Question
A baby is eight days away from turning one year old and suddenly experiences stiffness in all limbs and a purple discoloration of the lips, which lasts for about a minute before returning to normal. There is no family history of epilepsy, and an emergency blood test was normal. The Brain ElectroencephalogramCT has not been done, and the baby is currently in good condition. How can one determine if the baby has epilepsy?
Answer
The typical symptom of epilepsy is a seizure, but not all seizures are caused by epilepsy. Some common misconceptions include attributing all convulsive symptoms to epilepsy, when in fact, other diseases such as hysteria, hypocalcemia, pediatric febrile convulsions, and hypoglycemia can also cause seizures. Therefore, relying solely on convulsive symptoms is not sufficient for a diagnosis of epilepsy. Additionally, certain types of epilepsy may not manifest as seizures, such as absence seizures, temporal lobe epilepsy, abdominal epilepsy, and headache epilepsy. Therefore, one should not equate seizures with epilepsy.