Patient's question:
What are the early symptoms of epilepsy? Can children with epilepsy be cured? My child is in junior high school and has always been very healthy, with excellent academic performance in class. However, they suddenly developed epilepsy. Neither of my parents' relatives has this disease, and we really can't accept it. What factors or causes could be responsible?Doctor's answer:
Here is the English translation of the provided text, with line breaks preserved as instructed:Hello, friend, the main clinical symptoms of epilepsy are briefly listed as follows:
1. Generalized tonic-clonic seizure (grand mal seizure): Sudden loss of consciousness, followed by tonic and then clonic spasms. Often accompanied by screaming, bluish complexion, incontinence, bitten tongue, foaming at the mouth with saliva or blood, dilated pupils. The spasms last for several seconds or minutes before stopping naturally, leading to a state of drowsiness. After waking, there may be short-term dizziness, irritability, and fatigue, with no memory of the episode. If the seizures continue without interruption, resulting in a state of continuous unconsciousness, it is called a status epilepticus, which is often life-threatening.
2. Absence seizure (petit mal seizure): Sudden interruption of mental activity, loss of consciousness, may be accompanied by myoclonus or automatisms. Each episode lasts from a few seconds to more than ten seconds. The electroencephalogram (EEG) shows 3 Hz spike-wave or sharp-slow wave complexes.
3. Simple partial seizure: Tonic or clonic recurrence in a localized part or one limb, or abnormal sensations, lasting briefly with clear consciousness. If the seizure spreads from the motor area to other limbs or the whole body, it may be accompanied by loss of consciousness, known as Jacksonian seizure (J). Temporary paralysis of the affected limb after the seizure is called Todd’s paralysis.
4. Complex partial seizure (psychomotor seizure): Psychosensory, psychomotor, or mixed seizures. Often accompanied by varying degrees of impaired consciousness and significant disturbances in thought, perception, emotion, and psychomotor activity. May include automatisms such as wandering or sleepwalking. At times, under the influence of hallucinations or delusions, violent behavior such as harming others or oneself may occur.
5. Autonomic seizure (mesial temporal lobe): May include headache-type, abdominal pain-type, limb pain-type, syncope-type, or cardiovascular-type seizures.
6. Epilepsy with no clear cause is called primary epilepsy, while epilepsy secondary to intracranial tumors, trauma, infection, parasitic diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, or systemic metabolic disorders is called secondary epilepsy. You can try the N-linked multi-dimensional epilepsy rehabilitation system.