Diagnosis

An accurate diagnosis is the first step

Diagnosing Epilepsy

Diagnosing seizures and the type of epilepsy is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together and includes information from many people and different tests.

After a seizure, your doctor will first determine whether or not you had a seizure and they try to determine which type of seizure or epilepsy syndrome best explains the event. In order to come to a diagnosis, your doctor will need to collect more information including medical history, blood tests, EEG tests, and brain imaging tests such as CT and MRI scans. This gives information about the electrical activity of the brain, what the brain looks like and possible causes of seizures.

Why see a doctor?
Why see a doctor?

It is extremely important for anyone who has had a seizure to see a doctor. This will help determine if it is linked to a pre-existing medical condition or epilepsy.

Testing for Epilepsy

Your doctor usually orders a variety of tests to help make the diagnosis.

Physical Exam

Medical disorders involving other systems of the body can cause seizures, so your doctor will preform a general medical examination as an important part of your first visit for seizures. An examination and some laboratory tests (blood work, etc.) can tell the doctor whether your liver, kidneys, and other organ systems are working properly.

Neurological Exam

A neurological examination looks at how well your brain and the rest of your nervous system are functioning. If your primary care physician suspects you are having seizures, they will probably refer you to see a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in the brain and nervous system.

A neurological exam will determine whether an area of your brain is functioning abnormally.

EEG Testing

EEG is the name commonly used for electroencephalography. EEG is an important test for diagnosing epilepsy because it records the electrical activity of the brain.

  • It is safe and painless.
  • Electrodes (small, metal, cup-shaped disks) are attached to your scalp and connected by wires to an electrical box. The box in turn is connected to an EEG machine.
  • The EEG machine records your brain’s electrical activity as a series of squiggles called traces. Each trace corresponds to a different region of the brain.

Neuroimaging

Sometimes epilepsy is caused by changes in the structure of the brain. These can be such things as too much spinal fluid, scar issue, or a tangle of blood vessels. Tests that take pictures of the brain, called “neuroimaging,” can tell your doctors whether you have on of these conditions. The most common neuroimaging tests for epilepsy are CT scans and MRIs.

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