The Drs: Mysterious Epileptic Episodes
The Doctors welcomed a woman named Ashley who struggled with debilitating migraines and anxiety for years, trying various techniques and procedures hoping for relief, all to no avail. Then, she tried a new high-tech approach to finding the perfect prescription.
The Doctors took a closer look at technology that helped a young woman with an undiagnosed neurological condition finally find a treatment that worked for her. (Nata-Lia / Shutterstock.com)
Ashley shared that a few years back she started having epileptic-like seizures and migraines but no one could tell her what was wrong. She was in the middle of class the first time it happened. All of the sudden she couldn’t see and was slumped over in her seat, when her friend in front of her turned around and asked if she was okay. She couldn’t even give her own name.
The Drs: Undiagnosed Neurological Condition
A little while later, she was at dinner when her mom noticed her head was twitching, and from then on and she had more and more episodes. She saw a number of doctors and got a number diagnoses. At one point she was taking 10 different pills a day. She was depressed and hopeless, feeling like it would never end.
One day her friend was watching a program about something that she thought may work for her. She saw a doctor and underwent testing that showed the electrical waves of her brain. They could use that data to figure out what medications she responded best to.
The Drs: Hi-Tech Treatment Finder
Ashley and her mom Kim joined The Doctors and Ashley shared that she started a new treatment regimen and finally feels like herself again. The Doctors talked to her physician, Dr Mark Schiller, who said they collect data on people whose brains are malfunctioning in some way, and they know what medications they’re responding to. They put that together and said it’s like a dating service. They looked at Ashley’s brain to see what she responds to and compared it to 10,000 other people’s brains to figure out what her brain could respond to.
Dr Schiller said she was the perfect candidate for the procedure because she had been on multiple medications and didn’t feel well on them. He said there’s about a 65% greater response rate than standard care.
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