Mothers of young children with epilepsy can sometimes tell from their child’s mood and behaviour that they are ‘building up to a fit’. Adults with epilepsy may experience a peculiar feeling of heaviness or depression on the morning of the days of their seizures. Occasionally elation rather than depression is reported. It is impossible to decide whether these emotional changes cause the seizures, whether both the mood and the seizures are caused by some common factor, or whether the change in mood is in some way produced by a limited paroxysmal discharge that finally erupts into an obvious seizure.

Other illnesses-Any one with epilepsy may have a seizure in relation to a severe other illness such as pneumonia. In children with epilepsy, fever may precipitate seizures, but it is important to retain the distinction between these and febrile convulsions.

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