“Epilepsy is a neurological condition, which affects the nervous system. (www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_epilepsy) Epilepsy is also known as seizure disorder. People are usually diagnosed after having two seizures that was caused by a known medical condition such as extremely low blood sugar or withdrawal from alcohol. “A seizure is a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain that usually affects how a person feels and acts for a short period of time. ”(www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_seizure). These sudden surges happens in the outside rim of the brain called the cortex. Seizures can be mild or extremely serve.
Sometimes it you are having a mild seizure you may not realize you are having one at all. The more extreme ones can be totally disabling. A person who has a brain injury or abnormality to the brain is twice as likely to have a second seizure. When people have two seizures they will have a chance of eighty percent to have another one. If you have had seizures with no known causes the chance of you having another one is half of you will have one in six months. If you keep on having seizure then your doctor can do a neurological examination. A neurological examination can be performed in your doctor’s office.
The neurological examination is a set of test to check the function of your nervous system. Another way to predict whether or not you will have more seizures is an electroencephalogram. This is more commonly known as an EEG. An electroencephalogram is a test where they attach wires to your scalp. The wires then record your brain waves. This kind of test can last only a couple of hours in and office or hospital. It can also be perform over a period of three days. You will have a bag to carry around that the wires are connected to as you go about your daily life. This shows your doctor how your brain reacts to your daily life.
On an electroencephalogram certain brain wave patterns are typical for epilepsy. If you test shows these pattern you are twice as likely to develop epilepsy. “About zero point five percent to two percent of people will develop epilepsy during their lifetime. (www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_who) About two point seven million American people were treated for epilepsy in the past five years. Out of one thousand people, eight or nine people can have epilepsy. Men are affected more by epilepsy than women are. In the first year of an infant’s life epilepsy is more common among children.
The balance between factors that begin electrical activity and that restrict them is a very fine balance of the brain. Abnormal electrical discharges starts happening and spreads all around at once. “This linkage of electrical discharges creates a “storm” of electrical activity in the brain. ”(www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_cause) When older people starts to develop Alzheimer’s disease, strokes, brain tumors, the number of cases increases after the age of fifty-five or sixty. Everyone will not have a seizure that is the same. “Seizure can take on many different forms and seizures affect different people in different ways. ” (www. epilepsy.com/101/ep101_systoms).
Seizures have a beginning, middle, and an end. Some individuals can be aware of the beginning. When this happens they are having a warning or an aura. Some people may never have a beginning, so there is no warning or an aura. A partial seizure is when you have a warning or aura but no other symptoms. The middle of a seizure can come in many different forms. If you have an aura or a beginning, it can become a convulsion or a complex partial seizure. If there are no warning signs it could continue as a complex partial seizure. The end of a seizure represents a transition from the seizure to your normal state.
This is called postictal period (an ictus is a seizure). The recovery period is nessacary for the brain to recover. The recovery period could last anywhere from seconds, to minutes, to hours, even days. It all depends on the part of the brain affected during the seizure. In addition to if the person is taking anti-seizure medication. The person’s level of awareness improves like a person waking up from anesthesia after an operation. These are some other symptoms listed below you may experience. 1: Early seizure symptoms (warning): Sensory/Thoughts: Deju Vu Jamais Vu Smell Sound Taste Visual loss or blurring Racing thoughts Stomache felling.
Strange feeling Tingling feeling Emotional: Fear/panic Pleasant feeling Physical: Dizziness Headaches Lightheadedness Nausea Numbness 2:Seizure symptoms: Sensory/Thought: Black out Confusion Deafness/sounds Loss of consciousness Smell Space out Out of body experience Visual loss or blurring Emotions: Fear/panic Physical: Chewing movements Convulison Difficulty talking Drooling Eyelid fluttering Eyes rolling up Falling down Foot stomping Hand waving Inability to move Incontinence Lip smacking Making sounds Shaking Staring Stiffening Swallowing Sweating Teeth clenching/grinding Tongue biting Tremors Twitching movements Breathing difficulty.
Heart racing 3:After seizure symptoms(post-ictal): Thought: Memory loss Writing difficulty Emotional: Confusion Depression and sadness Fear Frustration Shame/embarrassment Physical: Bruising Difficulty talking Injuries Sleeping Exhaustion Headaches Nausea Pain Thirst Weakness Urge to urinate/defecate (www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_symptoms) Some risk factors for seizures are listed below: Abnormal blood vessels in the brain Bleeding into the brain Lack of oxygen to the brain Stroke resulting from blockages of the arteries Cerebral palsy Mental handicap Fever related (febrile) seizures that are very long Use of illegal drugs such as cocaine.
“Mild head injuries, such as a concussion with just a very brief loss of consciousness, do not cause epilepsy” (www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_risk) There are many more symptoms and risk factors for epilepsy. Just because you do not see yours on this list do not mean you are not having epilepsy. The only way to know if you are having epilepsy is to talk to your doctor. Epilepsy can be inherited. Most of the time if epilepsy is inherited it starts when you are a small child. It may also start in your later age. “Epilepsy in which the seizure begins from both sides of the brain at the same time is called primary generalized epilepsy. (www.epilepsy. com/101/ep101_inherited).
Someone who has inherited seizures is more likely to have primary generalized epilepsy instead of partial seizures. Only four percent to ten percent of children will have epilepsy if it runs in their family. It all depends on what type of seizures and how many family members has it. If your father has epilepsy your risk will be slightly higher. If your father does not have epilepsy but your mother does your risk is still less than five percent. If both your mother and father has epilepsy then your chances of having epilepsy is higher. People always worry if they will pass epilepsy onto their children.
The risk of your child inherited epilepsy is low. For most children that get epilepsy, they usually out grow them later in life. For the ones that don’t out grow them can use medication to help control the seizure. The medication can not only help control the seizures but help them live a long, happy, normal life. For two years eighty percent of people who lives with seizures that is on medication will remain seizure free. Fifty to sixty percent of adults and children after the first seizure medication used will remain seizure free. In adults, thirty percent will never have to be put on seizure medication.
Twenty five years after being diagnosis with epilepsy three quarters of the people will be seizure free for five yours. “Many people who are seizure free for two to four years can stop taking their medications, under their doctor’s supervision, without having further seizures. ”(www. epilepsy. com/101ep101_duration) Your doctor will take you off your medications over a period of time. It could take weeks, or months under a doctor’s care. It is never safe to stop taking your medication all at once unless your doctor tells you to. If medications do not work for you there are other options your doctor may want to try.
Vague nerve stimulation or epilepsy surgery is two options to help control your seizures. Epilepsy can be very serious. “A long lasting convulsive seizure (called “tonic clonic status epilepticus”) is a medical emergency. ” (www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_death) Death or permanent injuries can occur if a seizure lasts longer than thirty minutes. One way to keep a person safe that is in a seizure is turn them on their side when it begins. This keeps them from choking in their own vomit. If you have a seizure disorder your doctor will advise you to be very careful. Your doctor may tell you to stick with showers instead of baths.
You are told this because you can drown in only a few inches of water. If you have a seizure in the tub you may lose conscious and go under the water. You need to be careful walking on train platforms or beside a busy street. Along with other daily activities you do. Even if you do have to be more careful you can still live a normal, safe life with some planning. Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy is also known as SUDEP. Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy is very rare and without clear causes. Less than two percent of people with epilepsy die from their condition. SUDEP is extremely rare in children.
These people are found in the bed dead. Most of the time, it does not appear they have had a seizure. For the people who look like a seizure was part of it will be lying face down. Researchers thinks fluid in the lungs, suffocation, and difficulty breathing or irregular heart rhythm can be a factor in Sudden Unexplained Deaths in Epilepsy. Here are a few facts and myths about seizures. “The Greek physician Hippocrates wrote the first book on epilepsy titled On the Sacred Disease, around four hundred BC. ”(www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_facts) He said epilepsy was a brain disorder and not a curse from the gods.
Hippocrates also said “people with epilepsy held the power of prophecy” In Malleus Maleficarum, written by two Dominican friars said that one way to tell if there was a person who was a witch, they would have a seizure disorder. Up to one thousand women thought to be witches was torture and persecuted. This theory was proven false. Just because you have epilepsy does not mean you are a witch. “There are six types of generalized seizures. ”(www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_types -of- seizures-their-symptoms) 1: Grand mal or Generalized tonic clonic 2: Absence 3: Myoclonic 4: Clonic 5: Tonic 6: Atonic
First we will talk about the most common which is Grand mal seizure. The different stages of grand mal seizures are first you lose consciousness and collapse usually. This is called the tonic phase. The tonic phase lasts for thirty to sixty seconds. After the tonic phase you go into the clonic phase, which is violent jerking that lasts for thirty to sixty seconds. The patient will go into a deep sleep called the postictal or the after seizure phase. When a person has a grand mal seizure they can have injuries such as urinary incontinence and tongue biting. The second type is absence seizure.
During this seizure most patients do not realize they are having a seizure. They have a blank stare. They start and end abruptly. You can have several a day. The third type is Myoclonic seizures. They consist of sporadic jerks on one side. You may drop or throw objects involuntarily. Clonic seizure both side of your body jerks in a rhythmic movements. Tonic seizures are stiffness of the muscles. Atonic you can fall because you suddenly lose muscle tone in your legs and arms. There are some ways you can help take care of a person who is having a seizure. “When a seizure occurs, the main goal is to protect the person from injury.
”(www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003200. htm. ) IF possible try to prevent them from falling. Lay the person in the seizure on the ground. Clear all furniture and any sharp objects out of the way. Cushion the person head to prevent head or brain injury. If clothes are tight around the neck loosen the clothing. To make sure they don’t choke turn them on their side. This way if they vomit it can run out of the mouth and hey will not choke on it. Check to see if the person is wearing a medical ID bracelet with any instruction for seizures. Finally stay with the person until they recover or help arrives.
If the patient is a small child with a high fever having a seizure, use tepid water to cool the child off slowly. Do not put them in a cool bath. You can give them acetaminophen as known as Tylenol. You should call a medical professional by dialing 911, when it is the first seizure a person has had. If the seizure lasts more than five minutes call for help. Some other times to call a medical professional is if they are pregnant, injured, has diabetes, or if they are having the seizure in water. If at any time you are not sure what to do you can always call a medical professional immediately. They are there to help people in need.
To help prevent seizures you need to continue taking you medications. Getting plenty of quality sleep, exercise, eating a healthy diet, and reducing stress are some ways to help prevent seizures. When you do not take care of yourself your risk of having seizures are much greater. This is a brief over look on the topic of seizures or epilepsy. To find out more you can contact your doctor. He/she can answer any question you may have. WORK CITIED 1:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_seizure Steven C. Schactiter, MD 2:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_epilepsy, Carol Camfield, MD/ Robert S. Fisher, MD Ph. D. 3:www.epilepsy. com/101/ep101_symptom Steven C.
Schactiter, MD 4:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_who Steven C. Schactiter, MD 5:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_cause Steven C. Schactiter, MD 6:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_risk 7:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_inherited Steven C. Schactiter, MD 8:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_duration Steven C. Schactiter, MD 9:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_death Steven C. Schactiter, MD 10:www. epilepsy. com/101/ep101_facts Orrin Devinsky, MD/Robert Fisher, MD PHD 11:www. webmd. com/epilepsy/guide/type-of-seizures-their-symptoms) 12:www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003200. htp).