Only a psychiatrist or neurologist can determine whether a person is sick with epilepsy and what kind of species. Do not try to diagnose yourself or loved ones yourself. This is too serious. There are many more harmless disorders that an inexperienced person can confuse with epilepsy. Therefore, differential diagnosis is the first thing that the attending physician will think about. What are epileptic seizures and the disease in general? What do relatives of an afflicted person need to know?
It’s hard to “catch” an attack
Epileptic seizures rarely occur in a doctor's office. Therefore, "testimony" will help the psychiatrist to understand what is happening and make the correct diagnosis. So if you saw a relative of epilepsy in a relative, be sure to tell the doctor in detail. Your observation can greatly help the patient.
Not epilepsy, but diabetes?
Anyone who has a seizure or something similar to him should seek help. If others say that you were unconscious for some time or lost control of yourself, you can’t ignore their opinion. Perhaps you are not sick at all and epileptic seizures - this is not about you. For example, there are episodes of loss of consciousness in people with diabetes.
With a support group
Do not go to the doctor alone. Even if you remember everything about your condition, there is always a chance that loved ones have seen more and they will be able to give specific information to the doctor. Perhaps they will remember what happened before the fit and what followed. A person himself cannot always remember all these features, but they are very important.
Doctor's questions
An epileptic seizure can be triggered by lack of sleep, alcohol or drugs. And this will not be an epileptic syndrome, but a completely different condition. The doctor will also ask under what circumstances the seizure occurred, how long it lasted, whether it started immediately after the person got to his feet from a sitting position, whether it was once in his life, whether the patient was treated by other specialists and what medications he took. Did you feel exhausted or confused after the attack. All these details are very significant.
Objective research
The brain must be examined using an MRI device , this will exclude such phenomena as a tumor or an infectious disease of the nervous system. Because in these cases, antiepileptic drugs will be useless. They also make an encephalogram, which shows whether there is a violation of brain activity, thus revealing a tendency to seizures.
What do seizures look like?
Epileptic seizures are seizures with or without loss of consciousness. In this case, a confusion of consciousness, called an aura , appears before the start. During it, a person can experience all kinds of deceptions of feelings. With a serious attack, a coma can develop, a person turns pale, a little later the skin can even turn blue. It does not respond to others. After an attack, amnesia often develops, which is why only a person from the outside can help in the diagnosis.
Epilepsy is a formidable diagnosis. But for many, with adequate treatment, a seizure occurs only once. The patient enjoys life and is not afraid of the future.