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Absent Seizure Disorder

Absent epilepsy, otherwise known as absent seizure disorder, is a childhood disorder characterized by brief petit mal seizures. Seizures are a result of abnormal brain activity impulses between the nerve cells, or neurons. This intense activity leads to seizures and loss of consciousness. The typically-portrayed seizure of convulsions is a grand mal seizure. Absence seizures, or petit mal seizures, are virtually undetectable except to a highly trained eye. Because of this, many individuals suffer from absence seizures for extended periods of time before a diagnosis occurs.

  1. Effects

    • The brief loss of consciousness during absence seizures is difficult to detect. Often, these seizures last only 30 seconds. The seizure causes the person to stop moving, often mid-motion, freezing in her current position. The person stops talking suddenly. The name absence seizure comes from the blank or absent look on the person's face characteristic of an absence seizure. Other indicators of a petit mal seizure include eyelid twitching as well as leg or arm twitching or jerking. The person has no memory of the seizure or the time lapse, and immediately resumes whatever he was doing before it occurred.

    Identification

    • To diagnose absent epilepsy, doctors rely on parent description of symptoms. Tests to rule out other disorders that mimic epilepsy narrow the diagnosis. The confirmation of the diagnosis occurs with an electroencephalogram (EEG). This test uses electrodes stuck to the child's head to detect and report abnormal brain activity. EEG's of children with absent epilepsy usually present a spike and wave pattern. Sometimes it takes multiple EEG tests to actually see an absence seizure.

    Misconceptions

    • While absence seizures may indicate absent epilepsy, most times they do not. Absence seizures most commonly occur unrelated to epilepsy with no known cause. Absence seizures do not mean a child has epilepsy. Recurrent absence seizures may fall into the diagnosis of childhood absence epilepsy or petit mal epilepsy. There is no recovery period after an absence seizure and no residual confusion.

    Risk Factors

    • While absent epilepsy can start during childhood at any time, the most common age population affected is children aged 5 to 15. More girls have absence seizures than boys.

    Considerations

    • Children often grow out of absent epilepsy. Most of the time, it resolves itself before the teenage years.

    Prevention/Solution

    • Absent epilepsy has no known cause, so there is no way to prevent it. Children with absent epilepsy take a seizure medicine to control the condition.

    Warning

    • Any signs of absent seizure disorder warrant a trip to the doctor and a referral to a neurologist. Seizure disorders are serious conditions that need medical treatment in order to keep the child safe.

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