Cause of Seizures in Sleep
Many people associate seizures with conditions suffered while people are awake, such as epilepsy, fainting and high fever. However, various causes of seizures in sleep occur. Some seizures are the result of temporary conditions, while other seizures amplify other common sleep disorders. People suffering from sleep disorders that cause seizures often wake up feeling exhausted and may need medical intervention to help them get a good night's sleep. Sleep centers often study people suffering from nocturnal seizures to get a better understanding of how they correlate to other sleep disorders.
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Sleep-Related Epilepsy
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The University of Arizona Health Science Library presented a report on sleep-related movement disorders, including epilepsy. This cause of seizures in sleep mimics epileptic movements that occur during the day. Sleep-related epilepsy causes brief episodes of REM, the dream state in which people move more, or these seizures can occur during non-REM sleep. Seizures that happen in non-REM sleep produce parasomnia, a condition that causes confusion, sleep walking and hallucinations in adults and children.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
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American Family Physicians states that obstructive sleep apnea causes sufferers to stop breathing at variant intervals during the night because of airway obstruction. The causes of this condition include obesity, consuming alcohol or taking sedatives. This sleep apnea causes sleep seizures that resemble panic attacks and occur in people who are overweight and have large necks.
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Night Terrors
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The Night Terrors Resource Center states that night terrors can occur at all ages, but sleep-related seizures caused by night terrors primarily affect children for various reasons such as exhaustion, fever, medications or heredity. Night terror seizures cause rapid heartbeats, shouting and distress, and thrashing about during sleep. These seizures cause little harm in most cases, and children generally grow out of this condition. If night terrors persist into adulthood, adults should seek medical attention.
Nightmares
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The American Academy of Family Physicians states that nightmares can cause seizures in sleep. To determine whether seizures are caused by nightmares, doctors take a patient's family history, monitor nocturnal behavior, and determine whether a patient has suffered some kind of nocturnal injury. Nocturnal seizures caused by nightmares can be mild, serious or vegetative distresses.
Restless Leg Syndrome
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Columbia University Sleep Disorders Center states that restless leg syndrome causes seizures in sleep. Periodic limb movements occur in different cycles during sleep in one or both legs and even in the arms. The patient is unaware that his body is jerking about during sleep, and this leads to confusion. Nocturnal seizures caused by restless leg syndrome, according to the sleep center, have been confused with symptoms of epilepsy. In many cases, restless leg syndrome has been treated with anti-seizure drugs.
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