Husband Has Strange Spells that Last Five Minutes — What Is Going On?

Reader’s Question

My husband, every time he sees a woman, or talks about a TV show with women in it, constantly rubs his face, sniffles through his nose constantly, does not stop rubbing his cheeks and neck, wipes his mouth, takes his fingers and rubs his lips, and keeps his hands over the top of his privates constantly. And after doing the above, then he will stare off into space with his body completely still and it will last 5 plus minutes. Then he immediately ‘wakes up’, as I call it, and starts rubbing his face. He even rubs his face in his sleep. What does this mean? I have asked him and he says he does not even realize he is doing this. It is becoming constant, he doesn’t even have to be looking at a woman or watching a woman on TV, he can just be sitting and goes off into space. What is going on??

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Most likely, your husband is experiencing “complex partial” epileptic seizures. This type of seizure can be triggered by many events, including mild excitement, strobe lights, smells — just about anything. Once triggered, the individual fades out of consciousness — then begins about two minutes of what we call “automatisms” or purposeless physical movements. These movements often involve picking at clothing/face/hair, hand waving, grabbing, etc. Some people begin walking or wandering. Once the seizure is over, the individual has no memory of the event and may be mildly confused and sleepy. A key to the diagnosis is that his “seizure” will be almost exactly the same each time — as though the brain is running through a program of do this, rub that, turn the head, and so on.

If this behavior is just starting — this is very serious business. A seizure is a type of electrical storm in the brain. We get a variety of unusual physical behaviors in “complex partial” seizures because the electrical discharge can take place in many different parts of the brain — even on one side and not the other. This situation is very serious because seizures tell us that something is happening in the brain:

• The seizures are also occuring at night — called “nocturnal seizures” as evidenced by rubbing his face at night.
• If women triggered them at first, but now it doesn’t matter and they are increasing — his neurological status is getting worse.
• If he “goes off into space” without the automatisms, he’s having an additional type of seizure. Now we’ve got two types.

Seizures can be the early-warning signs of a variety of neurological problems. It is VERY IMPORTANT that your husband be seen by a neurologist or a physician at a minimum. He will likely need an EEG and other neurology studies. Prior to the consultation with the physician, try to keep a record of the frequency of the events — separating them by those “off in space” episodes and those with the physcial movements. I’d move on this very quickly. As an aside…he shouldn’t be driving or operating machines until this is medically investigated.