Charaterized primarily by regular seizures and mental impairment, Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome or LGS is a form of epilepsy most severe that begins in a child’s early years. Although these seizures have been known to be difficult to treat, anti-epileptic or anti-convulsant medications such as Clonazepam may be used alone or in combination with other medications.

Identifying a Seizure

LGS is characterized by a seizure, a condition that results from a brain’s dysfunctional electrical activities which creates loss of consciousness or uncontrolled movements of the muscles. A seizure is considered a single happen and happens suddenly without warning.

Epilepsy is diagnosed when an individual experiences more than two unprovoked seizures occur 24 hours apart from one another; this means that one seizure doesn’t automatically translates as epilepsy. In some cases, though, a single seizure results in brain changes which lead of a series of seizures.

What Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome Is All About

Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome,or LGS for short, is a form of epilepsy that is not only rare but often debilitating which may occur at the onset of childhood, usually between two and six years of a child’s life. LGS is present in 1% to 4% of pediatric cases of epilepsies.

Aside from multiple seizures which occur and cognitive impairment, there is an abnormality in a graphic chart known as electroencephalogram or EEG of the LGS-afflicted caused by slow spike-wave discharges. The EEG displays the brain’s generated electrical activity and is recorded at the head’s skin surface.

Causes of LGS

There have been no known specific causes of LGS although there are several identifiable ones such as:

• Brain injury: this is due mainly to congenital issues of a child including prematurity, lack of oxygen or asphyxia, and/or low weight at birth.

• Genetic diseases in the brain: these include inherited brain diseases of a metabolic nature and tuberous sclerosis, a condition in which benign or noncancerous lesions develop in the brain, skin or kidneys.

• Developmental malformations: these occur during a pregnancy which may be the result of medications taken by the child’s mother.

• Severe infections of the brain: these include meningitis, encephalitis, rubella, and toxoplasmosis.

• Infantile spasms: these occur when an infant’s body suddenly bends either at the neck or trunk at three to eight months and may develop into a pattern of mixed seizures that lead to LGS when the child is between two and three years of age.

How LGS Progresses

LGS affects male children more than female children; those who have been diagnosed with LGS begin to lose previously-developed skills and develop behavioral issues, instability of moods, slowness of psychomotor development, and personality disturbances. These may be due to the brain’s electric disturbances, difficulty in information interpretation, and medication effects.

LGS in some children may even develop into non-convulsive status epilepticus in which the seizure state is continuous and associated with changes in the level awareness of the child. This condition requires immediate medical intervention, albeit as mentioned, seizures are hard to control because of their resistance to anti-convulsant and anti-epileptic drugs.

Seizure Types Associated with LGS

Tonic: lasts several seconds to one minute, this seizure type involves general stiffening of the muscles. This commonly occurs during a night’s sleep or a nap. Although this seizure increases muscle tone in arms and neck, there is absence of jerking movements. Stiffening of legs and trunk often lead to sudden slips and falls.

Atonic: lasting between one and four seconds, this seizure type often results in injury because limpness and collapse occur due to sudden muscle tone loss. This seizure sometimes involves nodding of the head or the knees sagging without provocation.

Atypical absence: when this seizure type occurs between five and 30 seconds, immobility is experienced and his or her responsiveness is decreased; these are usually accompanied by a stare. The onset of this seizure is typically less abrupt than a typical absence but the recovery is also more gradual.

Management of LGS

While total seizure control has yet to be achieved in the treatment of LGS, AEDs or medication anti-epileptic drugs are currently the front line kind of cure. LGS will often require changes in both medication type and dosage because of the loss of effectivity of the initial medications. The simultaneous use of several medication types has proven to be necessary in LGS-afflicted children. There are several AEDs which have proven to be effective in treating LGS including Klonopin, the generic name of the brand Clonazepam.

Alone or in combination with other medications, Clonazepam is also used to treated patients with other conditions such as myoclonic and akinetic seizures. Clonazepam, a benzodiazepine that belongs to the CNS or central nervous system group of depressants, slows down the nervous system and decrease the incidence of seizures. Available as a prescription medication, Clonazepam is in tablet, solution, and disintegrating tablet forms.