Question
What Are the Early Symptoms of Pediatric Epilepsy?
Answer
The early symptoms of pediatric epilepsy include grand mal seizures, absence seizures, and benign infantile epilepsy. During a grand mal seizure, the patient suddenly loses consciousness, stops breathing, turns blue in the face, dilates the pupils, becomes rigid in the limbs, clenches their fists, and then enters a convulsive stage with frothing at the mouth, which typically lasts for 1 to 5 minutes. During an absence seizure, children may suddenly lose consciousness, interrupt their activities, stare or roll their eyes upwards without falling or twitching, and their consciousness quickly returns after 1 to 10 seconds. Benign infantile epilepsy often manifests as twitching in the face and lips, possibly with sensory abnormalities in those areas, difficulty speaking, drooling, and usually occurs while awake, most often at night.