Myoclonic Epilepsy - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Myoclonus can be described as brief jerks of the body; it can involve any part of the body, but it is mostly seen in limbs or facial muscles. The jerks are usually involuntary and can be lead to falls. EEG is used to read brain wave activity. Spike activity produced from the brain is usually correlaed with brief jerks seen on EMG or excessive muscle artifact. They usually occur without detectable loss of consciousness and may be generalized, regional or focal on the EEG tracing. Myclonus jerks can be epileptic or not epileptic. Epileptic myoclonus is an elementary electroclinical manifestation of epilepsy involving descending neurons, whose spatial (spread) or temporal (self-sustained repetition) amplification can trigger overt epileptic activity.