Category: Encyclopedia of Epilepsy for Patients

Video-EEG monitoring The main method of diagnosis of epilepsy is electroencephalography (EEG). However, with a single record of EEG in a clinic or in a medical center, usually carried out in the period between attacks, pathological changes are not always detected. This is due to the fact that the probability of an attack at the time of recording the EEG is not high enough. At the same time, some patients (though not all) changes in EEG are detected only during attacks. Therefore, the most valuable diagnostic method is the long-term recording of EEG. EEG monitoring (long — term EEG recording for several hours, usually during the day) and video EEG monitoring-EEG monitoring in combination with constant video recording, allowing you to get a record of EEG during the attack at…

Pregnancy and epilepsy In some cases, pregnancy does not change the frequency of seizures, and sometimes even improves the control of seizures, but in about 1/3 of cases there is a deterioration in the control of seizures during pregnancy. This may be due to a number of factors. High levels of estrogen/progesterone may play a role in the first trimester of pregnancy. In addition, there is a decrease in the level of some AEP in plasma due to physiological processes occurring during pregnancy. In 2 and 3 trimesters of pregnancy, the volume of blood plasma increases by about 1/3, thereby reducing the concentration of AEP when administered in the body of the previous dose. Changes in AEP concentrations are also explained by an increase in the rate of excretion of…

Atonic seizures Atonic seizures are a rarer type of epileptic seizures (less than 1% of all seizures with epilepsy). They occur in some severe forms of epilepsy, with onset in early childhood, such as Lennox-gasto syndrome. Atonic attacks are manifested by a sudden loss of muscle tone, the patient " goes limp "and falls (slowly"settles"). Convulsive contractions are absent. Atonic seizures are often the result of severe brain damage. Aura The aura is unusual, but specific to the patient's feelings, which is the initiation (beginning) focal seizure (e.g., visual illusions, a sense of unpleasant odor, fear, etc.). Aura-the result of a pathological discharge in a certain area of the cortex and depends on the function performed by this part of the cortex. If the epileptic discharge remains localized, the consciousness…

Encyclopedia of Epilepsy for Patients Epileptica Absence seizures previously were called attacks of "petit mal" ("small attacks"). Attacks of this type begin in childhood and adolescence. As a rule, they do not occur in other age groups. The appearance of absence seizures in adults requires the exclusion of focal seizures (as sometimes focal seizures can resemble absence seizures its external manifestations). With the development of the attack the patient suddenly stops, the gaze seems empty, missing (simple absence seizure); perhaps the tremor of the eyelids, swallowing and throwing back the head or drop the head on the chest, redness or pallor of the face, automatic movements (complex absense). The attacks are very short (lasting several seconds), and how the patient and the surrounding, can not see them. Adults can interpret…