Myth 1: If a patient convulses, it is epilepsy. Convulsions are one of the main symptoms of epilepsy, but they are not unique to epilepsy. Other diseases can also cause convulsions, such as hysterical convulsions, hypocalcemic convulsions, pediatric hyperthermic convulsions, hypoglycemic convulsions, etc. are not part of epilepsy. Therefore, convulsions may not always be due to epilepsy. Also, some types of epilepsy do not have convulsion symptoms, such as aphasic seizures, temporal lobe epilepsy, ventral epilepsy, and headache epilepsy. Therefore, convulsions should not be equated with epilepsy. Misconception 2: Large convulsive movements are grand mal seizures and small movements are petit mal seizures. Both grand mal and petit mal seizures are generalized seizures. The size of the seizure is not differentiated by the magnitude of the jerking action. A grand mal seizure has a generalized twitching of the limbs, while a typical petit mal seizure has only a brief (no more than 1 minute) loss of consciousness and no convulsive movements. Some patients or family members identify all other forms of seizures other than generalized grand mal seizures as petit mal seizures, which is obviously inaccurate. The clinician has to be accurate and select the right medicine according to the patient’s medical history and symptoms in order to receive better results. The third misconception is that patients have loss of consciousness when they have a seizure. The vast majority of patients with epilepsy have loss of consciousness with their seizures. However, some types of epilepsy, such as limited seizures and myoclonic epilepsy, are clearly conscious during seizures. Therefore, the diagnosis of epilepsy should not be denied and treatment should not be delayed because the patient does not lose consciousness. Myth 4: Primary epilepsy is associated with heredity, while secondary epilepsy is not associated with heredity. A large number of surveys of epileptic patients and their blood relatives found that not only primary epilepsy is related to heredity, but the incidence of secondary epilepsy in the immediate family is much higher than in the general population. From a clinical analysis, patients who have had traumatic brain injury, had encephalitis, meningitis, or a history of birth asphyxia do not always develop epilepsy. This suggests that the occurrence of epilepsy depends not only on the strength of environmental factors, but is importantly determined by congenital genetic factors. The lower the threshold, the more likely epilepsy will occur. If the intensity of environmental factors exceeds the convulsive threshold, epilepsy will occur. This means that not only primary epilepsy but also secondary epilepsy has some heritability. Myth 5: Epilepsy is hereditary and epileptic patients should not have children. Although epilepsy is hereditary, the effect on the next generation is not 100%. Generally speaking, only 5% of the children of epileptic patients have epilepsy, so epileptic patients can have children. The law in China does not explicitly forbid people with epilepsy from having children. However, from a eugenic point of view, it is best for epileptics to avoid marrying people with low convulsive thresholds (including epileptics and those with a history of febrile convulsions), and epileptics should have children after their condition is stable and their seizures are basically controlled. Myth 6: A normal EEG does not diagnose epilepsy. The EEG examination is of great value for the diagnosis of epilepsy, differential diagnosis, and is an essential auxiliary examination for the diagnosis of epilepsy. According to statistics, 80% of epileptic patients have abnormal EEG, while about 5-20% of epileptic patients have normal EEG during the interictal period, and there are some people with abnormal EEG who never have seizures. Therefore, the diagnosis of epilepsy cannot be ruled out clinically because the EEG is normal, nor can the diagnosis of epilepsy be made because of an abnormal EEG. Doctors must combine medical history and clinical seizure manifestations to make a comprehensive analysis in order to make a correct diagnosis. The first thing you need to do is to take a look at the results. One of the principles of antiepileptic medication is to advocate a single medication. In recent years, studies have found that the vast majority of epileptic patients can satisfactorily control their seizures by taking an appropriate dose of an antiepileptic agent under blood concentration monitoring, and there is no need to take multiple antiepileptic agents simultaneously. The combination of drugs can easily lead to chronic toxicity, drug interactions affect the efficacy of drugs, increase toxic side effects, and make seizures more frequent, increasing the economic burden of patients. If a single drug, can not control seizures, should analyze the reasons, under the guidance of doctors to choose a combination of drugs. Myth 8: Western medicine for epilepsy requires lifelong medication. One of the principles of western medicine for epilepsy is to insist on long-term medication and slow discontinuation, but it is not always necessary to take medication for life. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who have been in the business for a long time, and they’ve been in the business for a long time. If an attack occurs during the period of gradual reduction, the original dosage should be restored and continue to be taken for four years without any attack, and then be reduced and stopped in turn. If the attack cannot be controlled by reasonable and adequate western medicine treatment, and there are obvious toxic side effects, Chinese herbal medicine can also be chosen to gradually replace western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine, while not neglecting the treatment of the original disease with treatment indications.