My daughter has been "passing out" since february! We recently found out she has two heart murmurs (of which I personally saw the reason of the murmurs when she had her echocardiogram done and the cardiologist snubbed it...theyre caused by a faulty valve in her heart)! She passes out when she runs, swims, gets excited, or very mad! When she passes out her pupils dialate very big, the left side of her body goes paralyzed but the right side has movement, her eyes blink fast, sometimes she quits breathing, and when she comes to its takes a while for her to be able to function the left side of her body, she is confused and her speach is usually slurred! She has had an MRI to check for brain tumor (it was clear), shes had multiple EEG'S done to check for seizure activity bc she had epilepsy when she was a baby, shes had an in-hospital 4 day continuous EEG done, an echocardiogram, and an anbulatory (at home) 3 day EEG! All her tests have come back completely normal except her echocardiogram! Shes been to multiple hospitals, doctors/specialists and so far none of the doctors have ever seen this or has any idea what could be possibly be wrong with her! Has anyone out there ever heard of this before or have experienced this? Im out of ideas! Shes going to another/better hospital to have more testing done but any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I honestly think her passing out episodes are caused by her heart but we have no idea why her nerves are going "haywire" and why its not showing up on the EEG'S! Any help would be greatly appreciated! =)
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Hi,
August 9, 2011 - 6:01pmI am so sorry to hear that your young daughter has these episodes. I question that the cause of this seizure-lie activity can be related to a cardiac condition. An extreme pause in normal heart activity can lead to hypoxia which can reduce the amount of oxygen going to the brain. Seizure-like activity can be attributed to hypoxia. But I question if a heart murmur would lead to this.
It appears that something is affecting one hemisphere of the brain and not the other. This is demonstrated by the left side of her body being paralyzed during the episode but the right side remains normal.
Hopefully, a new group of specialists will be able to find the cause.
Please keep us posted.
Maryann
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Thanks maryann! When she had her echocardiogram done I could see a valve that would stay open and then closed for a long amount of time (well longer than it should I should say) and her family doctor said that that was the dystolic and systolic murmurs he heard! I forgot to mention that recently when she "passed out" she actually fell on my chest when I was lying down and I could feel her heart pumping! It literally felt like it was comming out of her chest and was pumping extremely fast and hard! When she had her anbulatory eeg done she passed out ten times (within 3 days) with it on and the specialist said that there was absolutely no indication of any "episodes" or seizure like activity evident and believes my child is faking! When she was 1 yr old she was diagnosed with epilepsy (her father also has epilepsy) and would have "grandmall"(?) seizures! These passing out epidodes are somewhat like the seizures I am used to but then again completely different! Her doctors are just "flabbergasted"! Thanks soo much for your concern and I will keep posted of any progress!
August 9, 2011 - 6:44pmThis Comment