The Long Road to Diagnosis

Sam's anxiety, sadness, hyperactivity, terror, impulsiveness and aggression cycle rapidly throughout any given day.

Sam's pediatrician suggests a consult with a pediatric neurologist. The neurologist writes his observations of the exam to the Pediatrician, " Your patient, a 6 year old child with multiple difficulties was seen for an evaluation in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic on September 3, 1997. Sam was quite difficult to examine today. He was aggressive. He bit his Mother and would on occasion hit out at her. He would often run to switch the light off. He also made several attempts to go out the door. He was constantly wanting to go to the bathroom. He was also constantly interrupting, was quite fidgety and had difficulty sitting still. He was also using abusive language at times. He did calm down toward the end of the session. "

The neurologist orders a sleep-deprived EEG to rule out seizure activity in Sam's brain. Seizures can cause fits of aggression.

In the twenty minutes the EEG was hooked up to Sam's brain no seizure activity was recorded.