Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffA detailed description of the seizure is crucial for diagnosis. Because people who have grand mal seizures lose consciousness and don't remember their seizures, the description needs to come from people who have witnessed the seizures.
If you've had a seizure, your doctor will usually perform a neurological exam that tests reflexes, muscle tone, muscle strength, sensory function, gait, posture, coordination and balance. He or she may also ask questions to assess your thinking, judgment and memory.
Blood tests may be ordered as appropriate to check for problems that could be causing or triggering the seizures.
Your doctor may also suggest scans or tests designed to detect abnormalities within the brain.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
An EEG displays the electrical activity of your brain via electrodes affixed to your scalp. People with epilepsy often have changes in their normal pattern of brain waves, even when they're not having a seizure.
In some cases, your doctor may recommend video-EEG monitoring, which may require a hospital stay. This allows your doctor to compare — second by second — the behaviors observed during a seizure with your EEG pattern from exactly that same time. This can help your doctor pinpoint the type of seizure disorder you have, which helps to identify the most appropriate treatment options, and can help make sure that the diagnosis of seizures is correct.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
An MRI machine produces detailed images of your brain. Although many people with seizures and epilepsy have normal MRIs, certain MRI abnormalities may provide a clue as to the cause of seizures in some cases.
During the test, you will lie on a padded table that slides into the MRI machine. Your head will be immobilized in a brace, to improve precision. The test is painless, but some people experience claustrophobia inside the MRI machine's close quarters. If you think you may have this problem, inform your doctor.
- Ropper AH, et al. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In: Ropper AH, et al. Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical Pub. Division; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3632229. Accessed April 22, 2009.
- Seizures and epilepsy: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/epilepsy/detail_epilepsy.htm?css=print. Accessed April 24, 2009.
- Seizure disorders. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec16/ch214/ch214a.html. Accessed April 26, 2009.
- Stafstrom CE, et al. Pathophysiology of seizures and epilepsy. http://www.uptodate.com/index/home.html. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Sheth RD. Epilepsy in infancy and childhood. In: Rakel RE, et al. Rakel & Bope: Conn's Current Therapy 2008. 60th ed. Philadelphia, Penn.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/134947244-2/834264406/1621/460.html?printi. Accessed April 26, 2009.
- Elger CE. Modern management of epilepsy: A practical approach. Epilepsy and Behavior. 2008;12:501.
- Practice parameter update: Management issues for women with epilepsy - Focus on pregnancy (an evidence based review): Teratogenesis and perinatal outcomes. St. Paul, Minn.: American Academy of Neurology. http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/WNL.0b013e3181a6b312v1. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Britton JW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 14, 2009.
