Mood Disorder
Mood is distorted or inconsistent with the circumstances and interferes with a person’s ability to function.
Migraine
A headache characterized by throbbing head pain, often greater on one side; may be preceded by a warning (aura) and accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound; in rare cases, weakness, language problems, or other neurologic disorders are associated with migraine.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
MRI uses powerful magnets, radio waves and computers to image inside the body. Imagine a loaf of bread with one raisin (HH) in the middle. Now take a (virtual) bread knife and slice the bread with the intention of slicing right through a hypothalamic hamartoma, which is sometimes as small as the raisin. Not an easy task. During…
Limbic System
A group of structures in the brain that includes the hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. The limbic system plays an important part in regulation of human moods and emotions. Many psychiatric disorders are related to malfunctioning of the limbic system.
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
A disorder beginning in childhood, characterized by development delay or mental retardation, multiple seizure types that do not respond well to therapy, and slow spike-and-wave discharges on the EEG.
Left temporal seizure foci
Partial seizure dirsorder arising from the left temporal lobe.
Ketogenic diet
A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet used to control seizures in some children with seizures, that are difficult to control with medications.
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME)
A primary generalized epilepsy syndrome, usually beginning between ages 5 to 17 years, characterized by myoclonic (muscle-jerk) seizures and possibly also absence and tonic-clonic seizures; responds well to valproate.
Intrahypothalamic (sessile)
A hypothalamic lesion which has a broad attachment, connects with the posterior hypothalamus, appear near the mamillary bodies and can distort the third ventricle.
Intractable
Difficult to alleviate, remedy, or cure; for example, intractable seizures are difficult to control with the usual antiepileptic drug therapy.