Seizure disorders, otherwise known as epilepsy, occur when a patient experiences more than one seizure---an event that occurs with a temporary electrical disturbance in the brain that causes a change in behavior or consciousness. The disorder attacks children as well as adults and affects each child in different ways. Determining the cause of seizures can be difficult and treatments vary from child to child, but with the help of your pediatrician, you can help your child manage and learn to live with the disorder---perhaps even conquer it.
Significance
According to Timothy F. Hoban, MD, of the Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, epilepsy is the most common childhood neurological disorder, with a 1-2 percent incidence, highest for those under the age of two developing epilepsy, though 5 percent of children are said to experience at least one seizure. The Children's Hospital in Boston reports that 55,000 new cases emerge annually.
Types
More than 20 different seizure disorders exist today, broken down into four main categories of Generalized, Partial, Status Epilepticus, and Nonepileptic. Generalized seizures are sub-categorized into several major types: generalized tonic clonic (or grand mal); myoclonic; absence (or petit mal); and atonic. Partial seizures include simple and complex partial. The Epilepsy Foundation writes that the absence seizure is the most common in children.
Identification
Categorizing and identifying each seizure depends on which part of the brain is attacked and what the more visible manifestations are. The University of Baltimore describes convulsive, or grand mal, seizures as consisting of spasms and loss of consciousness. Non convulsive seizures include a blank stare, involuntary movements or a period of automatic movement that affects awareness of one's surroundings. Partial seizures deal with the patient's level of consciousness. Status Epilepticus is diagnosed when one's seizures are prolonged or come in series. Nonepileptic seizures have nothing to do with any electrical disruption in the brain.
Causes
The Children's Hospital in Boston reports that the root cause behind 50-70 percent of all epilepsy remains unknown; however, any trauma or damage to the brain or nervous system, any birth trauma, heredity and infection are known factors attributed to some onsets of epilepsy. To help your child's pediatrician determine the cause, The Hospital strongly recommends parents keep a journal recording the day, time, duration, nature of the seizure and the child's mental awareness both during and after the seizure.
Treatment
Treatment includes antiepileptic medication, surgery, or vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) which sends small pulses to the vagus nerve in the neck. When all else fails, your child's doctor may try the ketogenic diet, a glucose fast to initiate fat burning which prevents seizures in some children. This diet needs to be under the direct supervision of a doctor. The Children's Hospital in Boston reports that "Unfortunately, as many as 30 percent of children who have epilepsy may have either an inadequate response to antiepileptic drugs or intolerable side effects to these drugs and fail the ketogenic diet. At least one-half of these children may be successfully treated through epilepsy surgery."
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