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Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood
Background
Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood: AHC; Alternating Hemiplegia
Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood is a condition that causes transient weakness of either, or both, sides of the body. The attacks may alternate or sometimes overlap, that is the second side is affected before the first recovers. Attacks start in the first eighteen months of life but the earliest episodes are often unusual irregular eye movements. The attacks last from less than an hour, which is unusual, to several days. When the attacks are prolonged the manifestations are not apparent during sleep or for the first fifteen to twenty minutes on waking when they then return. This is a very characteristic finding and when there are bilateral attacks (those that occur on both sides of the body), this may allow feeding and drinking to occur in that short clear period after waking. The episodes of hemiplegia are not epileptic in nature but epileptic seizures also occur in about half of those affected and require separate anti-epileptic drug treatment.
