A New Development?

For the last couple of months, Judah has been having "episodes" of behavior that are out of character for him. Neil and I have been watching and keeping track of this behavior, trying to figure out what triggers his 45 minute, unconsolable "tantrums". The first time we noticed it was when Neil and I went out on September 17th for a late celebration of our anniversary. Our sweet babysitter, Lindsey, was here and we were ready to leave when Judah began crying and acting nervous, almost fearful. We all racked our brains trying to figure out what was going on and what triggered his becoming so upset. He is typically able to be calmed fairly quickly. Not that night. It took a good 40 minutes to finally get him to a point where we could leave the house. Lindsey was great! She took such good care of both our boys. Before Neil and I reached our destination, I received a text from Lindsey that he was laughing and acting as though nothing had happened. For me, it was a "note-to-self" moment.

A couple weeks later, I went upstairs. Judah was in his jammies standing on the arm of the sofa, watching a movie. When I looked at him, I asked him if he was sleeping with his eyes open. He was standing perfectly still, not moving a muscle, not batting an eyelash (Judah is rarely still). I proceeded to walk over to the Little Tykes desk where our two new family members resided in their cages. Our two new gerbils, Little Joe an G-Force, were chewing up the aspen shavings that covered the bottom of their cages. Judah had been quiet, unmoving up to this point. Then all of a sudden, he began screaming and running around the room as though something had frightened him. He ran over to me after I called his name and opened my arms. He let me hug him for a split second and then resisted with all the strength he had, trying to get away. He continued running around the room, beating on the floor and the wall, screaming the whole time. Neil came upstairs, and all I could do was watch Judah. I felt helpless. Neil couldn't calm him either. We brought him downstairs, wrapped him in a blanket, gave him some milk, and held him tightly. He continued to fight and resist as though something had scared him. I took him back upstairs, turned off the lights and turned on some soft music. Still holding him tightly, wrapped in a blanket with his sippy cup of milk, he slowly began to calm down. It took a good forty-five minutes before he was completely calm again. After he was calmed, he acted as though nothing had happened.

This type of behavior occurred multiple times in the weeks that followed: couple times at school, on the bus, and a few more times at home. We took him to pediatric neurology for an EEG, where they futiley tried to induce a seizure. Although seizures were not confirmed, our pediatrician seems convinced that what Judah is experiencing is, indeed, a form of epileptic seizures. Our pediatric neurologist could not definitively say that Judah is having seizures, but from what we described and reported from the school, seizures were certainly not out of the question. We were given a number of options with which to proceed. We could bring Judah in for a 24 hour EEG; we could start him on seizure medication, and see if his "behavior" stops; or we could watch him and see if his episodes continue, increase, or decrease. At the time, we opted to watch him and continue tracking his behavior. He is still averaging these strange behaviors about once a week.

A couple nights ago, we heard Judah crying upstairs just after we had put him to bed. Neil ran back upstairs to check on him. He seemed scared and mad, constantly wringing his hands. He was tired, but couldn't stop crying. He was unable to vocalize any feeling or emotion other than crying. It was as though he could not use any verbalizations that he knew. His gestures and signs became more pronounced and succinct. He could only cry. Gradually, he calmed down again and was able to use the jargon and verbal approximations that he typically uses. Once again, all was well in his world, and he acted as though nothing had happened.

After talking to my friend, who also has experienced seizures, Neil and I have decided to put Judah on seizure medication. Worse case scenario: the medication doesn't work, and his "episodes" continue. We then take him off the medication. On the other hand, maybe the medication will work, and he will not experience these long, grueling moments as often, if at all. We will, also, know for certain that he is experiencing seizures. Yes, I will call neurology tomorrow and request seizure medication for Judah.