title: Sleeping in fits and starts: a practical guide to distinguishing nocturnal epilepsy from sleep disorders.
abstract: Accurately diagnosing sleep-related events, and particularly distinguishing nocturnal frontal lobe seizures from other sleep disorders such as parasomnias, can be challenging. This article reviews the differential diagnosis of paroxysmal events from sleep, epileptic and non-epileptic, considers important diagnostic points in the history, and evaluates the role of investigations in this setting.
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Derry
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017034:Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Epilepsy; Frontal Lobe; Paroxysmal Disorder; Sleep; Sleep Disorders