For those patients who have generalized tonic-clonic seizures where there are convulsive movements, there are FDA-cleared devices, wearable devices, that can detect these generalized tonic-clonic seizures based on movements. For those patients who have nocturnal seizures where it's not practical to monitor consistently when everyone is asleep, video EEG monitoring can also be quite helpful in determining the seizure frequency. This could be helpful for those subtle seizures that are less detectable by visual inspection. For those patients where it's not possible or practical to monitor all the time, it is helpful to ask and talk to your physician about EEG monitoring with video ongoing. For the absence seizures which are subtle staring, this depends on your observation of how often this is happening to your child. However, we do have to worry about prolonged seizures that are greater than five minutes or multiple seizures, generalized tonic-clonic seizures, more than three in an hour, in which case, your doctor may talk to you about a seizure action plan. Those short, brief seizures, although it may feel like a lifetime for parents, they do not cause negative impact on growth and development. Other patients may have generalized tonic-clonic seizures which last two to three minutes. Depending on the patient, there are absence seizures that are five to six seconds. It includes information about what type of seizure, what your child's seizure looks like, and if there is any anti-seizure medication that should be used while the seizure is happening to shorten the seizures or how to contact the family should prolonged seizures happen. Then there are, in some children, genetic causes, neurometabolic causes or auto-immune causes that can be looked at.Ī seizure action plan is a roadmap for nurses and teachers at school to help your child should a seizure happen at school. MRI of the brain to look for structural abnormality, EEG to look at characteristics of the brainwave activity so the physician can categorize which type or types of seizure the patient has. There are underlying causes that need to be evaluated. It's a symptom that describes brainwave abnormalities. They can then work with you to develop a plan that helps you to sleep better without worrying that you might hurt yourself during the night.Lily Wong-Kisiel, M.D., Pediatric Neurologist, Mayo Clinic:Įpilepsy is a syndrome diagnosis. If you believe that you are having nocturnal seizures it is very important to speak with your epilepsy treatment team about what is happening. Keep the space around your bed free of sharp or hard objects.Try using wall-mounted lights instead of free standing bedside lamps.Avoid using a bedside table or keep it further away from your bed.Choose a low bed frame so that you will not hurt yourself if you fall out of bed.Consider using an epilepsy or baby monitor which allows people in other rooms or locations to tell if you are having a seizure.If you have nocturnal seizures there are things that you can do stay safe: Surgery: Other times it is possible to control seizures using surgery, so your doctor may choose to go down this route.Anti epilepsy drugs: For many kinds of nocturnal seizures, the first treatment will be anti-epilepsy drugs.No treatment: For some kinds of epilepsy (such as benign Rolandic epilepsy), doctors often choose not to treat nocturnal seizures at all if they believe there is low risk.Nocturnal seizures may be treated in different ways: MRI machine which can identify possible causes of seizure activity.Night time EEG - sometimes your epilepsy specialist may choose to use a night time EEG where they monitor brain activity while you sleep. Writing down when unusual things seem to happen at night, such as unexplained bruises, headaches or things thrown around.Getting someone who has witnessed your nocturnal seizures to describe them.They might use different methods to learn more about what is going on: If you think that you or your child may be having nocturnal seizures, it is useful to speak to your epileptologist or a neurologist. This button will take you to a different website How are nocturnal seizures diagnosed?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |