What symptoms would qualify for a diagnosis of epilepsy?
There is no specific answer to this question, but there is no doubt that in some circumstances the diagnosis can be made after only one seizure. If this seizure is a classical grand mal attack that was observed by a reliable witness, and was accompanied by tongue biting and/or passing urine while unconscious, then epilepsy would seem an confident diagnosis. It is possible that a simple faint can sometimes be accompanied by some twitching that a casual observer may interpret as epilepsy, but in this case there would be no tongue biting or incontinence. Sometimes partial seizures, where the patient does not go fully unconscious and only a part of the body seems affected, can be more difficult to diagnose with certainty, and there are a number of different variants that can be more difficult to diagnose. If you had your first attack at the age of 24, then I would ask if you have had any special investigations. An electroencephalogram (EEG, or brain wave test) is the basic investigation, b
