Childhood Epilepsy
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For some children, having epilepsy and taking AEDs will not affect their behaviour. Some children may be responding to how they feel about having epilepsy and how it affects them. Encouraging your child to talk about their epilepsy may help them feel better. Behaviour changes and problems can happen for all children regardless of having epilepsy and for many, may just be part of growing up.
In a few children, irritable or hyperactive behaviour may be a side effect of AEDs. Most children with epilepsy can take part in the same activities as other children. Simple measures can help make activities such as swimming and cycling safer. For example, making sure there is someone with your child who knows how to help if a seizure happens.
See more about leisure and safety. Seizures may change over time, either in type or frequency. Some children outgrow their epilepsy by their mid to late teens. This is called 'spontaneous remission'. If they are taking AEDs and have been seizure-free for over two years, their doctor may suggest slowly stopping medication.
Having epilepsy can affect a child in different ways. Depending on their age and the type of seizures your child has, the impact may vary. For some children having a diagnosis of epilepsy will not affect their day-to-day lives. For others it may be frightening or difficult to understand.
They may feel embarrassed, isolated or different in front of their peers. Encouraging your child to talk about their concerns may help them to feel more positive. If your child is diagnosed with epilepsy you may have mixed emotions - for your child and for yourself. It can take time to come to terms with a diagnosis and how it may affect family life. You may feel worried or relieved. How you feel about the diagnosis may also change over time.
Taken from our Children leaflet. Order this leaflet from our online shop as part of our 'first five free' offer. Skip to main content. In this section What is epilepsy?
Diagnosing epilepsy Epileptic seizures Treatment First aid Wellbeing Living with epilepsy Personal stories Parents, carers and teachers Parents Epilepsy in childhood Childhood epilepsy syndromes School, education and epilepsy Epilepsy in adolescence Carers Teachers Epilepsy TV a - z of epilepsy topics. What happens during a seizure? See more about seizures. Why does my child have epilepsy? See more about causes of epilepsy. How is epilepsy diagnosed? Having a video recording of the seizure can help the paediatrician understand what is happening.
See more about how epilepsy is diagnosed. What is a childhood epilepsy syndrome? An EEG test is painless, and it records the electrical activity of the brain. For more information about syndromes, call our confidential helpline on Epilepsy surgery It may be possible for some children to have epilepsy surgery depending on the type of epilepsy they have and where in the brain their seizures start. Will epilepsy affect my child's life? See more about triggers. Immunisation vaccination Some parents are nervous about immunisation, whether or not their child has epilepsy.
Behaviour For some children, having epilepsy and taking AEDs will not affect their behaviour.
Leisure activities Most children with epilepsy can take part in the same activities as other children. Can epilepsy change as children get older?
Information about the diagnosis and treatment of childhood epilepsy and how epilepsy may affect a child's life. In the UK, epilepsy affects around 1 in every . How childhood epilepsy syndromes are diagnosed and where to go for support.
How might my child feel? See also Epilepsy in adolescence. Your feelings as a parent If your child is diagnosed with epilepsy you may have mixed emotions - for your child and for yourself. In fact, because the areas that cause muscles to relax are close to the areas that cause muscles to contract, children who experience atonic seizures may also experience myoclonic seizures, and vice versa.
Tonic seizures are generalized seizures characterized by prolonged contraction of the large muscle groups involved in posture, as well as stiffening of the limbs.
Epilepsy in Childhood and Adolescence
In contrast to many seizure types, tonic seizures do not produce rhythmic convulsions. They usually occur shortly before or after waking and usually involve most of the brain, typically resulting in a loss of consciousness. Tonic-clonic seizures formerly grand mal seizures seizures are the type most people imagine when they think about epilepsy, and they are a common type of seizure in children. These convulsive generalized seizures typically begin with a cry or sound caused by air being forced from the lungs, then progress to the tonic phase, which often involves a fall to the floor, stiffening of the limbs, clenching of teeth, and eyes rolling back.
The tonic phase, which rarely lasts more than 30 seconds, is followed by the clonic phase, which presents itself as the rapid, rhythmic jerking of the limbs and torso. The clonic phase typically lasts for a few minutes before it gradually begins to slow and eventually stops. After the seizure, individuals are typically difficult to rouse and, if awakened, will be sleepy and confused. It is not uncommon for someone who experiences one type of generalized seizure to occasionally have another type as well. For example, a child who periodically has myoclonic seizures may have a tonic-clonic seizure triggered by a mild fever.
In fact, any generalized form of epilepsy, regardless of the type of seizure most often experienced, may give rise to tonic-clonic seizures in some circumstances. Although most seizures last anywhere from a few seconds to less than 5 minutes, occasionally a seizure will persist for 15 minutes or more, or an individual will experience back-to-back seizures without sufficient recovery time in between. This condition is called status epilepticus and should be considered a medical emergency, given that in some cases, if left untreated, it may cause long-lasting or permanent brain injury, or in rare cases, respiratory arrest and death.
Although opinions vary with regard to the criterion for declaring status epilepticus , most experts now agree that an individual with a seizure lasting more than 10 to 15 minutes should be treated by a medical professional as soon as possible. To learn more about seizure first aid, see the Activities and First-Aid section. Abnormal brain activity can result in a wide variety of seizure types, depending on where in the brain it occurs and how much of the brain is involved. In some people, patterns of recurrent seizures have also been observed.
These patterns, considered distinctive forms of epilepsy, or syndromes, follow a similar course from one individual to the next, and often have characteristic EEG patterns. Importantly, individuals with a particular epilepsy syndrome also respond in a predictable manner to medications, and such syndromes may relate to underlying genetic factors and point to a family history of or predisposition to this form of epilepsy.
For more information about how EEGs are used in diagnosing seizures, see the Diagnosis section. Epilepsy syndromes are sometimes grouped into two classes: Seizures associated with benign syndromes are typically well controlled with medications and are often outgrown.
In contrast, seizures associated with catastrophic syndromes often persist despite medication or the age of the child, and typically result in more extensive developmental problems. There are many epilepsy syndromes. A few of the more common types are described below. Childhood absence epilepsy CAE is an epilepsy syndrome characterized by absence seizures that occur from one to dozens, and sometimes hundreds of times per day. Seizures typically arise during childhood between the ages of four and eight years. Tonic-clonic seizures may precede absence seizures and may recur periodically after absence seizures have begun.
Most children with childhood absence epilepsy outgrow the propensity for seizures by adolescence. This syndrome typically arises after three years of age and is considered benign because children usually outgrow it by adolescence. In most children with benign rolandic epilepsy BRE , seizures are infrequent and in some cases do not require medication. Characteristic manifestations of the syndrome begin with a sensation at the corner of the mouth and drooling, followed by jerking of the mouth that can progress to the rest of that side of the face, and sometimes to that entire side of the body.
Although children remain conscious during this type of seizure, they are usually unable to speak for a period of time during and after the seizure. Seizures occur more commonly at night, especially during particular stages of sleep. This syndrome typically begins in late childhood or early adolescence.
The clinical characterizations of benign partial epilepsy in infancy. Not all seizures are epileptic. If you recognise triggers, avoiding them as far as possible may help to reduce the number of seizures your child has. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. You can also talk to someone by calling our confidential helpline. Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Pharmacological intervention according to the stepwise algorithm should be initiated after five minutes at the latest.
It is characterized by mild myoclonic jerks as the individual is going to sleep or waking. Children describe intense feelings of jumpiness that generally subside after about 30 minutes. In addition to the myoclonic seizures, children with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy JME may also have periodic tonic-clonic seizures. Infantile spasms, a characteristic of West syndrome, are a form of myoclonic seizures that affects infants and very young children. They occur most often at 5 to 9 months of age, and are rarely seen in infants younger than 3 months or in children older than 18 months.
These repetitive muscle contractions, usually involving the head, trunk, and extremities, typically occur in clusters, in which one spasm follows another after a brief period of time. A cluster may last 15 to 20 minutes and consist of many spasms. Clusters of infantile spasms typically occur as the child is going to sleep, or soon after waking. Although not all spasms are immediately obvious, parents are still likely to pick up on the subtle cues that suggest something may be out of the ordinary with their child.
Acting quickly on these suspicions by seeking the advice of a pediatrician or epilepsy specialist is critical to controlling infantile spasms. Appropriate treatment may in turn reduce the incidence and severity of learning disabilities and behavioral disorders associated with these seizures. Doose syndrome typically arises in children between the ages of one and five years. The seizures that result are generalized, and there is no known cause for this syndrome. In addition, seizures associated with Doose syndrome are often resistant to anticonvulsant medications, and other treatment options are often considered.
Children with Doose syndrome typically experience mixed seizure types. This syndrome often arises between the ages of two and six years and is common among children who experienced infantile spasms. The syndrome has no single cause but typically results from some developmental brain disorder or brain injury.
What is epilepsy?
Children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome have two or more seizure types, one of which is the atonic type of seizure, which causes loss of muscle tone and a sudden collapse to the ground. Lennox-Gastaut is considered a mixed seizure disorder and shows characteristic EEG patterns of slow spike and wave activity. Treatment for the syndrome typically requires multiple medications, sometimes with little improvement. Because Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is difficult to treat and often comes with a poor prognosis, it is considered a catastrophic epilepsy syndrome.
This rare syndrome is characterized by a loss of speech due to abnormal electrical activity in the child's brain during sleep. Typically, an otherwise normally developing child experiences mild seizures and then slowly loses the ability to understand language, the ability to speak, as well as their interest in communicating. Individuals typically show near continuous epileptiform activity during as much as 80 percent of their sleep.
The syndrome frequently causes lifelong language deficits.