Epilepsy syndrome

[Randy Cook]

My son has been Diagnosed with Epilepsy syndrome.  He has had 10 seizures in the last 6 months.  He seems to be having different kinds of seizures each time.  he is only 15 months old and has been having them since he was 8 months old.  he has had staring seizures, convulsions that are only on one side of his body, some are just in his face, some that cause him to blink really slow, seizures that are full body movement.  they put him on trileptal and it seems as though he is having more seizures instead of less.  They were not as bad since he has been put on the trileptal, but he had one yesterday that seemed as though it was hitting really hard.  I am fearful about the LGS.  After reading about it online he has all the signs of it.  his first seizure was a head drop where he couldnt hold up his head.  HOw many other types of syndromes are there where he has all types of seizures?

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

The term epilepsy really means the tendency to have recurrent seizures, and it does not imply what the underlying cause of the seizures is. Likewise LGS is a descriptive term of epilepsy, multiple seizure types, and an abnormal EEG, and does not imply what the underlying cause is.

I cannot be more specific about what your sons diagnosis is over the internet, but if not done already, further testing might reveal what caused the epilepsy in the first place eg MRI of the brain, and careful analysis of the EEG, and selected metabolic testing if the MRI is normal. Sometimes even with multiple siezure types a focal abnormality such as a localized brain malformation may be present (that is, an isolated part of the brain is normal, and the other parts are normal) - this would have important implications for future treatments.

The Clevland Clinic Pediatric Epilepsy Center has a lot of experience in cases like this and could provide an expedited workup and second opinion if you so wished.

Good luck

[Randy Cook]

Also all testing with EEG and MRI are clear