Seizures Provoked by Greasy Pork in a Patient With Refractory Focal Epilepsy

Abstract

Seizures have been reported to be directly triggered by certain foods in some people with epilepsy. On the other hand, eating epilepsy has been mentioned in the literature as a rare disorder characterized by clinical and EEG findings that vary from patient to patient and are interestingly prevalent in certain geographic areas. Epilepsy in these patients is either idiopathic or due to underlying brain pathology. We present a case of refractory focal epilepsy in which the patient reports seizures provoked by eating greasy pork. During the admission to the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU), the patient did not have seizures during the first three days of the admission despite antiepileptic medication withdrawal, sleep deprivation, and photic stimulation. However, when he consumed greasy pork, he had tonic-clonic convulsions about five hours after eating. On the following day, he had another tonic-clonic seizure after eating greasy pork.

Keywords: eating epilepsy; epilepsy; partial seizures; pork-provoked seizures; provoked seizures; seizure triggers; seizures; semiology; video-eeg.

Figure 1. Brain MRI shows bubbly-appearing intraparenchymal cortical or subcortical lesion in the posterior aspect of the right superior frontal gyrus

Figure 2. MRI of the brain. (A) T1 coronal; (B) T2/TSE coronal

Figure 3. EEG of the episode is limited due to artifact. The onset of the seizure is not clear and is difficult to localize.