Reading induced epilepsy

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Just a short entry today.  Clinical research is not my specialty, but I ran across a case study today on reading induced epilepsy.

Seizures began during silent reading with the feeling of no longer being able to understand what she was reading (a- or dyslexia). After looking up from the page, she then continued to see letters and words despite actual disappearance of that image from either visual field (palinopsia). She had a feeling of strangeness. She could then have right hemi-body jerks and secondary generalisation. Seizures usually occurred soon after the onset of reading (less than 10 min). All seizures occurred during silent reading. She had not abandoned reading altogether but had developed a distinct style of reading to try to avoid the onset of seizures, in that she read only for short periods and tended to scan the page diagonally.

Not surprisingly, clinical tests revealed that these seizures started in the occipitotemporal region.

Gavaret, M., Guedj, E., Koessler, L., Trebuchon-Da Fonseca, A., Aubert, S., Mundler, O., Chauvel, P., & Bartolomei, F. (2009). Reading epilepsy from the dominant temporo-occipital region Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 81 (7), 710-715 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.2009.175935