Hi, first time forum user here. I was searching on the net for a possible answer to a question I have. I just called our local hospital and the nurse was not able to help me at all, we live in a small town with a general practice doctor and a few nurses.

I was playing with my daughter on the floor, spinning her around as she lied on her side. She was laughing and asking me to do it again. After maybe 10 spins I thought that was enough because she must be getting dizzy, and as I stopped she kind of arched her back and twitched a bit. I picked her up right away. This lasted for around 5 seconds, then she started to cry.

I am not sure what happened, she is 2 years old so she can't really explain what she was feeling, but she did say afterwards she thought she was falling. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

J_9

Chabs, welcome to AMHD!!!

It sounds as though she may just be dizzy. Has she had any other problems before?

Does she stare into space for apparently no reason at all?

chabs

Never any problems previous to this. The odd time she does space out and stare at nothing, but just when shes tired, and only for a few seconds. Also since it happened, she has said quite a few times that she got scared and thought she was going to fall down. Im still not sure what happened though, it seemed to be what I always thought a seizure would look like, even though I have never seen one.

J_9

It sounds as though everything is okay, and no reason to panic right now.

Just make sure you mention it to her doctor next time you take her in.

seniorzkickbutt06

Well, my dad has seizures and i have watched him with almost every seizure for the last many years. Your child did not have a seizure but was just simply dizzy. Seizures differ from dizziness by alot. Dizziness is swirling, things moving fast and in your case she felt like she was 'falling'. Seizures tend to last longer and the person is nonresponsive to everything and is 'zoned out'. The seizure will cause the person to forget what just happened and has uncontrolled movements during the seizure. If anyone should know seizures its me cause i have seen them for the last many years and its simptoms and characteristics are quite familiar to me. I hope this helps, and have a good day.

Thomas1970

Hi Chabs,
Though I agree, I wouldn't be too worried, what you are describing could be a petit mal or "absence" seizure:

MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Petit mal seizure

These are very brief, transient events. The arching of the back you describe could be a form of "posturing," though I am not sure if that would be common with this type of seizure, which is typically characterized by the staring you describe.
Spinning is known to alter frontal lobe activity in the brain, and there is a mild possibly this could be triggering some sort of episode.
Sorry I can't tell you much beyond this. Take care.

newarkKD

We had something similar happen to our daughter who is also 2. My husband was spinning her in a chair. She was laughing and asking him to do it again. My husband said that then her body when stiff and she stopped breathing for a few seconds. When she "came to" she was very scared and said she had been stuck to the ceiling.

I have no idea what it was, but I do think it was more than just dizziness.

bkcnyc

Dear forum:
I am now 32 years old but used to have seizures as a child. It began at age 5 during tumbling/ ballet class. After simple tumbling I went into a seizure -- head started shaking and I couldn't stop it. For some reason any forward flip/tumble I did caused me to seizure. I used to have dizzy spells at random times too that would causes auras and I kept telling my parents "it didn't feel like I was really there." I just wasn't sure how to describe it otherwise.
I had a severe seizure on vacation at age 11 once after spinning round-and-round in a relay race. I fell to the ground and my body froze. I went to the doctor - they did not do any testing on me and ruled it as vertigo.

I have not had any major episodes since my youth although once in a while I will wake up in a small shake while sleeping. I have recently experienced some minor tingling on the scalp otherwise nothing.