4Real Forums: Aspergers and Seizures

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Topic: Aspergers and Seizures

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trish
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Joined: April 11 2007
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Posted: Aug 01 2007 at 1:19pm \| IP Logged

My ds 17 who has aspergers has just started suffering seizures. He had one out in the garden a month ago and another last week out on the deck playing with his younger brothers. Very scary.
When he was a baby long before any diagnosis.... he used to have these fits where his eyes would roll back into his head and he would be unresponsive. That stopped when he was 2. They never did figure out what was wrong. He used to suffer from migraines but doesn't have them anymore. Well maybe once a year.
He did tell me his head hurts bad before the seizure.
He's been for a catscan which showed his ventricles contained more fluid than the doctors would like to see. He's just been put on anti-convulsant medication and is scheduled to see the neurologist two weeks from now.
Is this something that occurs in aspergers for males? I tell you it's pretty scary seeing your 6'1" 165lb son lying there and you have no idea what is going on.

Anybody have any ideas out there?
I've never had any experience with this before.

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~ Trish ~
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Taffy
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Joined: April 05 2005
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Posted: Aug 01 2007 at 3:34pm \| IP Logged

Praying for you...

My understanding is that those with an autistic spectrum disorder have a higher risk of seizures later in life. We aren't dealing with it here, thankfully, except for once many years ago when my ds was 3 - he had a febrile seizure that lasted about 2 minutes.

Hoping that someone with useful information will respond...

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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
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mom3aut1not
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Joined: May 21 2005
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Posted: Aug 01 2007 at 10:24pm \| IP Logged

Trish,

I was told that 20% of auties start having seizures in their teens and another 20% start having thrm in their twenties. One thing I do know -- aspartamt or Nutrasweet has been know to cause seizures in ASD people. My oldest ASD kid stopped having seizures altogether after quitting aspartame, and another ASD kid almost stopped. My last ASD kid is *not* allowed to have it ever.

In Christ,
Deborah

trish
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Joined: April 11 2007
Location: Canada
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Posts: 1538

Posted: Aug 02 2007 at 11:11am \| IP Logged

Thank you both for responding. I looked up about it in a few books we have and they say the same thing. Funny how we never heard of it before.
I'm very careful with his diet. He doesn't eat anything with artificial flavors or colors. Almost everything he eats is homemade. I guess this might just be a natural progression for him. I'm hoping not but there it is. We'll just have to wait and see what the neurologist says.

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~ Trish ~
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Mom to 8 Wonderful Kids
+AMDG+
Saintly Soaps

Taffy
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Joined: April 05 2005
Location: Canada
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Posted: Aug 02 2007 at 1:58pm \| IP Logged

Trish,

You're post sent me on a bit of a rabbit trail! I was going to suggest looking into the ketogenic diet although I didn't know if it has proven helpful to someone your son's age (generally, it seems to be most useful to children). But, then I discovered that the specific carbohydrate diet has been shown to help with this too for some people.

I don't know if this information is anything you're interested in but I'll provide you with some links to ponder just in case:

SCD and Seizures

A Diet to Satiate the Brain and Calm the Tummy: Benefits of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Epilepsy Action: The Ketogenic Diet

In any case, I found this rabbit trail to be helpful and I think I'll be seriously looking into the SCD diet again for my PDD son very soon...

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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
Susan's Soliloquy

dawn2006
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Joined: Aug 07 2007
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Posted: Aug 13 2007 at 6:52pm \| IP Logged

I tell you it's pretty scary seeing your 6'1" 165lb son lying there and you have no idea what is going on.
Anybody have any ideas out there?
I've never had any experience with this before.

Hi. My 5yods has epilepsy and yes, it IS scary to see your child having a seizure. I would imagine more so with an all-grown-up one. My son does not have autism so I cannot help you with any correlation between that and the seizures. Just ((hugs)). Seizure disorders are hard to give advice about anyway since everything about them is so relative and person-specific. I hope you find out something helpful when your son meets with the neuro. As for aspartame... it's funny that my son w/o autism but with seizures can handle drinks made with aspartame (think Crystal Light) and they are one of a few saving graces for us since he is on a low-carb diet similar (in it's effects) to the Ketogenic Diet. However, maltitol, we've discovered will trigger his seizures. Again...((hugs))... as I don't have any specific advice for you.

ETA: I kept typing autism but went back and read Asperger's... sorry.

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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle

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