On here for a friend - is a CT scan necessary to diagnose a seizure?

Hi all - thanks in advance for any input.

I am actually on the Lyme Disease Forum, since I had suffered from lyme. But I am coming on here because I really am unfamiliar with Epilepsy, and a very good friend of mine's daughter just had a seizure a few days ago. They are going nuts - and are scared to death.......at first I thought it was out of nowhere, but then I found out more. She was diagnosed with severe autism as a child (I did not know this) and the reason I did not know this is because you really couldn't tell, I met her when she was 6 years old. Her mom put her on a very strict diet and it seemed to do wonders. However, I also found out that as a toddler, she used to roll her eyes back and shake her hands (intentionally). Then over the past 2 yrs she has had several episodes of awakening during a tremor which would occur on her face for about five to ten seconds or so and couldn't speak during it.

This seizure occurred as a result of not sleeping. She was up all day, went to a friend's house for a sleepover, never slept, went home and didn't fall asleep until the afternoon. While she was sleeping on the hammock, she went into a full seizure and fell off. She is 12.

They did an EEG and found spikes on the right side of her brain. They did a MRI - came out clear. But there is no plan for a CT scan. Isn't a CT scan important for diagnosis? Or is an MRI enough?

The neuro wants to put her on Trileptal - but they don't even know the cause yet! This is bugging me. My friend is afraid of these drugs because of their suicidal side effects.

I don't know if this is epilepsy or not, but I am just asking if anyone can answer the above questions for now. Thanks!!!!

Hey there Chapelle,

First of all let me commend you for being a good friend. I salute you for trying to find information that can help your friend and her daughter.

Now from what you have mentioned it is clear that she has autism but she is yet to be diagnosed for epilepsy. We are still uncertain whether she has epilepsy of the seizure she had is an isolated case. It's fairly difficult to diagnosed someone with Epilepsy since it's also difficult to read EEG. I think the neuro should be clear on the readings before giving out any medications.

For the CT scan, I think it's not necessary anymore since an MRI was already done.

As for the trileptal I also find it confusing. Trileptal is an anticonvulsant which is normally taken by does who is diagnosed epileptic it would be unlikely for a person to take it if she had only 1 episode of seizure ever. Anyways I'm not questioning the neuro since he is the one who did the reading so if anticonvulsants are necessary then they have to comply.

BUT there is a lot of harmful side effects that antiepileptic drugs bring so in my opinion there are still some methods you can use without having to use such drastic measures. There are natural remedies out there that have anticonvulsant characteristics but have little to no side effects. What I'm talking about here is a unorthodox approach but to some people it's a much better way of facing the situation. There is an alternative medicine that is recently becoming well-known in curing seizures. This natural remedy is the hemp oil. This are extracts taken from an industrialized hemp plant. These plants contain a compound known as CBD or cannabidiol. This CBD has anticonvulsant traits that can reduce seizures. Also, this hemp plants are not the same with marijuana. This industrialized hemp plants contain small amount of THC, that's the psychoactive substance in marijuana. CBD on the otherhand is antipsychotic so it pretty much eliminates the small amount of THC. These products are actually legal in most states and some countries already. If you want to give it a try there are actually companies that are already in the market.

I hope I was able to provide some help. Let me know what happens. I'll pray for the recovery your friend's daughter. GODBLESS.