Another seizure

It was a rough morning for Ellie and a rough day for Mom (me).

Ellie had another long seizure this morning.  At 5 minutes I gave her emergency seizure med.  The seizure stopped within 5 more minutes as expected.  But then she slept for about an hour.

Seizures can make people sleepy, but they normally don't affect Ellie in that way.

Even yesterday when I gave her the emergency med she didn't get sleepy.

So then when she was sleepy I wasn't 100% convinced that the seizure had stopped.  So I called the neurologist on-call.  She said if I could "mess" with her and she would open her eyes or pull away from me or do something intentional then she the seizure was done.  She said to check her every 30 minutes.  She also said that she could sleep upwards of 6 hours.  Just to keep checking on her.

Well, an hour after the seizure stopped she woke up, then went back into another long seizure.

I called the on-call Dr. again because I didn't know if I could give another dose of the emergency med...plus I didn't have any more of the diastat (rectal valium) since I had used 1 yesterday and 1 today.  (I ordered more yesterday, but the pharmacy had to special order it in and it wouldn't be here until today).  But I did have some Lorezepam pills to use.  But once again I didn't know how much I could use, or if I could.

The on-call Dr. said I could give 1 pill (her normal dose is 1.5 pills).

She went past the 5 minutes but I held off giving the med because she kept popping in and out of the seizure and it just seemed like it was going to be done any second.    It lasted about 17 minutes.  (I should have given the med).  Why do I hesitate?

Her regular neulorogist didn't call me back yesterday, so I was glad he did call back today.

We are upping her daily seizure meds, again.  He also gave me this plan...

If she had a seizure lasting more than 5 minutes...give the diastat.  It should stop by 10 minutes.  If it stops and then starts, I can give another dose of diastat 15 minutes later.  If hat still doesn't do the trick...then ED (Emergency Department) here we come.

At the tail end of the second seizure I decided to try something...it seemed like it worked, but I can't be certain.  I got 2 of the strongest smelling things I could find (liquid smoke and vanilla extract).  It is like she tries to be present and pull out of the seizure, but she keeps getting sucked away from reality.  I thought maybe if I could get her to focus on reality then she might pop out of it.  So I held one of the flavors under her nose to catch her attention.  Then every minute or so I would switch flavors.  Then when I thought she was out of the seizure completely I played the piano and sang to her (albeit broken and rough) she loved it and it kept her in the here and now.  It kept her from popping back into the seizure.

Here is my theory as to the recent morning seizures and night-time desaturations.  #1) she has a slight head cold #2) we are giving her provera right now (the med we give her every 3 months for 10 days to slough off the lining of her uterus.  The Provera can be very irritating on your stomach plus the crampiness that comes with being a girl anyway. #3) The weather has changed-gotten colder

You can have more seizures when the weather changes, when you are not feeling good, etc...

So that was Ellie's rough morning...which caused me to have a rough day.  Ellie was fine and all immediate problems were resolved.  But I was just stressed and worried all day (about Ellie)...which led me to eat poorly, which led me to feel poorly, which led me to be stressed...which led me to eat poorly, which led me to feel poorly...you see how it goes.