What Are Nocturnal Seizures? Everything You Need To Know
When most people think of seizures, they think of them occurring during the day. Which is understandable, because that’s really all we see in the media. And for the most part, that’s what everyone talks about online as well. But in some cases, seizures can also happen during sleep!
These are called… nocturnal seizures. And they can be equally as damaging as their daytime counterparts! So we’re going to talk about nocturnal seizures today, in hopes of bringing more awareness to them.
What are nocturnal seizures?
Nocturnal seizures are basically the same as daytime ones, except they occur when the person is sleeping instead of awake! In fact, any seizure that can happen during the day can happen at night.
However, some types of seizures are more likely than others to happen during rest. Including…
Tonic-clonic seizures
Seizures associated with frontal lobe epilepsy
Seizures associated with JME (Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy)
Seizures associated with Benign Rolandic Epilepsy
And seizures associated with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome
What are nocturnal seizures caused by?
It’s important to note that most nocturnal seizures are caused by epilepsy. So if you or someone you know is suffering from nocturnal seizures, it’s likely due to that condition.
But there are a few other potential causes as well, such as…
A high fever
A brain injury
Genetics or congenital conditions
Infections
Strokes
Alzheimer’s Disease
Issues with brain development
Or a brain tumor
How often does epilepsy result in nocturnal seizures?
Another thing that I’d like to mention here is that everyone with epilepsy is going to have nocturnal seizures. And that’s true for the reverse as well, not everyone with epilepsy has daytime seizures!
It’s actually estimated that around only 40% of patients with epilepsy only have seizures during the daytime, whereas around 35-40% have both daytime and nocturnal seizures. And of course, around 20% of patients exclusively have nocturnal seizures.
For reference, my daughter suffers from both daytime and nocturnal seizures. And she’s been diagnosed with JME.
What are the symptoms of nocturnal seizures?
The symptoms of nocturnal seizures typically differ from the symptoms of daytime seizures because the person affected isn’t aware of the seizures until afterwards. And sometimes, especially if the patient doesn’t realize they’re having seizures during their sleep, the symptoms can even be brushed off as something else.
But having said that, some of the signs left behind by nocturnal seizures are as follows…
A wet bed, either because the person lost control of their bladder or had a night sweat
Bruising, if the person hit something during their convulsions in the night
Sore muscles, from going rigid during the seizure
A sore tongue/cheek or blood on the pillow, from biting their tongue/cheek during the seizure
Tiredness or trouble concentrating the next day; due to disrupted sleep from the seizure
Having woken up suddenly, because the seizure jolted them awake
Being confused upon waking, a symptom that’s common right after seizures
Or waking up on the floor, because they fell during their seizure
Of course, during nocturnal seizures the person might also jerk, go rigid, make strange noises or cry out, and even fall off the bed. But unless they’ve set up some sort of device to detect those things or they sleep in the room with someone else, these symptoms might not be detected.
How can nocturnal seizures affect someone’s life?
Obviously, aside from the immediate symptoms of nocturnal seizures, there are other problems that arise when someone is having seizures during sleep. Many of which, my daughter has personally suffered with.
Sleep is important, and when someone’s sleep is constantly being interrupted, it can affect their daily life quite a bit. Leading to fatigue, feeling drowsy, and for someone with epilepsy, potentially having more daytime seizures as well due to sleep deprivation being a common trigger for many.
How do you diagnose and treat nocturnal seizures?
Diagnosing nocturnal seizures is tricky, particularly if the person has never been diagnosed with epilepsy before. Mostly because the affected person may not know they need to seek treatment, especially if the symptoms are mild.
But even after heading to a doctor, it can be hard to tell just through word of mouth if the person is truly having nocturnal seizures or if they’re suffering from sleep terrors, sleep walking, etc.
So most commonly, doctors will want the patient to undergo an EEG and/or a sleep study. In order to determine if they’re looking at a case of nocturnal seizures or something else.
After diagnosis, the treatment will depend on the underlying cause. And if the cause is epilepsy, the patient will probably be prescribed some anti-seizure medication just like someone with daytime seizures would be.
Conclusion
Nocturnal seizures can wreak havoc on someone’s life, and it’s notoriously hard to diagnose if the person doesn’t know they have epilepsy! So it’s important to spread awareness, as it will hopefully lead to more people being aware this is a thing and knowing what to look for.
Sources
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326864#diagnosis
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/n/nocturnal-seizures.html
https://www.verywellhealth.com/nocturnal-seizures-5213993
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