EPILEPSY

DEFINITION:

• Nervous disorder
• Characterized by mild episodic loss of attention or sleepiness
• By severe convulsions with loss of consciousness(grand mal)

TYPES OF SEIZURES:

• Petit mal
• Grand mal - tonic clonic
• Myoclonus
• Clonic
• Sporadic (isolated)

DIAGNOSIS

• Medical History?
• Witnesses to patients seizure history?
• Circumstances of first seizure?
• Factors that may have brought on seizure?
• Length of seizure?

TESTS:

• Complete physical and neurological exam
• EEG-electroencephalogram
• Several specific blood tests
• MRS-magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• PET-positron emission tomography

TREATMENT:

• Treatment depends on several factors;
• Frequency
• Severity of seizures
• Age
• Overall health and medical history

TREATMENT (CONTINUED):

• Drug therapy-Dilantin
• Ketogenic diet- fasting metabolism
• Vagus nerve stimulation - pacemaker type device

REFERENCES

• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• epilepsy.com
• Google.com