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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Convulsions Despite A Normal MRI Report?

My Cousin is currently in the hospital, they are treating him for alcohol withdrawal. He does not drink. for the last year or so he has been getting somewhat forgetful and has random temper outburst. He was sent to the hospital by coworkers because he was not acting himself. He couldn t speak, he ended up having convulsions while in the ambulance. That was last Wednesday. Since then, they have kept him sedated because when he come to he is very combative. They at first said he had meningitis but now has changed that and said he does not. They do not know what it is other then alcohol withdrawal. My family is buying into that diagnosis. They ve supposedly done scans, lumbar punctures, mri s, eegs all come back normal. Any idea?
posted on Mon, 20 Nov 2017
Twitter Mon, 25 Dec 2017 Answered on
Twitter Wed, 27 Dec 2017 Last reviewed on
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
This is the usual case. There can be either a very small area of the brain with a problem or an overall condition that makes seizures more likely by activating the brain (alcohol withdrawal as one of many examples). None of this shows up on the MRI. The only thing that might show up is small white dots. These can be small areas that do not get enough blood flow or they might be there without much of an explanation. With all of these possibilities, the MRI doesn't give a definite result.
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What Causes Convulsions Despite A Normal MRI Report?

This is the usual case. There can be either a very small area of the brain with a problem or an overall condition that makes seizures more likely by activating the brain (alcohol withdrawal as one of many examples). None of this shows up on the MRI. The only thing that might show up is small white dots. These can be small areas that do not get enough blood flow or they might be there without much of an explanation. With all of these possibilities, the MRI doesn t give a definite result.