CentraState - Healthy Directions

Diagnosing Dalton at The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center At a glance, Dalton Trembow looks like your average 17-year-old high school senior. He excels in football and track and field and is an honor student at New Egypt High School. But for years, Dalton had been hiding a secret from friends, teachers—and even his own parents. When Dalton was 9, he started having episodes that caused his body to spasm. His mother, Pamela Trembow, took him to a specialist, who couldn't determine the cause of the spasms. After a while, Pamela thought the episodes had disappeared, but Dalton knew otherwise. "I got better at making the episodes less noticeable," Dalton says. "I would just pretend I was having a muscle cramp, because the spasms usually happen when I increase my activity or I'm playing sports, but then my mom noticed an episode, and I decided I was tired of trying to hide it." MYSTERY DIAGNOSIS After another battery of tests led to no diagnosis, Dalton was referred in April to Megdad Zaatreh, MD, board- certified neurologist who completed a fellowship in epilepsy at Yale University, and director, The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, CentraState Medical Center. Megdad Zaatreh, MD, board-certifi ed neurologist Dr. Zaatreh ordered a video electroencephalogram (EEG), which monitored Dalton's brain activity and the physical effects of the episodes, to help determine if Dalton was actually experiencing seizures. "I've had a lot of experience with different doctors, but Dr. Zaatreh really stood out," Pamela says. "He asked questions no one had asked before and took so much time with Dalton. I knew before he even ordered testing that he would figure out what this was." www.centrastate.com Dalton Trembow, 17, broke the New Egypt High School record for the discus throw last spring after successful treatment for a neurological condition. SIGH OF RELIEF What Dr. Zaatreh found wasn't epilepsy or another condition causing seizures. Instead, he discovered that Dalton has an extremely rare disorder called paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesias (PKD), an involuntary movement disorder that causes sudden attacks of movement in the limbs. Dalton was prescribed a low-dose seizure medication to control the spasms, and he has been symptom free since. He recently broke his high school's discus record and hopes to pursue track and field when he goes to college. "I thought for a while that the episodes were something just in my head and that I needed to fix them myself," Dalton says. "To hear an actual diagnosis and to learn it could be controlled with medication was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders." For more information about The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at CentraState, call (866) CENTRA7 (866-236-8727) or visit www.centrastate.com/epilepsy. HD Epilepsy Care at CentraState The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at CentraState Medical Center offers specialized care for patients of all ages who suffer from epilepsy and other conditions that cause seizures and spasms. The Center offers a variety of treatment options, including: • Dietary therapy • Epilepsy surgery • Medications • Vagus nerve stimulator (device that sends regular electrical pulses to the brain to prevent seizures) "The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center offers a full spectrum of services—not only for the prevention of seizures, but also to educate patients about their conditions and treat the cognitive and psychological effects of seizures," says Megdad Zaatreh, MD, board-certified neurologist and director, The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, CentraState. "We don't just try to stop seizures, we treat the patient as a whole." November/December 2011 5

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