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Updated: Apr 24, 2019 03:22 IST

Three-and-a-half-year-old Kenyan girl, Ikhlas Suleman, had been suffering from recurring episodes of abdominal pain and vomiting for the past year. Her family said that over this period, the girl ate little and would vomit most of what she ate. Despite several visits to doctors in Nairobi, where they live, no correct diagnosis could be made, they said explaining why they chose to make the long and expensive journey to Gurugram.

The BMJ Journal explains abdominal epilepsy as a rare, genetic condition, mostly in children, and is one of the very rare causes of abdominal pain. Making diagnosis for it can be challenging, and Suleman’s journey to get better faced several misdiagnoses.

Usual signs and symptoms of seizures may include uncontrollable jerking movements, loss of awareness or consciousness and confusion. Doctors said since recurrent abdominal pain is a rare symptom of epilepsy, it often goes undetected and is treated as other common conditions.

Suleman’s pain was distributed mainly in the upper central region of the abdomen, would last for more than 20 minutes each time he suffered an episode. The episodes recurred two to three times a month, the onset was sudden, but subsided spontaneously.

“The electroencephalogram (EEG) test isn’t readily available in their home country, and she was misdiagnosed with stomach issues,” said paediatric neurologist at Fortis Hospital, Dr RK Jain, who treated her. Explaining how rare the condition is Dr Jain said he sees only about one or two cases of the diseases in a year.

Around a month ago, Suleman underwent an EEG test, which records electric signals of the brain, and results confirmed abdominal epilepsy.Dr Jain said a couple of days after Suleman’s treatment began, she went to a mall in the city and ate all kinds of food without vomiting even once. She is now back home in Nairobi and is responding well to medication which will continue for at least another year.

“Since the treatment began, she hasn’t had any epileptic episode and is eating well. She hasn’t vomited since then either,” her father said, adding that he has now found a doctor in their home country who was trained in the United Kingdom, whom they can refer to in case of complications.

“A high index of suspicion is key to an early diagnosis in case of abdomen epilepsy,” said Dr Vivek Kumar, who works towards welfare of patients with epilepsy. He added that despite being a rare symptom, the diagnosis of abdominal epilepsy should be considered in patients with recurrent attacks of severe abdominal pain after exclusion of other common conditions.