Question
My son has recently been experiencing involuntary body tremors, sometimes even collapsing suddenly and waking up with no knowledge of what happened. We are very worried and took him to see a doctor, who diagnosed him with pediatric tic disorder. I want to know if tic disorder in children is related to epilepsy.
Answer
Tic disorder and epilepsy are two distinct conditions, although they may sometimes present with similar symptoms. Tic disorder is a childhood movement disorder caused by a neurological dysfunction, characterized mainly by behaviors such as blinking, head-shaking, throat-clearing, shrugging, flinging hands, nodding, kicking legs, twisting the body, cursing, and involuntary limb twitches. Epilepsy, also known as convulsive fits, is a temporary brain dysfunction caused by abnormal discharge of brain neurons. The diagnosis of epilepsy can be confirmed by observing the presence of epilepsy waves in the brain waves through an electroencephalogram (EEG).