Author: kareena_sheshadri

This morning, Dr. Pourdeyhimi and I saw a patient that has sunflower syndrome. Sunflower syndrome is a type of seizure that is when a person turns towards the light and waves a hand in front of their eye while the brain is seizing at the same time. This is a very rare syndrome and does not have too much research done on it therefore, there has been some stigma and confusion around the syndrome as well. The stigma around the syndrome is mainly related to the fact that there is no solid scientific cure for the disease so before there was more research on it, it was seen that the person was self-inducing a seizure for attention. This is not the reality and as the syndrome continues to be studied, there should be more known about it. In addition to visiting this patient, this afternoon, Dr. Pourdeyhimi showed me the results of an EEG, which measures the activity in the brain and explains that there are little bumps in the activity, but if those “sparks”/bumps catch on “fire”/large dips, a seizure could be occurring. On an EEG, the seizures are seen as large bumps of brain activity that are abnormal and different from those “sparks” of activity.

This is a picture of an EEG. It shows the routine sparks of brain activity, but then it also shows dips in the activity which depending on the size of the dip and its different aspects, can show a possible seizure. The different lines show different sides and locations of the brain.

This morning while working at Raleigh Neurology with Dr. Pourdeyhimi, we saw a patient that was dealing with post-concussion symptoms. She said that she was still having headaches over a month post-concussion. Dr. Pourdeyhimi explained to me after the visit that a concussion is just a disturbance of activity in different parts of the brain that cause symptoms like headaches, dizziness, etc. She also said that recovery can be longer for people with different conditions. There is still a lot that is unknown about concussions in the study of neurology and as there are more studies done on it, treatment changes. An example is previously treatment for concussions was that a person with a concussion should stay home and off of devices, but now as there are more studies, it is seen that pushing through little by little and going to school and classes is more effective for recovery. In the afternoon, we saw multiple patients that were dealing with seizers. It was interesting to learn that as Dr. Pourdeyhimi says, every kid gets one free sezier, but after that, they are diagnosed with epilepisy and given medicines and can live a normal life after being on a medicine.

Here is an image of me in the triage area!

Today I started working with Dr. Pourdeyhimi at Raleigh Neurology associates. I shadowed her through her full-day schedule from morning to the end of the day. I saw many of her patients with her who had questions varying from tics to headaches to dizziness and blackouts. After seeing a patient with various symptoms including dizziness, blackouts, headaches, leg numbness, and tingling, Dr. Pourdeyhimi explained that the effect of the brain seizing in one area could cause these odd symptoms. She plans to have the patient have some tests done and then follow up. It was very cool and interesting to be able to think about her symptoms and try to figure out what was going on and of course, learn from Dr. Pourdeyhimi the different causes of the things that we were seeing. I am very grateful for this opportunity and for Dr. Pourdeyhimi’s kindness to open her office and her work to me!

For work experience, I plan on shadowing and working with Dr. Pourdeyhimi at Raleigh Neurology Associates!