 14:28:23
She should go and see a doctor.
I agree.

What could be wrong? should she see a GP or someone more specialised?
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: Karen W. on 29/10/2009 15:20:30
 I think that the general practitioner should be good for a start then they can refer her to the right Docs after tests etc,,,But I am no expert...If she started having it again I would go to the hospital.
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: rosy on 29/10/2009 15:22:27
Hm. Well, I'm in the UK, so I don't know what the best thing to do is in whatever health system you're dealing with, but the advice to first aiders in this country is to call an ambulance for someone who's having a seizure for the first time. Given that the seizure was a while ago by now, if your girlfriend were in my office right now I'd call a taxi and take her to A+E, because although quite a lot of people randomly have a seizure for no particular reason and then never have another one in their whole lives there are also a number of serious conditions that can first become apparent by causing a seizure and it would be sensible to get checked out incase it's related to something that needs dealing with as soon as possible.
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: latebind on 01/11/2009 15:26:40
just wanted 2 let u know that she saw a doctor and is fine now.
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: Karen W. on 02/11/2009 04:54:33
Glad of that! Good advice from Rosy!
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: chris on 03/11/2009 09:24:47
Sometimes odd olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) sensations can accompany certain types of epilepsy. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) can present in this way; the epileptic focus is located in the olfactory regions of the temporal lobe and the abnormal nerve discharges that cause the condition can trigger smell "hallucinations". Some people can even predict the onset of a seizure because they experience these hallucinations just ahead of the fit taking place. The explanation for this is that the abnormal nerve firing patterns that cause the subsequent seizure begin in the temporal lobe where they cause the olfactory hallucination and this is briefly presented to consciousness before the abnormal electrical activity propagates globally through the brain.

Chris
Title: My girlfriend had a 'mini-seizure' what should she do??
Post by: RD on 03/11/2009 11:19:29
Quote
The First Seizure Trial (FIRST), a multi-centre study from Italy, reported that the recurrence risks after an untreated first unprovoked seizure were 18%, 28%, 41% and 51% at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after the initial event.[17] The Europe-based Multicenter Epilepsy and Single Seizure study (MESS) showed that the risks of recurrence were 26%, 39%, 51% and 52% at 6 months, 2, 5 and 8 years after randomisation.[18] On the whole, observational studies provide a 2-year recurrence risk estimate in the region of 40%, concurring to a large extent with data from the randomised trials.[3] Both randomised trials and almost all long-term observational studies of first seizures demonstrate that the recurrence is the highest during the period immediately after the first seizure.[19] Several studies with long follow-up periods indicate that 80-90% of patients who recur do so within the first 2 years.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/585691_3