Latest Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures Stories

A Loyola University Medical Center neurologist is reporting surprising results of a study of patients who experience both epileptic and non-epileptic seizures. Non-epileptic seizures resemble epileptic seizures, but are not accompanied by abnormal electrical discharges. Rather, these seizures are believed to be brought on by psychological stresses. Dr. Diane Thomas reported that 15.7 percent of hospital patients who experienced non-epileptic seizures also had epileptic seizures during...

Patients with 'pseudo-seizures' often misdiagnosed Based on their clinical experience and observations, a team of Johns Hopkins physicians and psychologists say that more than one-third of the patients admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital's inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit for treatment of intractable seizures have been discovered to have stress-triggered symptoms rather than a true seizure disorder. These patients — returning war veterans, mothers in child-custody battles and...

A team of Australian researchers has come a step closer to unlocking a mystery that causes epileptic seizures in babies. Benign familial infantile epilepsy (BFIE) has been recognized for some time as infantile seizures, without fever, that run in families but the cause has so far eluded researchers. However clinical researchers at the University of Melbourne and Florey Neurosciences Institute and molecular geneticists at the University of South Australia have discovered a gene. BFIE is...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures may go undiagnosed longer in veterans than civilians, according to a new study. "People with psychogenic seizures are often diagnosed with epilepsy and given drugs to treat epilepsy that do not help and can have serious side effects," study author Martin Salinsky, MD, of the Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health and Sciences University, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, was quoted as saying. "The two types of...

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures may go undiagnosed for much longer in veterans compared to civilians, according to a new study published in the September 6, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. This type of seizure is different from seizures related to epilepsy and is thought to have a psychological origin. "People with psychogenic seizures are often diagnosed with epilepsy and given drugs to treat epilepsy that do not help and can...

Concordia scientists open new window to seizure detectionResearchers at Concordia University have pioneered a computer-based method to detect epileptic seizures as they occur "“ a new technique that may open a window on the brain's electrical activity. Their paper, "A Novel Morphology-Based Classifier for Automatic Detection of Epileptic Seizures," presented at the annual meeting of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, documents the very successful application of this...

U.S. medical scientists say they've determined cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce the frequency of non-epileptic seizures. The researchers at Rhode Island Hospital found cognitive behavioral therapy used for patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures also improved their overall quality of life. PNES is a condition marked by seizures resembling epileptic seizures. Unlike epilepsy, however, seizures in patients with PNES are not caused by the same brain cell firing that occurs with...

Outcomes indicate overall reduction in seizures and improved quality of lifeResearchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can reduce the frequency of seizures in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES), along with improving their overall quality of life. The study was published in the April 2009 edition of Epilepsy and Behavior.PNES is a condition that is marked by seizures resembling epileptic seizures. Unlike epilepsy, however,...

ST. PAUL, Minn. "“ Using a blood test to measure the level of the hormone prolactin can help determine, in certain clinical settings, whether an epileptic seizure has occurred, according to a guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the September 13, 2005 issue of Neurology. The guideline authors reviewed all of the scientific evidence available on use of the prolactin blood test to diagnose seizures and developed evidence-based recommendations. The blood...