Absence seizures ? Any experience?

amother

DarkOrange

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 10:39 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

A girl. Guess we’re not friends! I even asked my pediatrician about it … but obviously she didn’t have answers ..

I was hoping we were friends Smile

amother

Lime

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 10:40 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

A girl. Guess we’re not friends! I even asked my pediatrician about it … but obviously she didn’t have answers ..

Might be completely unrelated to the vaccine but it astounds me how people just roll up their sleeves for the vaccine so easily while pregnant when they have absolutely no clue the long term effects of the vaccine.
How are people so naive? Why take a chance on an unborn child’s future? I have such a hard time understanding this!

amother

DarkOrange

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 10:41 pm

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

No need to be insensitive to OP!

amother

Lime

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 10:48 pm

amother [ DarkOrange ] wrote:

No need to be insensitive to OP!

Something that’s already done we can blame on “bashert”. OP probably tried her best with the information she had at that time. She was the one who mentioned she is concerned that there’s a correlation and even asked the pediatrician.
My post is more of a PSA to those who are still before doing it.

amother

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:02 pm

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

I didn’t just roll up my sleeve. I asked a few doctors first and all said the risks of getting covid while pregnant were greater than risk of vaccine. I followed my doctor’s advice

amother

Melon

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:02 pm

amother [ DarkOrange ] wrote:

Of course! Just strange on my end to hear about 2 babies the same age recently so I thought to ask because my friend was wondering. If a pattern were to develop ChV it would be important to note.

You have no idea how common this form of epilepsy is. I personally know of three children all the same age with this disorder that were diagnosed prior to covid. This is not including the hundred of kids in the facebook group that I'm part of that were diagnosed many years ago. There are hundreds and probably thousands of kids diagnosed with it every year.

amother

Melon

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:10 pm

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

And what if OP would have gotten covid? Or what about the hundreds of mothers who got covid in pregnancy and those babies end up with absence seizures. Or what about the hundreds of thousands of kids who have been diagnosed with absence epilepsy long before covid came. I'm sorry but your comment is very inconsiderate and doesn't belong here.
People will blame everything and everything on the covid vaccine.
What about someone who I read about (possibly on this website) who had a stillborn baby and the placenta was tested and found to be infected with covid. At least OPs child is alive maybe because she did receive the vaccine.
There is no way to know what causes epilepsy but I do know that blaming a mother for something that she did not cause and has not control over is wrong. It's extremely hurtful.

amother

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:12 pm

amother [ Melon ] wrote:

Thank you for this

amother

Orchid

Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Actually absence seizures are not followed by fatigue and after snapping out of it, kids have no idea it happened . There is no confusion

I have experience with multiple kids and adults who have them. Everyone I know has other issues and it’s not just space out for 10 seconds and then back to normal. What are you basing your information on?

amother

Cerise

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 1:53 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Anyone have children with this condition?

My pediatrician suspects my baby may have this condition based on an episode I managed to record.

Need to go to a neurologist …

In the interim, anyone have any info about this ? How it affects your child … how it’s treated … etc
Thank you

We also suspected my baby had this based on some episodes I witnessed and the neurologist we saw said it’s not possible in a baby this young. Planning to get a second opinion though because I wasn’t comfortable with him.

amother

Bluebonnet

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 2:28 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Actually absence seizures are not followed by fatigue and after snapping out of it, kids have no idea it happened . There is no confusion

Right.

You can pull your child's hair or clap your hands in front of her nose or offer to play a game. If she responds then either you caught it at the very end and she's out of it, or she was distracted.

In an absence none of those will provoke a response. You could pinch your child and there'd be no response. You could offer ice cream and cake for breakfast, lunch, and supper...and no response.

OP you need to get your child an EEG, EKG, MRI, and basic blood tests. We did a CT also but because the MRI couldn't be done right away and they needed info.

amother

Bluebonnet

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 2:31 am

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

How old is your baby? I mean WT*.

My DC was diagnosed at 16 months.

One of my kids was in the hospital and shared a room with a child who had seizures since 8 months and had just done brain surgery.

I mean WT*.

Maybe they mean psudeoseizures don't happen as babies, pseudoseizures are attention-getting behavior. Absence seizures are caused by a neurological issue, of course they can appear in infants. WT*. Go get a second opinion.

amother

Bluebonnet

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 2:33 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Because covid doesn't cause neurological damage right? FYI covid causes lots more neurological issues than the vaccine.
FYI there are millions if not billions of kids who have absence seizures who had them before covid was even a thought in anyone's mind.

Sb1234

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 4:20 am

amother [ Melon ] wrote:

Pediatric absence epilepsy (absence seizures) has been around for much longer then covid. My daughter was diagnosed long before covid appeared.

I don’t know if the vaccine caused this but either way the covid vaccine can cause something that’s been around for longer. Like it can cause myocarditis in some- and people already have that without having got the vaccine. So it can be a possibility that the covid vaccine caused this.
I would see if there’s a way to report this to the FDA/VAERS/CDC/Vaccine company. I don’t know which one but ask your doctor.

amother

Lotus

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 4:26 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Your post is insensitive. Mentioning the vaccine relationship to the situation is okay IMHO but this post comes across as blaming OP for what her baby is going through.
I recently had a baby and did not get the vaccine until after but I don’t judge anyone who did!

FranticFrummie

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 8:11 am

This was me growing up. My report cards always said "Daydreams in class", "Doesn't pay attention", and things like that.

I would literally blink, and the class would be on to the next subject. I was constantly losing time, but no one ever thought it could be anything more than me being a space cadet.

Finally, at 27, I ended up needing antidepressants. I was given Depakote to help with mood swings and migraines, and suddenly the absence seizures disappeared overnight.

I still have the occasional grand mal seizure, which is mostly controlled by medication. Lack of sleep, stress, and not eating well are my biggest triggers. Self care is the best way I've found to manage them.

amother

Oatmeal

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 9:53 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Wow way to turn this into a vaccine related thread- seriously?! We 'roll up our sleeves' because we trust science- this vaccine might be new but vaccines have been around for many many years- and immunology doesn't change!
And FWIW I didn't get vaccinated while pregnant (I wasn't eligible at the time) and my baby still had seizures!

amother

Lemon

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 10:04 am

My niece had frequent absence seizures as a child. But BH she outgrew them and no longer needed meds by the time she was old enough to get her drivers license.

amother

Bluebonnet

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 10:11 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

And this is what my family is telling me when I bring up my concern about the vaccine being the cause lol

OP as parents we really try to figure out "why" and what did we do to deserve this. Part of that is trying to ensure there won't be a repeat. Ex. if it was caused by the vaccine, then your kids who you didn't get vaccinated are immune and safe, and in the future if you don't vaccinate also your kids will be immune to this issue and safe.

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Most of the time there is no clear reason for the epilepsy to develop. Sometimes there is a genetic tendency that gets expressed and we just don't know why it was expressed. Yes sometimes there is a trigger, but it's more likely to be secondhand smoke, or pesticides, than it is to be a vaccine. And those triggers are also rare - if they weren't, humanity wouldn't have survived this long.

I do understand where you are coming from. When my DC was diagnosed several years ago, I searched and searched for a "cause." Unfortunately for me I hadn't gotten any vaccines during that pregnancy, I had taken all my prenatals, didn't have a baby less than a year old when I got pregnant with that child, nursed with no formula, did baby-led weaning, and the last vaccine baby had had was several months before the epilepsy developed. There were also no recent illnesses to blame it on. So I was forced to look things in the face and accept that it was a genetic tendency and unfortunately I have faulty genes (it's from my side, 2 relatives) and daven that it would resolve itself during childhood, not get worse, and be stabilized easily with medicine.

With nothing but genes to blame it on I had to let go of my desire to be in control and find a reason that I had control over. I had to make peace with not having control and that no matter what you never really know, you can never fully protect your kids or ensure you only get normal healthy kids. It was HARD. It's much harder to do that than to find a scapegoat and talk as if you are in charge and you were misled and if you are smarter next time then you are safe.

I'm sorry. It's not easy. But the best thing you can do for yourself and your child is try to let go of the need for control and the need to find blame. Blame is a form of control. Your fault his fault the doctor's fault. Eliminate the blameful party and you're good to go. I'm sorry. It's so hard. But you will be so much better off in the long run if you accept that this is not your fault. It's not something you could have prevented. Almost certainly if you hadn't had the vaccine your baby would still have epilepsy. The good news is 80% of kids find a medicine that keeps them stable. And with absence seizures the prognosis is really good, most kids grow out of it. Focus on your child and get yourself some support. There are lots of us around unfortunately in this club no one wanted to join. And if you want to be an activist then there's so much what to do. Like automatic free early interventions for kids with epilepsy, like a shadow free or subsidized for them all during their preschool years and in grade school for anyone with breakthroughs/ not fully stable. Like proper education so your kid isn't sent to the ER just for a seizure. There's so much to do, so many productive things to put energy into. Please focus on those instead of on finding blame which probably doesn't even exist. xxx

amother

Oatmeal

Thu, Nov 11 2021, 10:27 am

amother [ Bluebonnet ] wrote:

But the best thing you can do for yourself and your child is try to let go of the need for control and the need to find blame. Blame is a form of control. Your fault his fault the doctor's fault. Eliminate the blameful party and you're good to go.

Not my thread I know but I REALLY needed to hear that- as the mom of a baby with aggressive epilepsy. I never thought about the blame/control relation and you are 100% right. Thank you.