Sleep Myo.... What?!

So, yesterday we had a bit of a scare with Kendall.   I got a call from the daycare around 2:00 saying she had an "incident" while she was sleeping during her nap. 

The teacher was in the room and noticed Kendall twitching slightly.  After a few minutes, she said it turned into a full body shake.  She immediately got up and saw that Kendall's eyes were open but rolled back.  They thought she might have had a seizure.  The whole episode lasted about 10 seconds.  

The teacher tried to get the Assistant Principal to come in but by the time she got to the room, Kendall had stopped.  Kendall never woke up and was still sleeping soundly.  They did check her temperature to make sure it wasn't a febrile seizure.   No fever.

I started to ask 10 million questions.

Did she appear to be having a dream or night terror?
Did her breathing remain normal?
Did she start drooling?
Did she appear to bite her tongue?
Did anything unusual happen in the morning?

Thank goodness we switched daycares because I just happened to be working from home yesterday and I got there within 10 minutes of the call.  I asked them to wake her up and to have her in the front lobby area so Christopher wouldn't see me if I walked into the classroom to get her.

When I arrived, they had her sitting in the office.  The teacher said she didn't have a problem waking Kendall.  

I was still really unsure about what to think.  Kendall has NEVER had a seizure.  The teacher was the only one to see it and she's only been their teacher since they started 3 weeks ago.   And, because she was sleeping, I was tempted to think it was just some sort of dream or involuntary movement.   The teacher told me it was just very unusual because both of my kids sleep like rocks and never move during their naps. 

I had some limited knowledge of seizures through my co-worker.  Her son has autism and has had 2 grand mal seizures in the last year.   She has talked to me about his doctor's visits and conversations with the neurologist.  I knew seizures by themselves are not usually dangerous.  It's the falling from the seizure that is dangerous.  I also knew that doctors are relatively nonchalent about seizures in general.  I believe her neurologist said that everyone is prone to them and it's just the brain's way of setting the reset button.  Doctors usually don't get concerned unless a 2nd seizure occurs.

I brought Kendall home and tried to find some information on-line.  Everything that I found referenced seizures while the person is awake.  Of course, epilepsy immediately popped into my head.  But, the description from the teacher just didn't seem to match any thing.

The one thing sticking in my mind was the meningitis when she was 6 weeks old.  All of the doctors told me they thought we stayed ahead of the infection and that she shouldn't have any brain damage but we wouldn't know until after she turns 2.  The immediate issues were hearing loss and developmental learning disabilities.  She had 3 hearing tests done and all came back fine.  And, she certainly doesn't seem to have any developmental issues.  If anything, I think she's probably a little ahead. 

But, still.  She had a really, really bad infection and we almost lost her.

I decided to call my pediatrician to ask their advice and to get their opinion on whether it sounded like a seizure or something else.  The nurse said she would give the doctor the message and have him call me as soon as he got the chance.

In the meantime, I pestered the hell out of Kendall.

Do you feel yucky?
Does your head hurt?

Everytime she moved, I watched her.   Is she just shaking her foot or is something happening again?

The doctor called me back about an hour later and I retold the teacher's description of what happened.  Right after I finished, he immediately said, "It sounds exactly like Sleep Myoclonus".

Huh?!

He said it's common in small chidren because their nervous systems are still underdeveloped and that she should outgrow it after 5 years of age.  He said it typically happens when the child is either entering or leaving REM sleep.  He was not concerned at all.

He did say to keep an eye on her and if the frequency increases while she is sleeping or if something happens while she is awake that I should bring her in for evaluation.  He also said it can be a pre-cursor to epilepsy but he didn't seem to think it was.

BIG sigh of relief!

I'm still a little uneasy because I didn't see it happen so I just don't know what it was.  I sat beside her bed for 45 minutes last night and just watched her. 

Today, she seemed fine.  A little cranky but she also has a runny nose.

At least things are never boring, right?!