Eating Epilepsy: EEG and Clinical Study

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Abstract
We studied a 22-year-old woman with eating epilepsy. During 52 days, her seizures were monitored in an inpatient epilepsy center, and their relation to meals, foods, and other variables was assessed. Of a total of 136 seizures observed, 76 occurred during eating and 60 occurred at noneating times. Observation during 6 h of video monitoring detected a rate of type A seizures (head drop, generalized EEG activity) of 1.0 during eating epochs versus 0.21 during noneating epochs (p < 0.05). Interictal generalized EEG activity consisting of sharp slow-wave complexes was also markedly increased during eating epochs, with mean 16.6 discharges per epoch versus 2.89 during noneating epochs (p < 0.02). AED levels remained stable during monitoring. Dietary analysis indicated that many types of food seemed to be implicated and that some specific foods were repeated activators.