For the past year and a half I have been writing a book on psychogenic seizures for those living with PNES as well as their caregivers and the professionals who work with them. As we all know, psychogenic seizures look very much like epileptic seizures, but are not triggered by electrical anomalies in the brain …
An article came out earlier this week in USA Today that underscored a very serious problem that persons with psychogenic non epileptic seizures (and other mental health conditions) face. Only half of psychiatrists accept insurance which means that if you need treatment you need to be prepared to pay large out-of-pocket fees. This is not …
Katie is 22 years old and will graduate from college this spring. She has also had psychogenic non-epileptic seizures for 4 years. She contacted me because she wants to be a voice and advocate for PNES, to help others realize they are not alone and that there is hope, and to make positive strides for …
Katie shares her experience of living with psychogenic seizures for 4 years Read More »
In July 2013, we published an article in the Journal Epilepsy and Behavior looking at: Psychological trauma in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: Trauma characteristics and those who develop PTSD. The full article can be found here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525505013001819). We found that 45 out of 61 (73.8%) patients reported experiencing at least one traumatic event in …
I have psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) but was never traumatized: Is this you? Read More »
About ten days ago I announced that we will be offering a psychogenic non-epileptic webinar in September of 2013. I received incredibly positive responses from patients, family members and a number of health professionals. But I was surprised to receive some unhappy comments from others in the medical profession. Today’s blog talks about some of …
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures webinar in 2013-differences in opinions Read More »
It does actually. The idea for today’s blog post came to me after one of my patients had several episodes right after getting some very good news. She was confused as was her family about why this happened. This led to our talking about different kinds of stress and we were able to make sense …
Can someone tell if the difference between a PNES spell and an epileptic seizure (ES) just by looking at the spell itself? Answer: NO What is Video EEG Telemetry and how is it useful to make a PNES diagnosis? Newer technology allows doctors to monitor electrical activity in the patient’s brain during epileptic events. In …
