Our immune system protects the body from foreign substances or things that could harm us; but what about when our body starts to reactive to itself?
When something invades the body, like a virus, infection, or something else, an antibody can detect this and acts to stop it.
But for some these antibodies that target the brain may be the cause of autoimmune epilepsy.
Autoimmune Epilepsy often begins with seizures developing over days to weeks following an illness.
Focal seizures involving the extremities are the most common type often not responding well to medications.
Patients that have a history of another autoimmune disease or a parent with an autoimmune disease are often at most risk for this condition and patients with a sudden or severe onset of seizures should be considered as having an autoimmune cause.
As with any seizure condition early treatment is essential. An EEG, blood tests and imaging will aid in this evaluation.
Some common types of Autoimmune Epilepsy include:
Rasmussen's syndrome: sudden onset in children and causes frequent seizures, mental decline and weakness or paralysis on one side of your body.
Autoimmune limbic encephalitis: The most common type of autoimmune epilepsy, it's caused by inflammation of the limbic area of the brain. Symptoms include seizures, memory loss, unconsciousness, and psychiatric symptoms.
Febrile illness-related refractory seizures (FIRES)
New-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE)
In future posts we will dive deeper into these syndromes, their EEG and their treatment - so be sure to subscribe to follow along.
First up: Rasmussen's Syndrome and the EEG
Roya Tompkins, MS, REEG/EP T, RPSGT