Question
What Are the Symptoms of Pediatric Epilepsy?
Answer
Common symptoms of pediatric epilepsy include grand mal seizures, absence seizures, and benign infantile epilepsy. During a grand mal seizure, the child suddenly loses consciousness, their breathing stops, their face turns blue, their pupils dilate, their limbs become rigid, their hands clench into fists, and they then enter a period of convulsive spasms, with frothy saliva coming from the mouth. The seizure typically lasts 1 to 5 minutes. In the case of an absence seizure, the child suddenly loses consciousness, stops their activity, gazes or rolls their eyes upwards, but does not fall or convulse, and the episode lasts for 1 to 10 seconds before consciousness is quickly restored. Benign infantile epilepsy often presents with one-sided movements of the face, lips, or tongue, which may be accompanied by sensory abnormalities in that area, inability to speak, drooling, and generally clear consciousness; these seizures tend to occur more frequently at night.