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Anyone with nocturnal only seizures?

Epilepsy & Seizures | Last Active: Jun 3 5:27pm | Replies (28)

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Profile picture for Chris Gautier, Volunteer Mentor @santosha

Hi @eltje
Welcome to our group at Connect!
Your experience of living with undiagnosed epilepsy doesn't surprise me, unfortunately. I myself lived for decades with undiagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy with seizures on my left side, just like you. All my EEGs were clean until one doctor recommended a sleep-deprived EEG and that, just like in your case, was the turning point that finally brought my diagnosis. As I learned later, a clean EEG simply means that the person didn't have epileptiform waves or seizures during the exam. Later, with a specific MRI, a small mesial sclerosis on my left hippocampus was also identified.
Stress is indeed one of the most common seizure triggers. Identifying my triggers and learning to manage them has helped me greatly. I'm sharing here an article about the most common seizure triggers, as well as a discussion about them in our group:
Seizure Triggers - Epilepsy Foundation
https://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy/seizure-triggers
Which Seizure Trigger Is Your Hardest Battle? - Mayo Clinic Connect
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/which-seizure-trigger-is-your-hardest-battle/
I'm glad to hear you're seizure-free on Keppra, which is also one of the medications I take.
You mentioned having complex partial seizures and tonic-clonic ones. I'm curious, do you also experience auras before your complex partial seizures? Have you also had an MRI?
Chris

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Replies to "Hi @eltje Welcome to our group at Connect! Your experience of living with undiagnosed epilepsy doesn't..."

@santosha When I had my first seizure in 1994 I had 2 auras during the day and then the seizure in my sleep . First aura was like an out of body room spinning experience. The second was being frozen on my chair and not being able to get up to answer the door. My 2 seizures in 2025 were both in my sleep. No auras during those days. I did have an MRI Sept 2025. Occasional T2/Flair hyper intense foci relating to micro angiopathic changes. Increased T2 signal within right petrous apex. Impression: No acute intercranial process.
Looking at list of triggers I did take Benadryl the night of my seizure in April,2025. Major stress during 1994 seizure. I love my coffee but can feel my brain light up after a second cup.
Thanks for your feedback!