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What Do The Following MRI And CAT Scan Results Indicate?
Question: First time seizure at age 48 (female), 130 pounds. I do NOT drink alcohol. I am prone to migraines and headaches which may be associated with each other. Acetaminaphine-caffeine-asprine OTC drugs usually fixes the mild annoying headaches.
I had a full grand mal seizure a work on the 14th, but everything seems fine. I'm prone to believe I just had the perfect storm of sleeplessness, stress, mild headaches and of course, we had some flashing red lights going off in the office for at least thirty minutes.
I came out of it find, albeit very confused. I have also been taking 450 MG of buproprion for depression for close to 3 years, but have been switched to 10mg Lexapro for drepression
I did have an MRI and CAT scan to eliminate the usual suspects of mengenitist, etc.
I will see the neurologist on 28th Dec to go over the MRI results, but would love if someone could simple recommend some good reading materials for for a curious patient,
Please recommend any academic literature for the brain, so I better talk to my doctor. (I saw a Journey of Neurology article linking seizures to migraines and hope to able to get smarter on this issue without years of med school.
Thanks,
I had a full grand mal seizure a work on the 14th, but everything seems fine. I'm prone to believe I just had the perfect storm of sleeplessness, stress, mild headaches and of course, we had some flashing red lights going off in the office for at least thirty minutes.
I came out of it find, albeit very confused. I have also been taking 450 MG of buproprion for depression for close to 3 years, but have been switched to 10mg Lexapro for drepression
I did have an MRI and CAT scan to eliminate the usual suspects of mengenitist, etc.
I will see the neurologist on 28th Dec to go over the MRI results, but would love if someone could simple recommend some good reading materials for for a curious patient,
Please recommend any academic literature for the brain, so I better talk to my doctor. (I saw a Journey of Neurology article linking seizures to migraines and hope to able to get smarter on this issue without years of med school.
Thanks,
Brief Answer:
Read below
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
First of all I would like to make present the fact that a single seizure doesn't constitute epilepsy. Many people, about 10% of the population, may have a seizure episode in their lifetime, but only a small percentage of those have recurrent seizures which mean epilepsy. So a first seizure at your age with a normal MRI, may well not repeat again, remain a single episode in a situation of lack of sleep as well as the high dose of bupropion you were under. For that reason it is well possible that the neurologist won't initiate treatment. Perhaps he will order an EEG as well, but common practice is to withhold treatment for one single seizure.
As for association with migraine, it is a commonly maintained association, several articles suggest that seizures are more common in migraine patients and vice versa. That doesn't necessarily mean that a migraine patient will develop seizure, simply that they are slightly more prone to seizures especially when coupled with other predisposing factors such as lack of sleep, stress, medications etc.
I am not sure reading academic materials is a good idea. They are directed to certain audiences so unless you are a medical professional you may risk not understanding them or forming wrong ideas. Also for academic journals you need to pay to be able to read the full articles. Anyway if you insist on reading academic sources here are some article links:
http://link XXXXXXX com/article/10.1007%2Fs10072-007-0769-1
http://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(03)00197-5/abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC0000/
http://journals.lww.com/co-neurology/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2005&issue=06000&article=00017&type=abstract
If I were to recommend a more practical source for epilepsy I would recommend simply http://www.epilepsy.com/learn which is a great site containing answers to most questions on seizures.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Read below
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
First of all I would like to make present the fact that a single seizure doesn't constitute epilepsy. Many people, about 10% of the population, may have a seizure episode in their lifetime, but only a small percentage of those have recurrent seizures which mean epilepsy. So a first seizure at your age with a normal MRI, may well not repeat again, remain a single episode in a situation of lack of sleep as well as the high dose of bupropion you were under. For that reason it is well possible that the neurologist won't initiate treatment. Perhaps he will order an EEG as well, but common practice is to withhold treatment for one single seizure.
As for association with migraine, it is a commonly maintained association, several articles suggest that seizures are more common in migraine patients and vice versa. That doesn't necessarily mean that a migraine patient will develop seizure, simply that they are slightly more prone to seizures especially when coupled with other predisposing factors such as lack of sleep, stress, medications etc.
I am not sure reading academic materials is a good idea. They are directed to certain audiences so unless you are a medical professional you may risk not understanding them or forming wrong ideas. Also for academic journals you need to pay to be able to read the full articles. Anyway if you insist on reading academic sources here are some article links:
http://link XXXXXXX com/article/10.1007%2Fs10072-007-0769-1
http://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(03)00197-5/abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC0000/
http://journals.lww.com/co-neurology/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2005&issue=06000&article=00017&type=abstract
If I were to recommend a more practical source for epilepsy I would recommend simply http://www.epilepsy.com/learn which is a great site containing answers to most questions on seizures.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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