My daughter is 23 and has them. At first, that was all she had and they were very short and hard to notice. We didn't know they were seizures for a year or two. It is hard to tell when they began. Then, she began sleeping at weird times, falling down, and having memory issues. They mostly stopped when she began Trileptal but she was not consistent with taking it and she was in college and would go out drinking, which always caused seizures over the next 24 hours or so. She was still driving, despite us advising her not to, and she had her first grand mal while driving, causing a severe accident. They added Keppra and while that mostly stopped the grand mals (except when she would drink usually), she suffered from extreme depression and we believe Keppra was part of the problem. She doesn't live with me now but over the last year I witnessed many absence seizures that ranged from mild to severe. During mild ones, she can pick up where she left off and might feel nauseous afterwards. During severe ones, she feels extremely hot (and will sweat) and then cold, smells, tastes, or sees things that aren't there and can end up seeing a past nightmare play before her mind. Sometimes, she talks during them and tells me what is happening but other times, she is not aware at all. It really is crazy how different each seizure can be.

Hers are caused by an abnormality that is a neural tube defect, called an encephalocele. Mayo offered brain surgery as a potential cure but she turned it down, wanting to live a "normal" life as a 23 year old and feeling that brain surgery was too extreme.

Did your doctors find a "cause" for yours?