The first seizure and the diagnosis of epilepsy: is referral to a specialist necessary?

Add stuff | Information

Allergies [16]
Allergy is a disorder of the immune system often also referred to as atopy.

Antidepressants [21]
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia.

Arthritis [27]
Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.

Cancer [24]
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth

Cardio & Blood [6]
Risk factors for heart disease: infections

Cholesterol [16]
A fat-like substance called a lipid. It is used to build cell membranes, hormones and bile acids

Diabetes [26]
The inability of the body to produce, or the inability to metabolize, the human hormone insulin; Diabetes insipidus, usually a disorder of the ...

Epilepsy [22]
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures

Gastrointestinal [9]
The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food...

General Health [62]
The infant, child or young person?s current health condition

Herbal [25]
Herbal tea, herbal medicine

Hormonal [23]
Hormones - Proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.

Men's Health [4]
For men on fitness, health, sex, caree

Pain relief [21]
Pain management is the medical discipline concerned with the relief of pain.

Skin care [28]
The skin is the outer covering of the body

Weight Loss [24]
Loss of body weight by dieting or due to various easting disorders or medical conditions.

Women's Health [25]
Find information on women's health issues, and lifestyle at the Women's Health

Fresh material

Male fertility tests: fructose, anti-sperm antibody and post-coital tests
→ More

Impotence: some preventable causes
→ More

Skirting stds
→ More

Male fertility: why are so many sperm needed?
→ More

Factors that affect your fertility: recreational drugs
→ More

The most popular materials

[11272 view]
Breast lumps: dysplasia, fibroadenosis → More

[3993 view]
Male fertility tests: fructose, anti-sperm antibody and post-coital tests → More

[3701 view]
Anxiety in the mind: nervous tension → More

[3609 view]
Male fertility: why are so many sperm needed? → More

[3406 view]
Menstrual cycle: proliferative or follicular phase → More

Awaiting moderation 642 Article

The first seizure and the diagnosis of epilepsy: is referral to a specialist necessary?
THE FIRST SEIZURE AND THE DIAGNOSIS OF EPILEPSY: IS REFERRAL TO A SPECIALIST NECESSARY?
Most referrals occur not because family doctors are uncertain as to whether a patient has had a seizure or not, nor because they are seriously concerned in every case about the possibility of serious underlying disease, but for the following reasons:
• People do not like being told they have had an epileptic seizure. One survey showed that this difficult task is left to the hospital doctor in about half the cases.
• People with epilepsy themselves very often feel that some sort of special test is necessary to 'prove' the diagnosis. It must be very difficult to accept the diagnosis, with all its social implications, when it is made on the basis of a 30-second description given to a doctor by a relative or bystander. Somehow it does not seem 'scientific' enough, and yet paediatricians and neurologists place enormous weight on the recounted stories.
• People with epilepsy are very concerned to discover the 'cause' of their epilepsy. A cause is often not found, but most people think in terms of a single cause, which they believe, if eradicated, will result in the problem being solved once and for all. Occasionally, of course, an important treatable cause is found, and usually special tests are indeed necessary to show this. The difficulty lies in deciding which patients should be so investigated.
• Traditional medical textbooks accentuate the unusual and 'interesting' causes of epilepsy, at the expense of the more usual patients. Family doctors, educated partly by these books, tend to play safe and refer if referral centres are available.
• The necessary decisions are quite complex. There are three possible preliminary
diagnoses—seizure, not seizure, and may be seizure; two policies about investigation—to be arranged or not; and four possible outcomes—treatment, no treatment, adoption of a
wait-and-see policy, and referral to another specialist. We do have some sympathy with our colleagues in primary care, when all these combinations are considered, and can readily understand why so many patients are referred.

*34\188\2*

Epilepsy
«Prescription Medications»

Print
Viewed: 823

What else is watching the people who read this article:
Willard Dennis [208]
How common are the individual causes of epilepsy? [806]
The causes of epilepsy: precipitants of seizures-sleep and lack of sleep [1630]
Elissa Curtis [206]
Maritza Camacho [163]

Keywords for this page: The first seizure and the diagnosis of epilepsy: is referral to a specialist necessary?

Pharmacy online / Buy prescription drugs online