How to Determine if a Child Has Benign Epilepsy
Disease description:
The seizures started when the child was just a few months old. The first time it happened, my child suddenly began trembling and convulsing all over the body. After examination by a physician, it was diagnosed as epilepsy or a similar condition, but fortunately, it is benign. I would like to ask the doctor, how can one determine whether it is benign childhood epilepsy?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Huang Shichang
To determine whether a child has benign epilepsy, the following aspects can be considered comprehensively:
1. **Timing of seizures**: Benign epilepsy often occurs during nighttime sleep or upon awakening in the early morning, and is associated with sleep.
2. **Severity of seizures**: The symptoms are relatively mild, generalized seizures are less common, and seizure duration is relatively short.
3. **Clinical manifestations**: Symptoms include twitching at the corner of the mouth, abnormal swallowing, preserved consciousness but inability to speak, and twitching of limbs on the same side of the body. Some children may exhibit unconscious movements, such as repeated chewing or lip licking. However, these symptoms usually disappear within a few minutes, and consciousness and activity return to normal afterward.
4. **Electroencephalography (EEG)**: EEG is an important basis for diagnosing benign childhood epilepsy. The EEG background activity is essentially normal, although partial abnormal discharges may be observed in the central and temporal regions.
