ABSTRACT
A 29-year-old man was brought to hospital following a witnessed collapse at work. His colleagues described the patient collapsing to the floor followed by a 30-second period where all four limbs were jerking/shaking. There was a subsequent 5-minute period where he was unrousable and he then became progressively more alert over the next 15 minutes. The patient did not recall the events preceding his loss of consciousness. He had bitten his tongue and was incontinent of urine. He denied any previous episodes of collapse. He had no past medical history and took no regular medications. He worked at an estate agent company doing office work and lived alone. He had no sexual partners in the preceding year. He had never smoked and estimated that he drank around 20 units of alcohol per week. He denied recreational or herbal drug use. He was born in the United Kingdom and had lived there for all of his life. His last episode of travel had been a backpacking trip around Asia from which he had returned 6 months earlier.
