December 8, 2000
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Australia:
My five year old daughter has been experiencing seizure type events during which she is sometimes limp and unresponsive. This has happened four times during the past two years and only at night after she goes to sleep. After the last event, we noticed that she had had an excessive amount of sugar. Could this have caused these events ? She has been tested for epilepsy and heart problems. Everything was normal, but nobody can tell me what is causing this. We have a family history of diabetes.
Answer:
This is unlikely to represent a blood sugar problem. I believe it would much more likely represent a neurological problem such as seizures. You may wish to test blood sugars during the next event just to make sure, Your daughter’s pediatrician can assist you with this. You also would benefit from discussing this at length with a pediatric neurologist. Also, be aware that there is not a really good test for epilepsy, and the standard test (called an EEG which measures brain electrical activity) can sometimes be entirely normal in the presence of a child who is indeed having infrequent seizures.
MSB
