What Do Doctors Do? Doctors who specialize in the brain and other parts of the nervous system are called neurologists (pronounced: nuh-RAH-luh-jists). If you think you might have had a seizure, its important to tell your doctor about it. He or she will most likely refer you to a neurologist who will check for epilepsy or other conditions. In addition to doing a physical examination, the neurologist will ask you about any concerns and symptoms you have, your past health, your familys health, any medications youre taking, any allergies you may have, and other issues. This is called the medical history. Its important to give the most accurate description possible of the seizure (or seizures). Because people whove had seizures may not remember anything about them, its a good idea to get a detailed description from someone who saw it and write it down afterward. The neurologist will most likely perform medical tests such as an electroencephalogram (pronounced: eh-lek-tro-en-SEF-uh-luh-gram), or EEG test, to measure the electrical activity in the persons brain. Scans of the brain, such as a computerized tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test, may also be done. All of these tests are painless. If the neurologist determines that a person has epilepsy, he or will recommend an appropriate type of treatment. Treatment for epilepsy usually involves medication, but sometimes other treatments may be recommended. The goal of treatment is to control seizures so that a person can live as normally as possible. In some cases, doctors can implant a device called a vagus (pronounced: VAY-gus) nerve stimulator. This device sends signals through the vagus nerve in the neck to control seizures. A doctor also may recommend a ketogenic (pronounced: kee-toe-JEH-nik) diet, a special diet that might help people with epilepsy who dont respond well to medication alone. Sometimes doctors can help by performing surgery directly on the brain tissue when the condition cant be controlled using other treatments.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:35:13 +0000
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