Questions about seizures

[Canadian Joanne]

I am a volunteer facilitator at an Alzheimer's support group. Tonight we had a new member who told us a very strange thing. Her husband was diagnosed with AD in 2003. He is now 57.

He has been very aggressive and violent during the course of his disease, particularly during care. He lost his language very early on. But an odd thing happened last autumn. He had a seizure. An hour or two after the seizure, he regained some of his ability to speak and became the happy, good-tempered person he was when he was well. This lasted about 2 weeks and then he reverted to his aggressive behaviour.

He's had a few more seizures, with the very same result - an improvement in abilities, speech and behaviour for a couple of weeks. They are now considering electro-shock therapy to see if it would bring about a longer lasting improvement. He is in one of the best facilities for neurological diseases in Canada so it is not as horrible as it seems.

Does anyone have any experience in this area? I told her I would ask my TP friends about this. It is so very odd. One would think a seizure would bring on a decline, not an improvement.

 

[Grannie G]

Hello Joanne.

I have seen this with a young boy with Aphasia [ no receptive or expressive language] who had multiple seizures which were not classed as Epilepsy.

He was taken to the USA for experimental brain surgery, but I have forgotten the details I`m afraid.

There was a minor improvement to his comprehension, which lasted just a week.

 

[Brucie]

Hi Joanne

very interesting.

I noticed with Jan that when she had one of her faints/fits/seizures, whatever they were, for a short while she was noticeably better.

For Jan is was perhaps a day, then back to how she was.

I always interpreted this as the natural reaction of the body, along the lines of:

- seizure
- body rings alarm bells
- adrenaline and emergency bodily reactions for preservation kick in
- this stimulates for a period and causes a seeming improvement
- when the body realises it is not in danger, the emergency responses stand down.
- body reassumes how it was, assuming the seizure did not cause further measurable damage.

Just my thoughts as I tried to wrestle with what was happening to my Jan, and I may be way off.

Seems to have something to it though - people have frequently done what appear to be superhuman things when survival was threatened.

 

[hendy]

Hi Joanne
Dad has vascular dementia and has had for 5 years. Two years after diagnosis Dad continued to suffer very distressing symptoms, including aggressive and paranoid behaviour. I was told at the time that he may have been experiencing TIA's, but of course nobody could be sure. It was never suggested that there had been improvements after these episodes. However, Dads symptoms were very difficult to control as he has a high degree of sensitivity to the ususl anti-psycholtic meds. It was decided that he should undergo a course of ECT to try and do something to bring about a change. He had a number of treatments and the symptoms did ease for a while. But they reappeared at a later stage and if anything his memory was even worse. Of course they didn't halt the decline, nothing can do that. Even modern science cannot explain or effectively control this disease. Its still a guessing game for the medics!
take care
hendy

 

[Margarita]

Does anyone have any experience in this area? I told her I would ask my TP friends about this. It is so very odd. One would think a seizure would bring on a decline, not an improvement.

One would think a seizure would bring on a decline, not an improvement

it would bring on a decline in the long team even without AZ if not treated with medication , just like it would bring on a decline in my daughter if she never took medication for her seizure .

My daughter has the seizure in the part of the brain that control the memory .

Now other people can have seizure in other part of the brain that does not control memory .

So from a brain scan the neurologist can tell where this man is having the seizures , just like they did with my daughter

My daughter was having memory loss , if she did not take medication to stop the seizure in the memory the seizure would damage her memory , but with medication it has stop the seizure from happing , but she has had some memory loss from when she was having the seizure without medication

If this woman is seeing an improvement after a seizure , it may be because the seizure are not happening in the part of the brain that control memory . count themselves both lucky

I think it sounds very cruel to give someone a electro-shock to the brain just to give them more awareness , how many electro shock to the brain is his going to need to give him few hour more of Elusive Moment of Clarity . when really its not a cure .


You are saying that after a seizure he has 2 hours of elusive Moment of Clarity . so I would be asking how long a electric stock to the brain last for with elusive Moment of Clarity, before he slip back into no Clarity, so would need another electric stock to the brain, that along after a few go on that machine would give him more brain damage , just like a seizure would anyway .


My cousin had a mental illness at the age of 22 , his father gave permission to give him One electro-shock to the brain It never help him in the long term, while I'll never understand how it help someone with AZ when they have brain damage going on in the brain .

They given it a new name now " therapy "

Sounds like we are going back ward in time with medication instead of forward

 

[Skye]

Hi Joanne

John never had challenging behaviour, except when he was in the throes of an infection. But his repeated infections have left him with myoclonic jerks. A few weeks ago, these became more severe and more frequent, and on one occasion resulted in a seizure. Since then, his myoclonus had been much better. It's as if the seizure has sorted out whatever was going on ion his brain. The theory is that it's all to do with the neurotransmitters not functioning properly.

You might find this article interesting.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myoclonus/detail_myoclonus.htm

 

[Margarita]

what type of myoclonus does John has , as I went to see that link you left .

seem that a few of mycolonus give epilepsy seizure . Does john take medication for it to stop the seizure not just for the infection ?

Is it Action myoclonus

 

[Margarita]

A second group of PME diseases belonging to the class of cerebral storage diseases usually involves myoclonus, visual problems, dementia, and dystonia (sustained muscle contractions that cause twisting movements or abnormal postures).

Now that is intersing to know .

 

[Skye]

Yes, it's action myoclonus, Maggie.

They didn't investigate his seizure, they don't do it for a one-off, and he hasn't had another since. But several members have mentioned myoclonus and seizures in the later stages of dementia, so it seems to be a problem with neurotransmitters.

Some researchers speculate that abnormalities or deficiencies in the receptors for certain neurotransmitters may contribute to some forms of myoclonus. Receptors that appear to be related to myoclonus include those for two important inhibitory neurotransmitters: serotonin, which constricts blood vessels and brings on sleep, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps the brain maintain muscle control

It's not surprising that dementia would produce malfunctions.

 

[Canadian Joanne]

Hi Maggie,

You are saying that after a seizure he has 2 hours of elusive Moment of Clarity .

Actually, it's 2 weeks so you can see how confusing & tempting at the same time, because Jennifer has her husband back for two weeks as his old self. She has investigated the whole thing quite thoroughly and the place he is in is highly regarded. I tried to get my mother in there for reevaluation when she was so aggressive & violent but wasn't able to.

Bruce, it's interesting what you say about Jan's episodes, that there was some improvement for a day or so. There is so much that we do not know about the brain.

I will update on this when I hear but it shouldn't be for a couple of weeks at least. It's so unusual that it seems that's it's not AD. Whatever it is, it is definitely a form of dementia so it doesn't really matter what causes it as the results are the same.

 

[connie]

Lionel has long suffered with myoclonic jerking.

Last October he had quite a big epileptic seizure, and in January he had three more in one day. He has been on sodium valporate for a long time now.

The day after he had the last seizure he was quite week, but seemed like a lovely, calmer, almost happy version of the person he used to be. Alas, only for a day or so.

Joanne, the experience you are recounting sounds so interesting.
More information when you can please...we would like to know.
Only sorry we cannot really help.

 

[Margarita]

Actually, it's 2 weeks so you can see how confusing & tempting at the same time, because Jennifer has her husband back for two weeks as his old self.

Jennifer has her husband back for two weeks as his old self.

Reads like something out of a romance film , when really its someone reality . So thinking with a rational logic mind would have to be a priority


as I can't see how tempting it is , because I would be worried about the side effect of all those electric shocks to the brain of my mother . would I be doing it for a need in me , would that need in me benefit my mother if you get my point .



I do apologies in no way am being judgmental , it would be interesting to know how many time in a year the wife would have to take her husband to have the electric shocks, before more damage is done to the brain in a whole year


confusing yes as in , losing him after those 2 weeks , would be heart breaking for her I would of thought . I can understand the Need of the emotional feeling how confusing it must be to want someone back with clarity for 2 weeks, then lose them back in to not having clarity.

At the end of the day I suppose the wife needs , feeling must also be taken into consideration , as long as the husband agrees to having it done .