Signs and symptoms of epilepsy in children

According to world statistics, 1% of children show signs of pathological brain activity. But this terrible diagnosis is not a sentence, and up to 80% of all forms of the disease can be controlled with the help of drug therapy. Epilepsy does not affect mental development and does not reduce the intelligence of the child.

Signs and symptoms of epilepsy in children

The symptoms of epilepsy directly depend on the age of the child and the form of the disease. Typical signs of epilepsy in children include:

1. Convulsive convulsions lasting 2 to 20 minutes.
2. Temporary blackout.
3. Unnatural muscle tension and shortness of breath.
4. Spontaneous urination and defecation.
5. Rolling eyes and erratic facial expressions.

In addition to convulsive forms, there are atypical forms of epilepsy, with mild symptoms.
The so-called non – convulsive forms. These include: 

Absolute form of epilepsy

This form is characterized by generalized non-convulsive seizures that are not so obvious:

1. Sudden freezing of the child.
2. An empty and absent look.
3. Slight throwing back of the head, slight twitching of the eyelids.
4. Complete lack of attention.
5. After the child returned to his class, not noticing what happened to him.

The abscess form of epilepsy debuts at the age of 5-7 years, continues with the onset of puberty, may disappear, or develop into a different form. According to statistics, most girls suffer from this form of epilepsy. 

Atonic seizures

In this form, an epileptic seizure is similar to fainting:

1. A short blackout.
2. All muscle groups are relaxed.

If a child experiences unreasonable fainting, then this is a very serious reason to consult a specialist and conduct the necessary examination.

Childhood spasm

Children’s spasm is:

1. Involuntary, convulsive adduction of the arms to the chest.
2. Tilt of the whole body, or just the head, forward.
3. Abrupt extension of the legs and spontaneous jerking of the head.

More often attacks occur in the morning hours, immediately after the child wakes up. By the age of 5 years, this form of epilepsy may disappear without a trace or the disease will take on a different form.

In addition to the above symptoms, there are other uncharacteristic features of this insidious disease. What should parents pay attention to?

Children with a predisposition to epilepsy may suffer from unreasonable headaches, nightmares, sleepwalking. A sign of early epilepsy is a brief spasm of speech, in which the child loses the ability to speak.

Parents usually do not associate such signs with epilepsy, and not all nightmares, headaches and speech disorders in children indicate this serious diagnosis. But if the phenomena recur periodically, then this is a reason to seek advice from a pediatric neurologist.

Modern hardware methods for diagnosing this disease are magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography and electroencephalography.

You need to know that modern medicines are very effective. In about 40% of cases, epilepsy is completely curable with proper medical therapy. In other cases, correctly selected treatment significantly reduces the severity of the course and the frequency of attacks.