Advice re DGS after strange episode at school

Prompt medical advice I would have thought. Yes it may have been a momentary memory lapse and he/she may have tried to cover embarrasment by behaving odd but either way this little one needs to be cared for carefully.

I think I would log it in your diary and ask the teacher to let you know if she notices anything else but I don't think I would panic over one incident, it could be something or nothing. If no other problems just put it down to something and nothing.

The brain can play tricks on us at times. I hope your GS gets the help an support he needs.

Not long after we moved here a fellow walker asked if I would like to go to Gardenland with her. We walked around the whole route three times with her making the same comments at certain points. She phoned me not long after I got home to ask what had happened as her memory was totally blank.

She had lots of medical tests but no reason found and it didn’t happen again. Her family owned a smart upmarket deli that not long after was taken over as a Sainsbury’s mini market. The business had been in her family for generations so it was likely there was emotional and financial stress.

One consultant told her it wasn’t that unusual but people want to underplay it and not draw attention to the incident.

Seriously this needs to be checked out,what harm can it do to take him to the doctors, that is what they are there for after all. It may be nothing to worry about, but on the other hand ......

My GD started with child hood epilepsy at that age and until diagnosed often had absences. After a year on medication and a very watchful year on nothing she is completely clear

Retired school nurse / health visitor here.
I would agree with daftbag - note it, but don't make too much of it at the moment. As so many have said, this is a stressful time for all, and it is most likely to be the memory lapse they have suggested. Fluff - what would worry me is that going to the doctor may add to stress.
I don't dismiss suggestions about petit mal, diabetes etc. but if it is of any significance it will happen again, and having 2 episodes gives doctors much more information to work on. At his age, in current circumstances, he is unlikely to be alone in a dangerous situation (riding bike on busy road for example) so I would tend towards 'watch and wait'.
If it does happen again OR if there is any family history of such illnesses, I would go to the GP.
All of this is given with the usual caveats about on-line advice of course!

I don't think it's significant unless it happens again. Kids have been out of school for so long, and there are so many new 'rules' to learn, he might just have had enough, and was too embarrassed to explain it (I would have been at his age!) If it happens again, he either has an anxiety problem, or it's something else: possibly one of the forms of epilepsy or a complex tic disorder. These will need checking out, but please don't make a fuss with the child, otherwise he will really feel afraid, and possibly that he's letting you down.

Nannan2 thanks for your kind comment it’s something that plays on my mind when I see her struggle even though she’s now 47 lol.

GP asap.

Thank you all once again. It is very interesting to hear that absence seizures can be mobile. The stress and lack of sleep is interesting. DGS has great difficulty sleeping. He is getting treatment from the sleep clinic and although much improved and on the point of discharge , the two weeks before school return his sleep has become very disrupted and difficult. He is also a very anxious boy so he will have been stressing about the return to school. This is all starting to make sense. We shall keep an eye on him as Nanarose and many others have suggested and if it recurs seek medical advice, we have not spoken to him about it as we did not want to make a big thing out of it. Thank you all again for your input.

Probably because he’s been at home for so long where he was able to ‘wander about’. Unless it happens again I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on it.

I'm sure you'll all keep an eye on him. I was a rather restless, anxious child and regularly had to leave class for a 'glass of water' when feeling panicked.

Thankfully, that was allowed. My teacher knew just how squeamish I was, so suggested I go out for any 'heart pumping, blood circulating around the body' type subjects!

Could just be that after so long out of a school environment he had forgotten that he couldn't wander around at will!
To my understanding, from what happened with a niece, petit mal is usually more like a vacant switch off! She used to just stop what she was doing and sometimes stare into space or sometimes just go very still for a few minutes.
This behaviour may well be a one off that will never happen again but if at all worried, maybe his mum should be having a chat with their GP.

It could be Petit Mal.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Poor child, yes it was some sort of a seizure by the sound of it and something that boys suffer more than girls. As many have already mentioned, petit-mal which does leave them confused. I hope his family can get him sorted soon with a visit to his GP.

Speaking of schools, it looks as though many near me will be closed again.

It sounds like a focal impaired awareness seizure to me; what used to be called a complex partial seizure. It is not an absence seizure and pardon me but there is no such thing as a petit mal seizure.
With a focal awareness seizure the individual displays automatons behaviours, this can be pre-ictal, ictal or post-ictal. In this case it sounds like it was pre-ictal behaviour.
Focal impaired awareness seizures are distinguished by automatism. There are known to be five different "groups" of automatism.
In this case it would appear that your DGS experienced an ambulatory automatism.
Automatisms are a feature of temporal lobe epilepsy. In left temporal lobe epilepsy there is a greater likelihood the individual will experience autonomous behaviours.

I am not a doctor and I am not therefore making a diagnosis.
I do, however, have left temporal lobe epilepsy and have regularly experienced ambulatory automatisms.
I am not aware when I exhibit this behaviour.

I do not wish to scare or worry you in any way, it is not my intention.
I would suggest that a record of this and any other unusual behaviours is kept. The most common automatism is ora-alimentary, eg. lip smacking and chewing motions.
I also suggest that if three, and no more, of these behaviours are witnessed that medical advice is sought. Further to this I'd recommend a vigilance for confusion and/or disorientation and similarly seek medical advice if this is witnessed.

I repeat I am not a doctor and cannot diagnosis.

I send my best wishes to you ❤️

Please excuse my typos - I should have previewed!

Being a teacher myself, I have experienced this sort of thing quite often with children of the same age.

It is rarely anything to worry about if it only occurs once or twice, but the sensible thing to do is to consult a doctor if it does re-occur.

Those pupils of mine who have suddenly left the room and afterwards can't (don't) explain why they did so, usually offer no explanation because they know they shouldn't have done what they did.

Some have managed to explain that they just felt they needed a moment alone.

Great informative post Cherry. I would go to the GP without waiting for a second episode, with Covid looming around better get all the medical checks now.

Definitely inform his doctor. I had petit mals as a child, mainly going off into a daze. Can’t remember how many times I had the blackboard duster thrown at my head for daydreaming. Shocking thing to do.
Eventually at puberty I had a grand mal. Several more followed but medication has kept me seizure free for more than fifty years.
Better to look into these things early rather than wait until the worst happens. I hope it’s something much more simple and your DG is fit and well.

Like others, I would suspect a possible petit mal and suggest you need to seek medical advice sooner rather than later. My late husband had them periodically, and forgetfulness of what came before and after part of it. His began at nineteen after attending an all night fire in London during WW2. He had a number of tests and told there was no epileptic brain pattern, and believed to be a one off. He continued however to have the rare occasional petit mal which always a concern. Then at the age of 48 he had a grand mal seizure and was finally diagnosed as epileptic, although still no identifying brain pattern. Placed on drug therapy, Phenotone, which he took every day, and, as a result, remained free of either episode for the rest of his life at 82.

Can’t believe after all these years this is the first I’ve heard of absence seizures - I knew about epilepsy/petit mal . Worth joining Gransnet!
Hope it turns out to be something harmless.

May I please reiterate that there is no such thing as a petit mal, or grand mal seizure for hat matter. These are both defunct classifications, have been since 1985. The ILAE set the classification for all epileptic seizures and the information is readily available. In addition no individual can be epileptic. The medical condition is epilepsy, the seizure is an epileptic seizures. A person is not a seizure.
Incidentally under the pre 1985 classification petit mal and absence seizures were not classed the same. They are not classed the same now. An absence seizure is a generalised seizure where, no matter how briefly, there is a complete loss of consciousness whereas the pre 1985 classification of petit mal was not. Under the current ILAE the latter is classified as either a focal awareness seizure or a focal impaired awareness seizure.

Cannot be epileptic.