Symptoms of nocturnal epilepsy | Symptoms of epilepsy

Symptoms of nocturnal epilepsy

The typical symptoms of nocturnal epilepsy include the image of an epileptic seizure as most people imagine it when they think of epilepsy. The epileptic seizure begins with a very strong increase in muscle tone, i.e. a sudden tightening of all muscles, which manifests itself as a cramp. It can also happen that the affected person bites his or her tongue.

Usually, the arms are stretched out, the legs a little tightened and the eyes wide open. As a rule, the affected person does not breathe during this very short phase. After that, there are increased muscle twitches.

These initially occur in a rhythmic pattern and become more uncoordinated after some time. The twitching can last for several minutes. This is followed by relaxation or slackening of all muscles.

Since these cramps and twitches are very exhausting for the body, the person affected feels very exhausted and weak the next day. Occasionally, during the night epilepsy, it can also happen that the person affected inadvertently wets himself or herself or even defecates. In addition, foam can form in front of the mouth, especially during cramps and convulsions.

What are the symptoms of epilepsy in children?

There are many different forms of epilepsy in children, which are accordingly associated with different symptoms. The most common type of epilepsy in children is the so-called absence epilepsy. This is a brief absence, usually lasting between 5 and 30 seconds, which can occur up to 100 times a day in a severe form.

The affected children are unresponsive for a few seconds and are, so to speak, “mentally absent”. They remain in the movement they performed just before the absence and their gaze becomes fixed. The affected children cannot remember this phase of the brief absence afterwards.

However, there are also forms of epilepsy in children that are accompanied by so-called myoclonies. These are very strong jerky pronounced movements. It often appears as if the affected children are lashing around. In some cases, these strong movements occur mainly at night or just before the child is woken up in the morning.