Advice re DGS after strange episode at school

Yes my daughter when when she was 4 or 5 was diagnosed with petit mal and she would just do things automatically without knowing why. One was crossing roads and it was a nightmare if I took her out. Sometimes she just sat or stood as if in a world of her own and then suddenly carrying on with what she was doing. Suggest you seek medical help

He should definitely see a doctor. I suffer from epilepsy both grand mal and petit mal and have on occasions just forgotten where I am. The sooner he has tests to ascertain the problem the easier it will be to sort out. I start with these at an early age but did not have a public attack until the age of 17. It is not something I have had to worry about as it is under the control with medication but I just wish it had been sorted sooner

Nandalot I am wondering how your DGS is now and whether any more strange behaviour has been witnessed. I hope not.

Illte

Teachers see all kinds of behaviour from a lot of different children. A whole range of normal that wouldn't worry them.

So if she is concerned enough to contact the parents it means his behaviour was out of that range and definitely needs to be checked out.

I am a teacher. This is not normal behaviour... I urge you to get it checked out. Better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks Marydoll. Hope you are feeling a bit better.

Cherry, you certainly know your stuff. Of course you have to, in order to keep get the best treatment and keep yourself as well as you can.
Just like today, I had to tell the replacement phlebotomist, what blood checks to ask for.

I hope you are having the best day possible. ?

Cannot be epileptic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Please excuse my typos - I should have previewed!

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 ❤️

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.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

It could be Petit Mal.

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.

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!

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.

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.

GP asap.

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.

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.