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Pseudoseizures
U-M Radio News
Service, September 2003, pseudoseizures
1:37
URL: http://www.med/umich.edu/opm/newspage/2003/pseudoseizures.htm
U-M
experts give hope to people with pseudoseizures
(Download audio
version)
Suggested
Lead: With
a diagnosis of epilepsy, people may be afraid to drive, play sports
or go shopping if they are unresponsive to treatment. But what
if they found out that their seizures really weren’t epilepsy
at all? Here is Rebekah Thompson with more.
TRT 1:37
SOQ
Researchers
at the University of Michigan Epilepsy Clinic are experts in
the diagnosis of pseudoseizures. Pseudoseizures resemble epileptic
seizures. Patients experience episodes of loss of consciousness,
twitching or jerking, and unusual emotional states, such as intense
feelings of fear or deja vu. The episodes may last 20 minutes,
but are not associated with electrical abnormalities in the brain
as is the case with epileptic seizures.
Dr. Linda Selwa, (M.D.), medical director of the Adult Neurology Outpatient Clinic
explains.
“ Epilepsy centers are places that see patients who have refractory seizures,
that is seizures that haven’t improved on medications for epilepsy. At
an epilepsy center, roughly 10 to 20-percent of the patients actually turn out
to have pseudoseizures, rather than epilepsy.”
People with
non-epileptic seizures have often been exposed to serious psychological
or physical or sexual abuse, often in childhood. Many experts
believe that there is a brain mechanism, a defensive mechanism,
that’s initiated when people are trying to avoid trauma
that can surface later on in life.
What doctors need to understand is that those who suffer from pseudoseizures
are not pretending. The seizures are real and dangerous and it is important
to diagnose the disorder correctly, so the appropriate treatment can be offered,
explains Selwa.
“ Epilepsy medications actually seem to make the episodes of non-epileptic
seizures more frequent. Some psychologists believe that this happens because
the medicines have some sedating effects that might even worsen their ability
to respond to stressors.”
Once diagnosed, roughly 50-percent of patients can become completely
free of symptoms. That’s often accomplished through elimination of epilepsy medication
combined with assistance from mental health professionals.
Rebekah Thompson, U-M Health System News
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