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'Absence seizures are very difficult to notice'
An absence seizure causes a short period of “blanking out” or staring into space. When absence seizures happen close together or a person has many in a day, the person may look or act confused and lose track of what's been going on.
Absence seizures usually affect only a person’s awareness of what is going on at that time, with immediate recovery. This means that, usually, no first aid is needed.
As absence seizures are 'silent' they are very difficult to notice and this can cause a lot of misunderstanding and insecurity.
Absence epilepsy at school
Absence epilepsy can be tough, especially at school. Teachers, assistants and classmates might mistake absence seizures for daydreaming, which can cause awkwardness and even low self-esteem for the person experiencing absence seizures. Just as importantly, absences can affect concentration at school and so get in the way of learning.
Even when absence epilepsy has been diagnosed and the school informed, many teachers can still find themselves asking 'is this a seizure or not?'
Absence epilepsy at home
Absence seizures may also occur when the person is at home. As parents and other family members are not always around, monitoring seizures can be difficult and accurately answering the neurologist's question 'how many seizures do you see per day or week' can be problematic.
Unpredictability of seizures means many parents take precautions and balancing being too 'protective' with giving the child enough 'space' is a challenge many parents share.
“Lander is ten years old now. You can’t always take him by the hand like a toddler. But, if he would suddenly have a seizure you have no control, making biking very dangerous”- Sandra, mum of Lander.
Often, and even subconsciously, comparisons are made with friends and classmates, and this can lead to difficult realisations.
As a parent, how do you deal with these difficult situation?
Hi, my name is Tim Buckinx
"Dad, you work in digital, can you create a light that turns on when my brain switches off?"
My son asked me this in 2015, he was 10 at the time. Little did I realise how this one question was about to change my life. I founded epihunter shortly after, and one year later launched the first version of our digital solution that signals, video-records and logs absence seizures and focal impaired awareness seizures.
At epihunter, we devote our time and energy to helping families with absence epilepsy the best we can.
What can Epihunter do for you?
Epihunter signals, video-records and logs silent, difficult to notice epileptic absence seizures. We simply turn on a light or make a sound when the brain switches off.
A slim headset sends brain activity information to a smartphone. The epihunter Core smartphone app interprets the data and turns on the smartphone light when an absence seizure occurs. Our epihunter Companion app provides a clear overview of seizure records and seizure activity.