My sister had her first seizure at the age
of 10; she's now 17. Since then, she's
had several mri's and 2 weekend brainwave
monitor things (with all the electrodes).
They said that according to brainwave
activity, she was in fact having seizures
and that they were caused by migraines
(which she has rather frequently).
Recently, her neurologist has taken to the
idea that she's actually having panic
attacks and not seizures. The Dr. Has
refused to prescribe anymore anti-seizure
medication, so our family doctor referred
them to another doctor for a second
opinion. However, this doctor is not
within our insurance coverage, and it's
going to be very costly. The doctor who
holds so strongly to the problem actually
being an anxiety disorder is the only
neurologist covered by our insurance for
this area. I am very afraid that my
sister will die.
I have done some research into panic
attack and seizural symptoms and found
that they are very similar. In fact, I
did not find any conclusive way of
distinguishing between the 2 disorders.
I was hoping someone here could help me
understand how one can tell the difference
between the two and just why my sister's
neurologist believes they are panic
attacks and not seizures.
I'm also scared that, regardless of
whether they are panic attacks or
seizures, becuase my sister believes the
anti-seizure medication is working, she
will have more seizures when she's not
taking medication. Similar to the whole
placebo idea, her belief in the medication
might be strong enough for her to become
more sick when she is not taking it.
