Adults with absence seizures

Mayo Clinic tends to lean towards mine being caused by a febrile convulsion that I had when I was 15 months old. Then I didn’t have severe issues until I was in my upper 40’s. I had the MRI laser ablation surgery in March 2020. It was life changing for me. I do have random seizures, but nothing like I was having. I was having them daily and usually numerous ones. I’ve had less than 5 the entire year, to our knowledge. I highly recommend the surgery.

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?

Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, @sophiasmith01. Sorry to hear you have never grown out of your absence seizures like you were told you would. Good that you have connected with @jakedduck1.

Tagging a few others in the epilepsy support group here who've mentioned absence seizures to see if they have some thoughts for you @kimroepke @lynette1975 @gimmegum. @brjudevo79 @snelson @tlb101175 and @santosha also may have some input.

@sophiasmith01
It's important to be patient, as you're still young. The journey with seizures can be unpredictable, and while no one can say for certain if or when they will stop, many individuals find that absence seizures can become less frequent by late adolescence. It's worth noting that absences can start or occur at any age.
In my personal experience, my first seizures began at 14 and were tonic-clonic. Absences started later. I had mostly tonic-clonic seizures, as well as focal aware and focal impaired seizures, along with status epilepticus. I continued to experience absence seizures into my 40s. When I was young I took Zarontin which helped my absences. What medicine/s are you taking. Research suggests that around 20% of children may continue to have these seizures into adulthood. It's also possible for absence seizures to change into tonic-clonic or other types, or even coexist with them. My seizures stopped after 45 years, for the most part.
Remember, every person and journey is unique, and it’s important to live your life to the fullest and to stay hopeful.
Take care,
Jake.