Has anyone experienced numbness in the hands with a loss of coordination following a seizure?

[Dexols]

My brother had his first ever seizure in January, at first he was being treated in hospital for a suspected mini stroke after numbness in his left arm/hand, dropping things, confusion and headache. They kept him in for observation but the following day he suffered a massive seizure with full body convulsions and in/out of consciousness. They ruled out a stroke and began treating him for a brain infection which was later ruled out following tests. For the next week or so he had further seizures getting less severe as the meds kicked in but when he came round his mouth was twitching, his speech was badly slurred and he couldn’t coordinate his left arm/hand so was unable to hold a cup or feed himself etc. He complained of numbness and the feeling that his left arm/hand just wasn’t there. Every time I look up these symptoms it’s points to a stroke but as I have said the doctors have ruled this out and discharged him with epilepsy. I can’t find much information of people suffering from this following a seizure so I was hoping someone might have any information or advice that might be useful please? He is on kepra and lamotrigine, the facial twitches have stopped, his speech has got a lot better and with physio his coordination is improving but the numbness especially in his fingertips hasn’t changed. His neurologist believes this will eventually go back to normal but it has been 6 months and we are wondering is there something else we should be doing or further tests we should be asking for?

[LottieLou96]

Hey there,

Sorry that your brother is having a difficult time.

I too suffer with weakness, numbness and sometimes partial paralysis of my right side since becoming epileptic. After a seizure one can get Todd's paresis as well. Until recently they didnt realise that I have alot of epileptic waveform activity on a daily basis and that is why it feels like im always moderately out of it and feel like my right arm isn't my own. With the improvement of his symptoms with the epilepsy meds it probs points more towards it being epileptic activity.

[PennyRed in reply to LottieLou96]

Hi LottieLou.Sorry to hear your brother is having a hard time. My husband developed epilepsy following a stroke which the scan showed was multifocal. He too is on Keppra and Lamotrigine. Also my friend suffers from Todd's paresis after many years of epilepsy. One thing I have learnt is that no 2 people have the same experience. Talk to your brother's epilepsy nurse and consultant if you have any worries but it took my husband a couple of years to settle on a stable level of medication. Wishing you both all the best.

[Dexols in reply to PennyRed]

Hi PennyRed, thank you so much for your response, It really is helpful to hear from others a bit further along in the journey. I’m glad to hear your husband is doing well and he is settled on his medication. Hopefully we will be in this position ourselves at some point. I’ve read about Todd’s paresis but it seems to only last for few days at most and this has been going on since his first seizure in January. His neurologist at this moment in time believes things will settle down and hopefully it will. He is just really struggling at the moment as he can not use his right arm due to nerve damage and tremors resulting from a brain tumour removal 20years ago, so he relied on his left arm so much.

[Dexols in reply to LottieLou96]

Hi LottieLou, thank you so much for your reply. It’s all very new to us so i really appreciate you taking the time to respond and talk about your symptoms. I’ve never heard of epileptic waveform so I can now look this up and discuss with his medical team. If you don’t mind can I ask if your weakness and numbness is constant or does it come and go? Do you have to take any medication for it or does anything like physio/exercise help relieve any symptoms? We was hoping it might just be something like a pinched nerve but with no improvement after 6months we are finding this less likely.

[LottieLou96 in reply to Dexols]

Heya Dexols,

I can only speak for myself, that it is constantly and issue, but waxes and wanes dependent on how well my seizures are controlled. Albeit, for myself, my head scans weren't normal.

From my clinical experience, it can be difficult to see any smaller areas of damage or change on certain scans of the brain. Not easy either, if he's already had a brain tumour in the past cause right sided problems. And must be worrying when these symptoms persist. At least he has you to vouch for him if needed and to press if you don't think something is right. At least the combination of medication and physio has helped to some degree. But again, maybe see if there is anything else they can do.

For me, I'm fighting a loosing battle to some degree, trying to stop the damage in my head. Would require a bit of help from my neuro and rheumi. But I manage by repeating exercises, plenty of rest and at work my supervisor gets me doing alot of manual things so I can get use to the lack of and altered sensation and fine skills.

All the best xx

[lgd333]

I have had epilepsy for 48 years. When I have a seizure, I get numbness in my right hand and find I have to close and open my hand many times to get the feeling back. In the past when I had major seizures, only my right side would jerk but often get numbness in the feet and hand.