Epilepsy – Diagnosis

Transcript

Anyone with new onset of seizures or with diagnosed epilepsy should be evaluated and treated by a neurologist. The neurologist will take a full medical history, including learning as much as possible about what happens during your seizures. The doctor will ask about possible risk factors for seizures, like a family history of seizures or a prior head injury. All of these help build the initial picture. Could you be taking medications that can cause seizures? Is there some other problem causing it? The doctor will probably send you for an EEG test, which may reveal abnormal electrical activity in your brain that is not a seizure, but indicates increased risk of having seizures. You may also be sent for an MRI scan of your brain, which allows the doctor to get a picture of your brain to see if there’s anything physical that’s wrong.