Epilepsy symptoms

Benign familial neonatal convulsion is an idiopathic form of epilepsy beginning within the first six months after birth. Seizures include generalized and mixed, starting with tonic posture, ocular symptoms, and apnea, and often progress to clonic movements and motor automatisms. 

A seizure is an abnormal behavioral (often motoric) activity caused by abnormal electrical activity of the brain. Seizures can be the symptom of a chronic neurological malfunction, i.e. epilepsy, or can appear as single events, e.g. during fever in infants. 

C. The symptoms are not due to a general medical condition (e.g., anatomical lesions and infections of the brain, visual epilepsies) and are not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., delirium, dementia. Schizophrenia) or hypnopompic hallucinations. 

All such animal procedures suffer from the obvious and basic problem that laboratory animals do not behave like humans and that humans cannot reliably interpret their reactions and behaviour. Thus we know that Parkinson s disease is caused by a degeneration of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal tract but its lesion in animals does not produce any condition which resembles human Parkinsonism, except in primates, even though there are functional tests (e.g. rotational movements) which readily establish that loss of dopamine function and also respond to its augmentation (Chapter 15). By contrast, there are many ways, e.g. electrical stimulation and the administration of certain chemicals, to induce convulsions in animals and a number of effective antiepileptic drugs have been introduced as a result of their ability to control such activity. Indeed there are some tests, as well as animals with varied spontaneous seizures, that are even predictive of particular forms of epilepsy. But then convulsions are a very basic form of activity common to most species and epileptic seizures that are characterised by behavioural rather than motor symptoms are more difficult to reproduce in animals. 

Depression is a common problem in patients with epilepsy, with approximately 30% having symptoms of major depression at some point.34 Patients with epilepsy should be routinely assessed for signs of depression, and treatment should be initiated if necessary. Certain AEDs may exacerbate depression, for example levetirac-etam and phenytoin. Other AEDs (e.g., lamotrigine, carba-mazepine, and oxcarbazepine) maybe useful in treating depression. Changes in mood can be precipitated by addition or discontinuation of an AED. If treatment for depression is necessary, caution should be exercised in choosing an agent that does not increase seizure frequency and does not interact with AEDs. 

Signs and Symptoms Symptoms include sudden onset of intense headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light (photophobia) followed by central nervous system abnormalities such as stupor, tremors, delirium, focal epilepsy and flaccid paralysis (especially in the shoulder), and coma. Recovery is prolonged. Sequelae may include paralysis of the upper extremities and back. 

Apart from this epileptic seizure classification, an additional classification specifies epileptic syndromes, which refer to a cluster of symptoms frequently occurring together and include seizure type, etiology, age of onset and other factors [2]. The epileptic syndromes have been categorized into partial versus generalized epilepsies. The partial... 

Excess consumption of alcohol is not healthful, as many people will testify. Ethanol is a depressant and can be a mild tranquilizer or a general anesthetic, depending on how much is consumed over what period of time. At low doses, ethanol depresses some of the brain s inhibitory systems and acts as a social lubricant. It can also exacerbate seizure disorders such as epilepsy by depressing the inhibitory systems in the brain that suppress seizures and convulsions. At higher doses, alcohol leads to the classical symptoms of intoxication unsteady walk, slurred speech, altered sensory perception, slow reaction times, bizarre behavior, and finally, loss of consciousness. Consnmption of a fiffh of a gallon of hard liqnor over a short time period can be fatal. 

Chemical plant workers chronically exposed to 6-12 ppm developed headache, vertigo, nervousness, sleeplessness, nausea, and vomiting. Similar symptoms have occurred in workers repeatedly exposed to 125 ppm in some cases, lower abdominal or back discomfort with urinary frequency was observed without associated evidence of liver or kidney damage. Serious liver and kidney injury has been reported after oral administration of 1.8-2.5ml of pyridine daily for 2 months in the treatment of epilepsy. Skin irritation may result from prolonged or repeated contact with the chemical. 

Seizure control is improved in many patients when the dose of phenytoin, and blood concentration, is increased, although the occurrence of toxic symptoms may limit this process. Baylis (B7) and co-workers examined the monthly fit frequency in 47 children with severe epilepsy in whom the only change in medication was in the dose of phenytoin, which in each case was sufficient to produce a rise in blood phenytoin... 

Hypomania Hypomania has been the most common severe psychiatric side effect reported. This has been largely limited to patients in whom disorders characterized by hyperkinetic symptoms coexist with, but are obscured by, depressive affect. Diabetes There is conflicting evidence as to whether MAOIs affect glucose metabolism or potentiate hypoglycemic agents. Consider this if used in diabetics. Epilepsy The effect of MAOIs on the convulsive threshold may vary. Do not use with metrizamide discontinue MAOl 48 hours or more prior to myelography and resume 24 hours postprocedure. 

Psychotic symptoms - In controlled trials of patients with epilepsy, 5 (0.7%) of levetiracetam-treated patients experienced psychotic symptoms compared with 1 (0.2%) placebo patient. A total of 13.3% of levetiracetam patients experienced other... 

Valproic acid has become a major AED against several seizure types. It is highly effective against absence seizures and myoclonic seizures. In addition, valproic acid can be used either alone or in combination with other drugs for the treatment of generalized tonic-clonic epilepsy and for partial seizures with complex symptoms. 

Lamotrigine is an anticonvulsant drug that attenuates some forms of cortical glutamate release via inhibition of sodium, calcium, and potassium channels. An open-label case series (Uvebrant and Bauziene, 1994) and a case report (Davanzo and King, 1996) described improvement in autistic symptoms and self-injurious behavior, irritability, disturbed sleep, and social impairment in autistic children and an 18-year-old female with profound mental retardation, respectively, who were treated for epilepsy. 

The clinical symptoms of mitochondrial diseases are highly varied and include seizures, vomiting, deafness, dementia, stroke-like episodes, and short stature. Although there are many types of mitochondrial disorders, four of the most common types are as follows Kearns-Sayre syndrome, Leber s hereditary optic atrophy, MELAS (mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes) and MERRE (myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibres). 

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