Sporadically, epileptic seizures are accompanied by a transient and non-infectious leukocytosis (i.e., elevation of the white blood cell count) of unclear clinical significance. This phenomenon rarely occurs after self-limiting, harmless, complex partial seizures, but it is common after potentially dangerous epileptic convulsions.

But only some such convulsions result in leukocytoses.

However, several studies show that the magnitude of these leukocytoses is linked to patients’ clinical outcomes so that the most dangerous seizures exhibit the highest leukocytoses. My work from a few years back suggests these leukocytoses are linked to the degree of breathing abnormalities developed during or after epileptic convulsions.

The above suggests that the leukocyte count after seizures might herald dangerous blood flow changes inside the lungs, which result in pulmonary edema. These blood flow changes might be induced by the mammalian diving response.