#Autism, #Epilepsy and sleeping with eyes open

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  • Post last modified:July 3, 2012

I started on this post a few days ago and never finished it.  I wanted to do so now because I think this is important.

The other day Elliott went to wake up Gavin and couldn’t.  Gavin’s eyes were wide open and so Elliott assumed he was awake but ignoring him.  No matter what he did,  Gavin wouldn’t respond.

Elliott started to panic and went screaming to Lizze for help.  Lizze ran into Gavin’s room and found him laying in bed with his eyes wide open. She couldn’t wake him up for almost a minute and thirty seconds.  That doesn’t include the few minutes Elliott was previously trying. 

Turns out that Gavin was having another seizure.  There were no outward signs like full body shaking because this was apparently another absent seizure.

This was the longest one we have witnessed. My understanding is that several minutes is a long time for an absent seizure as well.  That got us to thinking.

I may recall me writing about what I called creepy sleeping. That’s when Gavin sleeps with his eyes open. Normally they aren’t wide open as in the incident described above.  Typically,  they are open enough to make you feel like he’s watching you.

After speaking with the neurologists office today,  they suspect that the times we have seen him like that,  he was possibly having seizures. That makes me feel really bad for calling it creepy sleeping.

There’s no way to know for sure until the EEG next weekend.

However,  I was wondering if any of you that deal with seizures in your children ever experienced something like this?  I also know that some kids sleep with their eyes open a bit and that’s normal for them. I’m not saying that if your child sleeps with they’re eyes open that they are having seizures,  so please don’t think that.

We’re supposed to call back if it happens again and check on him while he’s sleeping.

I’m just looking for your experience and any information you’re comfortable sharing.

**Thanks for reading**

       -Lost and Tired

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Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
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TobiusHolmes

The lady I look after has these types of seizures a lot, and yes it can be creepy..So don't feel bad about calling them creepy sleeping…

PurpleLogicGlitch

When my son was a baby he slept with his eyes partly open. We figured that he had actually fallen asleep before they were fully closed. I had forgotten all about it until I read this.