Patient's question:
At 5 o'clock in the morning, the child said they had a stomachache in kindergarten. After that, they vomited some of the morning's food and milk, along with phlegm. Then, they collapsed and had convulsions! After a while, they fell asleep. They were immediately taken to the hospital, where they were given sedative medication. However, the hospital had no beds, so they were transferred to another hospital. After receiving sedative medication, the child had two episodes of twitching. Upon arriving at the Hohhot Maternal and Child Health Hospital, blood tests were conducted, followed by intravenous fluids. After all the fluids were administered, the child's spirits improved, and they played as usual. A brain CT scan was normal. On the morning of the 10th, an electroencephalogram (EEG) was performed. During the test, the child had a twitch and made a sound. After the test, they returned to the ward, where they had a few more twitches and their mouth was open. In the morning of the 10th, they received intravenous fluids and fell asleep during the process. After waking up, they had a few more twitches and made a sound once. The doctor advised home observation and diagnosed it as epilepsy, with a question mark. At home, the child played on the ground, sometimes sitting on the floor. In the morning of the 12th, they felt their walking was sometimes unsteady and had two or three falls. In the afternoon of the 12th, after waking up from a nap, they said they had a stomachache and a slight cough, and they vomited their lunch as well. Upon waking up from sleep, they had several twitches and made a sound. They asked the doctor, "Is this epilepsy? How should it be treated?" Thank you!Doctor's answer:
Hello, the presence of epileptic waves (i.e., epileptic discharges) on an electroencephalogram (EEG) is an important basis for diagnosing epilepsy. The diagnostic criteria for epilepsy include: first, recurrent epilepsy symptoms; second, the appearance of epileptic waves on an EEG; and third, effective response to antiepileptic drug treatment. However, an EEG is not the sole basis for diagnosis, as the EEG may be normal in some epilepsy patients.