An abdominal epilepsy is very rare and is rarely the cause of abdominal pain in most people so abdominal epilepsy is most often overlooked.
In order to diagnose someone with abdominal epilepsy a doctor will need to rule out other possible causes of the abdominal pain.
Abdominal epilepsy is a very rare syndrome of epilepsy that's more likely to occur in children.
When someone has abdominal epilepsy, the seizure activity causes abdominal symptoms.
For example, the abdominal epilepsy can cause pain and nausea.
Anticonvulsant medications can improve the symptoms of abdominal epilepsy.
The gastrointestinal manifestations of abdominal epilepsy include all or a combination of the following which include recurrent abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, bloating and diarrhea.
A similar diversity of CNS manifestations has been reported, which includes confusion, fatigue, headache, dizziness and syncope.
Abdominal seizures, or gastric seizures, describe a sensation of pain in the abdomen.
The pain may be sharp or feel like a strong cramp.
It may accompany nausea or vomiting.
Some people also experience neurological symptoms such as confusion and lethargy.
Seizures can affect the movement of food through the digestive system, causing symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, pauses in breathing.
People with abdominal epilepsy usually have specific EEG abnormalities.
The EEG often shows runs of high voltage slow waves, generalized spikes, and wave discharges or local abnormalities particularly in temporal lobe.
Abdominal epilepsy is treated like other forms of epilepsy, with anticonvulsant drugs.
Phenytoin (Dilantin) is often used.
Since no controlled studies exist, though, other drugs might be equally effective.
The pathophysiology of abdominal epilepsy remains unclear.
Several mechanisms relating brain electrical activity to abdominal pain have been suggested.
One of the possible explanations is that temporal lobe seizure activity usually arises in or involves the amygdala.