Clinical importance of peri-ictal water drinking

Abstract

Background: Peri-ictal water drinking is drinking water within a short period or during a seizure. This behavior can be experienced in childhood and adulthood and commonly affects adults suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy. Peri-ictal water drinking has clinical importance for lateralizing signs in the non-dominant hemisphere. It has been found in up to 7–15% of patients with focal epilepsy. Case presentation: This case study involved a 44-year-old right-handed female referred tour center as a case of drug-resistant epilepsy for presurgical evaluation. After evaluation in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, the patient was considered a candidate for right temporal lobectomy. The patient exhibited good outcome post-temporal lobectomy. Conclusions: This case highlights the previously observed association between peri-ictal water drinking and the non-dominant hemisphere in patients with epilepsy. Clinicians must not overlook this automatic behavior that both patients and physicians usually underestimate because drinking water is a normal phenomenon.