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22 month old diagnosis help
Tue, 05/14/2019 - 22:42Topic: Parents & Caregivers
My 22 month old had a tonic clinic seizure and was hospitalized for 2 days. He tested positive for the cold virus so neuro felt the seizure was a result of the virus. Being aware of what to look for as far as additional seizure activity we started to notice some staring spells. 48 hour EEG came back normal. I have a few questions:
1. Does this automatically rule out epilepsy? Or does this mean that he just did not have a seizure in the 48 hour period?
2. Should we get a second opinion? Would another doctor interprets the test differently?
My doctor told me to gather videos and then make an appointment. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to the spells and they are so brief this won’t be easy but I’m going to try. His mood is greatly affected when I notice more staring. And then he usually falls asleep before his typical nap or bedtime. And when he wakes he is much happier. I just want to see my happy boy all the time. My doctor said it could possibly be sensory related. Does anyone have experience with that?
Thanks!
Comments
When the generalized seizures
Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2019-05-16 - 15:17
When the generalized seizures showed up years later, the EEG started showing continuous seizure activity as medication was reduced. Generalized seizures will show up on EEGs. Absence is a generalized type of seizure so sometimes docs might not realize that there are partial seizures which look like absence (aka staring spells). We were told initially that our child's first EEG showed no problems so no epilepsy because many people assumed staring spells means absence. Our child's neurosurgeon noted that wasn't correct and there could be seizures (he specializes in epilepsy but we see him for something else).
Thank you so much for you
Submitted by Mjovan on Wed, 2019-05-29 - 14:42
Thank you so much for you reply. Since I posted this I was able to obtain a video of my son's seizure and send to our neuro. He has since put him on Keppra and we just had his MRI done yesterday and waiting on results. The Dr said that it was not an absence seizure because of the hand movement. This all seems so scary and overwhelming since my son is so young. I wish he could tell me whats going on.
Megan, Normal EEGs do not
Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2019-05-16 - 15:12
Megan, Normal EEGs do not rule out epilepsy. Many epilepsy patients have clear EEGs at some point. Consider partial seizures only occur in limited areas (different for everyone who has them). Some partial seizures can look like absence (my child has both partial and generalized seizures but initially only had partial seizures but clear initial EEG and only related activity not seizures on subsequent EEGs). Having a longer EEG (often including a normal sleep and waking) or an EEG where known triggers are used (like sleep deprivation with a longer EEG) can increase the chances that good information is found for a patient with epilepsy. But EEGs are a physical test that doesn't catch every issue in the brain, some partial seizures are too deep or too small to show up.