Background to question - I was diagnosed with what was then called petit mal seizures, now known as complex partial seizurez, at the age of 11. My dad's sister was diagnosed with epilepsy during childhood, my dad's cousin ( his mum's nephew) was also diagnosed with epilepsy and my gran ( dad's mum) was also diagnosed with epilepsy.
I was having a talk about school work with my eldest, who is 8 and how he needs to concentrate more in class, and he told me that he keeps "missing " part of what the teacher says. On reflection of hearing this, I've realised that there have been times when I've been talking to him or he's been sat there, appearing to be totally oblivious to everything for a few seconds, all typical signs of what I used to be like before my epilepsy was controlled. Obviously my first thought is that maybe he has episode, or is this just "attention seeking" as the talk we were having was about how behind he has got with his schoolwork and needing to really concentrate. I plan to speak to the GP about this but wondering if anyone else has epilepsy run in the family like this, in case GP tries to fob me off ( mine doesn't always seem to have much experience with epilepsy as where I live, we have an excellent nurse led county wide epilepsy service who usually deal with any problems with medication etc, rather than my GP)
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pegasus3
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I was diagnosed with generalized seizures about 3-4 months ago and my uncle on my mom’s side was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 17 or 18 which is around the age I am and had similar seizures.
After my diagnosis years ago, a few skeletons started to spill out of the cupboard. My sister and I are both epileptic, and we discovered that our maternal great-grandmother passed it down the line. Like me, she had generalised epilepsy, while my sister's epilepsy appears to be specific to one area of her brain.
Fortunately none of our children are epileptic, but we did discover that our dad is! He's never been diagnosed, but his rare seizures have been witnessed by Mum, my paternal grandmother (when she was alive) and both my sister and myself on seperate occasions.
Thank you for your message. I’m glad to see that you’ve heard from others on this platform, as sharing information and experiences can be a good idea. Can I just check you also know about our other services?
We have our virtual support groups epilepsy.org.uk/virtual-groups. We have our forum4e online community forum.epilepsy.org.uk/, and we are on facebook facebook.com/epilepsyaction and twitter twitter.com/epilepsyaction.
We also have lots of advice and information on our website, including information on inheriting epilepsy, which you may find useful.
If your GP thinks that your son may be having seizures they will likely wish to refer him to an epilepsy specialist.
Finally, please feel free to contact our helpline team. You can either email helpline@epilepsy.org.uk or phone the Epilepsy Action Helpline freephone 0808 800 5050. Our helpline is open Monday to Thursday 8.30am until 8.00pm, Friday 8.30am until 4.30pm and Saturday 10.00am until 4.00pm.
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