Forced normalization after turning off vagus nerve stimulation in Lennox–Gastaut syndrome

Abstract

Forced normalization is the development of psychiatric symptoms in a patient experiencing remission of seizures. We present a case of Lennox Gastaut syndrome in which forced normalization developed after vagus nerve stimulation was stopped.The patient had drug resistant epilepsy and failed anti-seizure drugs, vagus nerve stimulation, and a partial callosotomy.The patient had multiple types of seizures including drop attacks, absences, and tonic–clonic seizures. He tried vagus nerve stimulation for two years without success. Forced normalization developed after the vagus nerve stimulator was turned off.This is the first case to our knowledge to describe forced normalization after turning off the vagus nerve stimulator. Keywords: Forced normalization, Lennox Gastaut syndrome, Vagus nerve stimulation