Terminal sleep

Classification according to ICD-10
G40.-	epilepsy
ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019)

As a terminal sleep is called sleep at the end of a mostly generalized tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure. It corresponds to normal deep sleep, is harmless and should not be interrupted. The terminal sleep varies in duration from a few minutes to several hours. After waking up, the patient usually feels bruised and tired after having been through heavy physical exertion . In the differential diagnosis , a traumatic brain injury can always be ruled out after a grand mal seizure .

Terminal sleep in "pathological intoxication"

The term terminal sleep also describes sleep at the end of the " pathological intoxication " (severe psychological disorder after alcohol consumption, which is associated with excessive aggressiveness or fear, hallucinations and illusions) combined with sudden onset of twilight and anesthetic-like sleep, with brain damage being at least partially the cause is seen. However, the division into “simple” and “pathological intoxication” is viewed as medically dubious and not very suitable with regard to questions of culpability and should give way in favor of a more differentiated consideration of the individual case.

Individual evidence

^ Günter Krämer: Lexicon of Epileptology . Hippocampus-Verlag, Bad Honnef 2012, ISBN 978-3-936817-86-7 , pp. 1339 .
^ Brigitte Vetter: Psychiatry. A systematic textbook . 7th edition. Schattauer, Stuttgart / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-7945-2566-9 , pp. 173 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
↑ Borwin Bandelow, Oliver Gruber, Peter Falkai: Short textbook psychiatry . Springer, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-29894-3 .
↑ Frank Schneider, Helmut Frister: Alcohol and culpability. Decision support for doctors and lawyers . Springer, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-540-41924-1 , pp. 28 .
↑ P. Winckler: The "pathological intoxication", diagnostic faulty construction or reliable psychiatric diagnosis? In: The neurologist . Vol. 70, No. 9 , 1999, p. 803-809 , doi : 10.1007 / s001150050515 .

[1] Günter Krämer: Lexicon of Epileptology . Hippocampus-Verlag, Bad Honnef 2012, ISBN 978-3-936817-86-7 , pp. 1339 .

[2] Brigitte Vetter: Psychiatry. A systematic textbook . 7th edition. Schattauer, Stuttgart / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-7945-2566-9 , pp. 173 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

[bandelow2012-3] Borwin Bandelow, Oliver Gruber, Peter Falkai: Short textbook psychiatry . Springer, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-29894-3 .

[Schneider2002-4] Frank Schneider, Helmut Frister: Alcohol and culpability. Decision support for doctors and lawyers . Springer, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-540-41924-1 , pp. 28 .

[Winckler1999-5] P. Winckler: The "pathological intoxication", diagnostic faulty construction or reliable psychiatric diagnosis? In: The neurologist . Vol. 70, No. 9 , 1999, p. 803-809 , doi : 10.1007 / s001150050515 .