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Child Fainted And Unresponsive In Locked Bathroom. Gets Seizure Like Movements. Remedy?

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Posted on Tue, 18 Jun 2013
Question: My 12 yo daughter fainted today and was unresponsive for over 3 minutes, she was in a locked bathroom, so my husband and I couldn't get to her. She has had a 6 year history of fainting. Her mri EEG and EKG have been essentially unremarkable according to the docs. Should we pursue another round of testing? Her last EEG and echo were 5-6 years ago. Today, in the ER, her pulse went to 151 after standing up to give a urine spec. She was quietly ar rest with a hr in the 80-90s. Her BP was 90/60 to 108/68. She gets the seizure like movements every time she faints. Her last episode was 4 weeks ago. What would you recommend? Her EKG shows sinus XXXXXXX tachy.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Y V Siva Sankara Murty (2 hours later)
Hi,

Thanks for writing to health care magic.

Does she have these episode of fainting after she has some abnormal feeling of fast heart beat?

How many episodes she had of these till now?

Does she come to know about these episodes before hand? (I mean does she have any strange feeling or abnormal smell or abnormal vision etc before she had such a episode)

Is the episode always associated with abnormal movements of the hand? Can you describe the episode in detail? Does she injure herself during a episode (like during a fall)? Does she pass urine or stool in her clothes during a episode?
How long do they last?

In how much time does she recover after a episode?

Was a CT scan brain or MRI brain done? If so what is the report?

Is she on any medications?

Please reply in detail so that I can help you better.
Take care.

Dr Y V Siva Sankara Murty
M.D.(Pediatrics)
Associate Professor of Pediatrics


Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Y V Siva Sankara Murty (34 minutes later)
Thank you, Dr Murty. My dtr has had over 20 episodes her 12yrs. Certain triggers have been 1. Vomiting, passes out by displaying clenched mouth, making noises, eyes dilated, limb jerking or flapping. Recovers to consciousness within 2-5 minutes. Dazed for several minutes. 2. Accidental minor cut, she fell, unwitnessed, stumbled into my room, pale and confused. 3. Today, she was in shower, felt pain while washing face, felt lightheaded, got out of shower and fell to floor. We called out her name, to open the locked door, but she didn't answer for a couple of minutes. Helped her to bed. One hour later she vomited, and passed out again, with same sx as listed in no. 1. When she was 7, after several of these episodes, we had EEG, and sleep deprived EEG which was normal, except undisclosed cardiac abnormality...sent us for cardiac consult, with subsequent EKG and Echo within normal limits. An MRI at age 7 was also normal. Most recently as of today, she had normal EKG, according to ER doc, but after EKG she had HR change from 90 to 151, just when rising from stretcher to sitting, standing, but she did not faint that time. The episode before today was about 4 weeks ago, and she suffered a concussion after hitting her head during fall. As I included in my first post, she has asthma, which has improved with age; she only takes occasional albuteroll inhaler, she has severe nut allergy. She is a high honors student, pianist, and plays soccer. She has never fallen during sports, but has become winded during exertion and has had to rest during games. She has milk intolerance, an is also allergic to ibuprophen. Any insight or guidance is greatly appreciated. My husband's side of family has some fainting history, rare episode in aunt and uncle. Cousin has Wolf Parkinson White episodes, not sure if this continues for him now as adult.

Additionally, she soiled herself once during an episode, but she had a viral illness during that time. also, she doesn't always have warning, she may just feel sick, or lightheaded, but then she's out, and there is little time to prevent falling
doctor
Answered by Dr. Y V Siva Sankara Murty (9 minutes later)
Hi,

From the description provided by you it could be either epilepsy or cardiac arrythmias leading to such problems.

If they diagnose arrythmias from the ECG then that needs to be controlled as low oxygen to the brain during a arrythmia can lead to seizures.

If your doctor concludes that there is no arrythmia responsible for those seizures then anti epileptics like valproate, levetiracetam etc as prescribed by your doctor are required to control that epilepsy. (These medicines are started after certain basic investigations) These medicines should be given for a long term till proper control of seizures is achieved.

Continue to ask further queries as required.
Hope this helps.
Take care.
Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Y V Siva Sankara Murty

Pediatrician

Practicing since :1998

Answered : 1845 Questions

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Child Fainted And Unresponsive In Locked Bathroom. Gets Seizure Like Movements. Remedy?

Hi,

Thanks for writing to health care magic.

Does she have these episode of fainting after she has some abnormal feeling of fast heart beat?

How many episodes she had of these till now?

Does she come to know about these episodes before hand? (I mean does she have any strange feeling or abnormal smell or abnormal vision etc before she had such a episode)

Is the episode always associated with abnormal movements of the hand? Can you describe the episode in detail? Does she injure herself during a episode (like during a fall)? Does she pass urine or stool in her clothes during a episode?
How long do they last?

In how much time does she recover after a episode?

Was a CT scan brain or MRI brain done? If so what is the report?

Is she on any medications?

Please reply in detail so that I can help you better.
Take care.

Dr Y V Siva Sankara Murty
M.D.(Pediatrics)
Associate Professor of Pediatrics