Why does my child only have seizures while he is sleeping?

I have a child with down syndrome who will have seizuers only while he sleeps. They occur mainly in the morning before he wakes up or sometimes right as he goes to sleep. Does it have something to do with sleep stages? They usually last for about 5-6 minutes. More times than not, he goes right back to sleep and it seems as if nothing happens, but as you can imagine my wife and I think its a big deal. He is on Trileptol but I am not sure that it is doing the trick. I am also not sure what this is doing, if anything to his development. I do not think this is related to down syndrome but maybe I am wrong.

That is an excellent question, was it your doctor that told you that your child is having seizures while he sleeps or is it something you have observed? The quick answer is that during sleep the brain is less inhibited and thus it would be easier for this type of electrical activity (a seizure) to occur, even if blocked by medication during waking hours. If this has not been diagnosed by a medical doctor, please take your child to see a neurologist AND make sure that they do a sleep study, if they haven't already. A sleep study will determine absolutely whether there is a seizure going on when your child is falling asleep and waking up. This is because the electrical activity of the brain can be monitored by electrodes (not painful but a little unpleasant) on a computer screen. This activity has a pattern that is indicative of brain function and the state of the mind such as what stage of sleep or if the individual is awake or if a seizure or abnormal brain wave is occuring. During the time the we fall asleep the waves seen are very characterized. If you think that the seizures are occuring while he is falling asleep then this would be STAGE 1 where there is a slight slowing of electrical activity and the eyes are slowly rolling. If you are watching your child you may see his eyes slowly rolling back and forth. However, in the sleep study, electrodes will be placed to monitor eye movement as well. In about half an hour of this time, REM (Rapid eye movement) occurs and as the name implies the eyes move back and forth very rapidly and there is a surge of electrical activity, however muscle movement is inhibited and the rest of the body remains still. This is kind of a lucid stage and so this is also the stage in which we usually awaken and going through this stage and the others a few times throught the night. This is also the stage where we dream (dreaming can also occur in stage 3). Following REM, we see a the brain waves slowing and Stage 2 and the Stage 3 and 4 occur, and then we go back to REM. This is how normal sleep occurs. Whether your child has normal sleep is important and should be determined. There are additional sleep related problems that could occur such as sleep apnea (increased occurance in down syndrome), where your child may be stopping breathing while sleep. Also, children with down syndrome have 5-10% chance of having epilepsy.

If you have observed your child while asleep and you have come to the above conclusions, then I applaud your observations, but a medical diagnosis is necessary. PLease take this information and have a sleep test done, if you are correct, then your child may need additional medical attention. I am not sure what Trileptol is or does, that is something you need to discuss with your doctor (what are the side effects? how does is work?), but if it is for siezures it will definately alter brain waves and probably during sleep as well as the rest of the day.

I wish you the best in trying to help your child. Please research some more as well on internet using: sleep and seizure, down syndrome and sleep.

If he is having seizures despite being on medication for them the med is not effective. GO back to the neurologist and get this taken care of.

Maybe you could take him to a university sleep clinic and have a sleep study done?

Awww hun, I'm really sorry to hear about this. Children should never have to suffer that way. Perhaps you should consult your doctor or neurosurgeon though.........I'm sure they can answer any questions you have.

BTW, don't worry about the first a*shole that answered. Someone should have k*lled him at birth.

Hope all goes well for you and the fam. Good luck.

My son is epileptic and often has seizures through the night. We know this for sure when he decides to sleep after 930 am. We have had an ambulatory EEG done to confirm this. There is really no rhyme or reason for the night time seizures. As far as I could tell but maybe a med change in dose, frequency or just the med itself would do him some good! My son is on Topamax by the way....Good Luck! The first person is horrible and i must apologize for him!