Patient's question:
Always uncomfortable, feeling bad, can't sleep. What's the difference between Tourette's syndrome and epilepsy?Doctor's answer:
Hello, it's a pleasure to clarify this for you. The symptoms of Tourette syndrome are much milder and generally do not cause changes in mental state, sudden falls, or incontinence of urine and feces, nor loss of consciousness. In contrast, a grand mal seizure often involves a brief loss of consciousness, jaw clenching, foaming at the mouth, and incontinence of urine and feces. After the pain sensation returns, the person cannot accurately describe what happened. An electroencephalogram (EEG) can help differentiate between the two. Most children with Tourette syndrome have normal EEG results, while children with epilepsy will exhibit abnormal EEG findings.