[Research] Hypometabolism and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

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toro

toro

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So, I recently was diagnosed after a rather exhaustive procedure with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. According to my PET scan there was a contrast difference on the scale of 15% between my left and right temporal lobes, over the entire left temporal lobe.

Now, this is commonly referred to as hypometabolism in PET scans. According to a medical book on the topic however there is a debate in the community about whether the hypometabolism of the active temporal lobe/region is due to the occurrence of seizures themselves.[1] That is - the lower metabolism of the flourine solution in the active region is due to that side of the brain essentially getting worn out from seizures. This would seem to indicate to me that it will continue and worsen over time and scares me significantly about what this means for me in the future since I seem to have a weak form of medically intractable epilepsy.

Has anyone ever heard of this interpretation before, or am I misreading it?

[1] Adult Epilepsy, edited by Gregory Cascino & Joseph I. Sirven
 
While the process isn't well understood yet, the supposition is that chronic TLE seizures can over time potentially cause regional damage. This damage may show up particularly as problems with memory and recall. Unfortunately, there are probably quite a few of CWE members who have experienced this symptom.

The data suggests that the metabolic damage increases as the number of seizures increases, so it's important to explore all possible ways to gain seizure control. Since your epilepsy is drug-resistant, your doctors may suggest surgery if the seizure focus can be pinpointed and safely removed. You might also want to take a close look at dietary approaches -- diets that produce ketosis (such as the ketogenic diet and to a lesser extent, the Modified Atkins Diet) directly address the reduction in glucose that hypometabolism creates. Another non-invasive treatment to consider is neurofeedback.
 
So this is a well studied phenomenon then?

My main question isn't so much with regards to my specific treatment, as that is something I think that needs to be dealt with on a patient by patient level. Rather it was the legitimacy in this correlation.

Does this get better with time as seizures get brought under control? Is this phenomenon related to how recently a patient has had seizures, etc?

Does anyone know of any good books or articles addressing this?
 
thats not the kind that i have. but i went through a very long process of figuring which medicines would work for me. i got in a car accident they were giving me dylanten at the time. it was just going straight through me. they would check blood levels and it was like they hadn't given me anything. i went through this till about 4 years ago. i have been diagnosed with epilepsy for 12 years. keep your chin up! they will eventually find something.
 
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