Abdominal epilepsy

Recently, Phu Tho General Hospital admitted a 31-year-old male patient (in Phu Tho) with symptoms of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, decreased consciousness, and difficulty communicating.

The patient's family said that for the past 2 years, the patient has often had sudden, severe abdominal pain, accompanied by vomiting, the pain usually lasting a few minutes. After the pain, the patient often lies down, unconscious. There are many abdominal pains accompanied by urinary retention.

The patient visited several medical facilities, underwent endoscopy of the stomach and colon, abdominal CT scan, and consulted a gastroenterologist, but the disease could not be determined. The patient was also examined by a mental health specialist, diagnosed with somatoform disorder, and used 4 types of drugs in the group of drugs to treat anxiety and depression, but the abdominal pain symptoms did not improve. The pain attacks tended to increase in number and severity, at times up to 10 attacks a day, and the pain attacks increased especially after insomnia.

Before being admitted to the hospital this time, the patient had insomnia for 2 consecutive days, then had continuous abdominal pain, accompanied by vomiting, decreased consciousness after each pain, and difficulty communicating. When being treated at Phu Tho General Hospital, the patient was assigned to do paraclinical tests and consulted a gastroenterologist to rule out digestive diseases. In addition, the patient had a prolonged electroencephalogram immediately after the abdominal pain, a brain MRI, a survey of neurological abnormalities, and other specialized tests.

The patient with abdominal epilepsy recovered after treatment.

PHOTO: BSCC

Based on the medical history, pain characteristics, EEG wave abnormalities, and brain MRI, the consulting doctors diagnosed the patient with "abdominal epilepsy". After 2 days of treatment, the patient responded to the local anti-epileptic drug regimen. After 14 days of treatment, the patient did not have a recurrence of pain as before, was discharged from the hospital, prescribed outpatient treatment and had regular check-ups.

According to MSc. Ta Van Hai, Deputy Head of the Department of Neurology - Subacute Stroke, Phu Tho General Hospital, abdominal epilepsy is a rare disease that does not cause serious seizures but causes patients to have symptoms of gastrointestinal disease (abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea), so it is often easily confused with gastrointestinal disease, leading to delays in treatment. For the above patient, if not detected and treated promptly, it can cause many risks of serious complications such as vomiting, abdominal pain, electrolyte loss, impaired consciousness along with a number of other secondary complications affecting physical and mental health.

"Electroencephalography (EEG) is the core tool for diagnosing abdominal epilepsy, recording abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Prolonged EEG or video EEG (combined with video recording) helps determine the timing and characteristics of seizures, distinguishing epilepsy from unrelated digestive disorders," said Dr. Hai.

MSc. Ta Van Hai noted that the symptoms of abdominal epilepsy are often related to the digestive system (severe abdominal pain lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes; nausea and vomiting, which can occur suddenly, unrelated to food; diarrhea or bloating, prolonged digestive disorders...). To diagnose, doctors will collect information about the symptoms (frequency, duration, characteristics of abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea; history of epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, neurological disease; stimulating factors: stress, lack of sleep, or foods that may be related to the seizure).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dong-kinh-the-bung-185250930175225362.htm