DIAGNOSING EPILEPSY
Epilepsy is diagnosed through the patient's history not by head scans, EEGs, or the neurologic
examination. In cases when a seizure disorder is suspected, the physician must spend adequate time with the patient and often with witnesses to the attacks to make a reliable diagnosis
In most cases, asking the patient for a detailed account of the last episode, or of the last one the patient recalls well, often evokes precise details and a coherent impression. Physicians should ask what the patient was doing when the attack began. They should inquire about the first thing that occurred when the at tack started and what happened next. They also should ask how the patient felt after the episode ended and if any focal weakness or speech difficulty Twas present, details that maight reveal the focal nature of the seizure.