Abdominal epilepsy presenting as recurrent intractable vomiting

Abstract

Abdominal pain is a symptom associated with both serious and non serious medical issues, is a frequent complaint in childhood. Abdominal epilepsy (AE) is a rare cause of chronic recurrent abdominal pain. AE is usually seen in paediatric group, but there is recorded documentation even in adults. AE is almost always a diagnosis of exclusion. We herein report a case of a 13 years old female patient with h/o recurrent bouts of abdominal pain with vomiting, all routine investigations and imaging modalities were normal. Since all common causes were ruled out, an EEG was taken which showed epileptiform discharges. She was started on anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs), which resulted in symptomatic relief and EEG taken one month after initiation of treatment turned out to be normal.