Simultaneous nonepileptic spells and nonorganic hearing loss: A case of comorbid psychogenic symptoms

• Main Authors: Reza Sadjadi, Mark Quigg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2014-01-01
• Series: Epilepsy and Behavior Case Reports
• Subjects: Psychogenic nonepileptic spells (PNES); Pseudoseizures; Nonorganic hearing loss; Pseudohypacusis; Auditory-evoked potentials; Continuous video-EEG
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213323213000510

A twenty-eight-year-old woman with an eight-year history of partial hearing loss presented with a two-year history of worsening deafness and new-onset seizures. Evaluations of tympanic membranes, cochlea, and auditory brain stem reflexes demonstrated no physiologic basis for deafness. Video-EEG monitoring demonstrated that the patient responded normally to spontaneous auditory stimuli and that typical spells were nonepileptic in origin. Although pseudohypacusis is reported in audiology literature, and psychogenic nonepileptic spells are well-studied phenomena in neurology literature, the present case is an unusual case of dual psychogenic symptoms, a relationship that indicates poorer prognosis.