Seizure disorder complicating acute severe Asthma: An unusual presentation

Abstract

Asthmatic attack is one of the commonest disorders presenting in the medical outpatient clinic in Nigeria. There are attendant complications in untreated acute severe exacerbations of asthma. In this article, we report seizure disorder complicating an acute severe exacerbation of asthma affecting a young Nigerian student. There is widespread bronchoconstriction in acute severe asthma leading to hypoventilation in the phase of normal perfusion. The Hypoxemia that ensues causes a sequence of respiratory alkalosis, respiratory acidosis and metabolic acidosis which makes the patient more susceptible to anoxic brain damage. The seizure in this circumstance was easily reversed by treatment with adequate Oxygen therapy in addition to the nebulised salbutamol and steroid. The seizure could be mistaken to be a primarily neurological condition coexisting with asthma and hence referred to a neurologist.