Epilepsy is diagnosed clinically, from a detailed description of the episodes and evidence of a tendency for seizures to recur. EEG and imaging support the diagnosis and help classify it, but neither confirms nor excludes epilepsy on its own.
Epilepsy is diagnosed clinically, from a detailed description of the episodes and evidence of a tendency for seizures to recur. EEG and imaging support the diagnosis and help classify it, but neither confirms nor excludes epilepsy on its own.
What happened before, during and after the episode is the single most important information, and the account of someone who witnessed it usually matters more than the patient's own, because awareness is frequently affected. Useful details include any warning sensation, whether the person responded when spoken to, what the movements looked like and in what order, how long it lasted, whether there was tongue biting or incontinence, and how long recovery took afterwards.
Several things resemble seizures. Syncope, a faint from a drop in blood pressure or a cardiac cause, can produce brief jerking that looks convulsive. Functional or dissociative seizures produce genuine episodes without epileptic electrical activity. Sleep disorders, migraine with aura and transient ischaemic attacks can all be confused with seizures. Getting this wrong in either direction has real consequences, which is why an episode-by-episode history and, where doubt persists, prolonged EEG recording, matter.
A routine EEG samples a short window and is often normal in people who genuinely have epilepsy, so a normal study settles little. Ambulatory EEG records over days and substantially raises the chance of capturing an infrequent event; both are performed at the CNS offices. Imaging looks for a structural cause and is arranged externally, since these offices have no imaging suite. Blood tests exclude metabolic provocations. Epileptology is represented within the group.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: epilepsy; MedlinePlus: electroencephalogram (EEG); American Academy of Neurology.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.