[Principles of the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy]

The diagnostic and differential-diagnostic necessities that result from an epileptic seizure are presented in synoptic form: the most common cause of an initial attack is alcohol withdrawal, inflammatory processes or tumors. In known epileptics, irregular use (non-compliance) of the drugs prescribed--or an infection (GI tract infection with disordered absorption) may be the triggering factor. Attention is drawn to the importance of the determination of serum levels (of anti-epileptic drugs). The establishment of day profiles in known epileptics can reveal inadequate or irregular ingestion of prescribed drugs to be the causal factor.