Mira was eight years old when her teacher mentioned she had trouble concentrating. “She just stares into space, then snaps out of it,” the teacher said. Her parents dismissed it as daydreaming. I saw her for a brief consult and noticed her blinking rapidly while losing focus for seconds at a time.

I ordered an EEG—it showed classic 3 Hz spike-and-wave discharges: childhood absence epilepsy. We started her on ethosuximide and within weeks, her performance in school improved. Her mother later said, “We thought she was just lost in her thoughts. We didn’t know she was sick.”

Five years later, she outgrew the seizures and remains seizure-free.

The Lesson Learned

Always listen closely to how behavior is described. What seems psychological or behavioral can be a hidden seizure waiting to be recognized.

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