What can an EEG tells us about a child with autism?

Learn about: What can an EEG tells us about a child with autism? from Jerry Kartzinel, MD,...
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What can an EEG tells us about a child with autism?

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Thirty percent of children with Autism have epilepsy or seizure disorder. Parent, very often, say, "Is my child going to have epilepsy? Is my child going to have a seizure disorder?" There is a good chance that we are going to. What we tend to do is get a baseline EEG. EEG is kind of like the EKG that they put on the heart, except it's on the head. They put the probes on the head, and the kids aren't very happy with that, and they wrap it up like a mummy, and try to record for 24 hours. Sometimes we only get 20 minutes before they pull it off, but we try to get 24 hours. What we are looking for are irregular rhythyms of the brain cells. It's kind of like the heart, they have their own electrical pulses that are able to generate. They can see if there are some signals that look like they are having epileptic wave patterns or not. Generally, that's why we get an EEG; to either establish a baseline that is normal, or if we have a child with epilepsy, to see if we are getting a good response to the drugs they are on.

Learn about: What can an EEG tells us about a child with autism? from Jerry Kartzinel, MD,...

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Jerry Kartzinel, MD

Pediatrician

Dr. Jerry Kartzinel is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He specializes in the recovery of neurodevelopmental, chronic neuro-inflammatory diseases, and hormonal dysfunctions. After receiving his medical degree at St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his residency in pediatric medicine in the Air Force. Following Desert Storm, Dr. Kartzinel practiced general pediatrics in private practice for 10 years until his fourth boy was diagnosed with Autism.

A nationally recognized speaker and New York Times Best Selling Author, Dr. Kartzinel has presented medical interventions that work to improve the lives of his patients who suffer from many types of medical conditions that include: autism, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, sleep cycle disruptions, and hormonal imbalances. He regularly teaches Continuing Medical Educations courses on children's health issues to physicians and other health professionals.

His clinical approach is to treat the whole patient by carefully obtaining a full and complete history and based on this history, obtaining very detailed laboratory evaluations. Individualized plans are implemented integrating the very latest medical interventions that include both traditional and complimentary medicine approaches.

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Transcription: 
Thirty percent of children with Autism have epilepsy or seizure disorder. Parent, very often, say, "Is my child going to have epilepsy? Is my child going to have a seizure disorder?" There is a good chance that we are going to. What we tend to do is get a baseline EEG. EEG is kind of like the EKG that they put on the heart, except it's on the head. They put the probes on the head, and the kids aren't very happy with that, and they wrap it up like a mummy, and try to record for 24 hours. Sometimes we only get 20 minutes before they pull it off, but we try to get 24 hours. What we are looking for are irregular rhythyms of the brain cells. It's kind of like the heart, they have their own electrical pulses that are able to generate. They can see if there are some signals that look like they are having epileptic wave patterns or not. Generally, that's why we get an EEG; to either establish a baseline that is normal, or if we have a child with epilepsy, to see if we are getting a good response to the drugs they are on.