Conor Suffers Another Seizure 6:05 a.m. September 2, 2017

Conor's latest tonic clonic (grand mal) seizure  took place at 6:05 a.m. this morning just after I placed his breakfast in front of him. .  I was expecting a grand mal seizure soon as it had been roughly 3 1/2 months since his last seizure in mid May and they have tended to happen 3 to 4 months apart.  This seizure happened while Conor was sitting on the couch, watching a movie and starting to eat his breakfast.  He started shaking violently and slid down off the couch.  I held him to keep his head from striking the floor and slid some soft blankets under his head.  He lay on his side and some of the food he had started to eat came out of his mouth.  Eventually the violent shaking subsided and he was able to speak and, with some help, move.  We went to the market for 2 of Dan's sausages and everything seems pretty noramal. 

Anyone with a  child with autism, especially if their child is developmentally delayed,  (persons with autism AND intellectual disability are much mo,re likely to suffer from epilepsy/seizures) would be wise to consult their medical advisers.  Epileptic seizures are very common among persons with autism and they can have serious, dangerous, even deadly consequences.  The UK Autistica report, Personal tragedies, public crisis, based on a large high quality Swedish study found that persons with autism tend to die between 16 to 30 years prematurely with the high numbers found among those with autism, intellectual disability and autism.  It is also worthwhile to note that the Autistic report indicates that in cases of people with autism seizures do not appear until their teenage years unlike in the general population when it is likely to show up in the child's first years.  In Conor's case his seizures appeared in his teenage years.

Each grand mal seizure is a reminder of my son's scary future prospects. With autism, intellectual disability and epilepsy he is at serious risk of decades early premature mortality.  For now though he is with us and I am relieved and happy that it happened again while I was just feet away.

Premature Mortality In Autism and Intellectual Disability - Epilepsy

Personal tragedies, public crisis

"Between 20% and 40% of autistic people also have epilepsy and this rate increases steadily with age – in contrast to a one percent prevalence rate in the general  population.1 0 In the typical population, the risk of epilepsy is greatest in a child’s first year, decreasing in risk through childhood, then remaining stable and not increasing again until old age. 11,12,13 In the majority of autistic people who develop epilepsy, their seizures do not appear until their teenage years, much later than average.5,14 This suggests that the underlying triggers of epilepsy may be different in autism. Autistic adults who also have a learning disability have been found to be almost 40 times more likely to die from a neurological disorder relative to the general population –with the leading cause being epilepsy.3"

------

Ground-breaking new research now confirms the true scale of the mortality crisis in autism: autistic people die on average 16 years earlier than the general population. For those with autism and learning disabilities, the outlook is even more appalling, with this group dying more than 30 years before their time.