Epilepsy
What is Epilepsy?
Seizures take on many different forms from one person to another.Epilepsy is a neurological condition that makes people susceptible to seizures. A seizure is a change in sensation, awareness, or behavior brought about by a brief electrical disruption in the brain. Seizures can be a very short disruption of the senses, to periods of unconsciousness or staring spells, to convulsions. Some people have just one type of seizure. Others have more than one type. Seizures may look different but they are caused by the same thing: a sudden change in how the cells of the brain send electrical signals to one another.
If you have epilepsy, you probably already know that it's not a mental disorder. It can be caused by anything that affects the brain, including tumors and strokes. Sometimes epilepsy is inherited. Sometimes, no cause can be found. Doctors treat epilepsy primarily with seizure-preventing medicines. Although seizure medications are not a cure, they control seizures in most people with epilepsy.
Surgery, diet (primarily in children), or electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, a large nerve leading into the brain, may be options if medications fail to control seizures. Several drugs (called antiepileptic or anticonvulsant drugs) are prescribed to prevent seizures. Many factors are involved in choosing the right seizure drug. The goal of treatment is to stop seizures without side effects from the medicines.
Epilepsy Symptoms
The main symptoms of epilepsy are repeated seizures. Doctors who treat epilepsy classify seizures by how much of the brain is affected. There are:- partial seizures - where only a small part of the brain is affected, and
- generalised seizures - where most or all of the brain is affected.
There are two types of partial seizure: simple partial seizure - this is a seizure where you remain conscious, and
complex partial seizure - this is a seizure where you lose your sense of awareness and may have no memory of the event. Symptoms of a simple partial seizure include:
- experiencing changes in the way things look, smell, feel, taste or sound,
- experiencing a sudden intense emotion, such as fear or joy,
- the muscles in your arms, legs and face may become stiff, and
- experiencing an intense feeling of deja vu (a feeling that these events have happened before),
- experiencing a tingling sensation ('pins and needles') in your arms and legs
- you may experience twitching on one side of your body.
- smacking your lips,
- moving your arms around,
- picking at clothes,
- fiddling with objects,
- rubbing your hands,
- making random noises,
- adopting an unusual posture, and
- chewing, or swallowing.
Generalised seizures
In most cases a person having a generalised seizure will be completely unconscious.
There are six main types of generalised seizure, which are described below. Absences
Absences (also known as petit mal seizures) are seizure that mainly affects children. They cause the child to lose awareness of their surroundings for five to 20 seconds. The child will seem to just stare vacantly into space, although some children will flutter their eyes or smack their lips. The child will have no memory of the seizure.
Absences can occur several times a day. Though they are not dangerous, they may affect the child's performance at school.
Atonic seizure
This causes all of your muscles to suddenly relax, so there is a chance you will fall to the ground and facial injuires are common with this type of seizure.
Tonic seizure
Unlike an atonic seizure, this causes all of the muscles to suddenly become stiff and you can then lose balance and fall over, so injuries to the back of the head are common with this type of seizure.
Myoclonic jerks
These types of seizures cause your arms, legs or upper body to jerk or twitch - much like if you have received an electric shock. They often only last for a fraction of a second, and you should remain conscious during this time. Myoclonic jerks often happen in the first few hours after waking up and can occur in combination with other types of generalised seizures.
Clonic seizure
This causes the same sort of twitching as myclonic jerks, except the symptoms will last longer, normally up to two minutes. Loss of consciousness may occur.
Tonic clonic seizure A tonic colic seizure (also known as a grand mal seizure) has two stages. Your body will become stiff and then your arms and legs will begin twitching. You will lose consciousness and some people will wet themselves. The seizure normally lasts between one and three minutes but they can last longer.
This is the most common type of seizure, accounting for 60% of all seizures experienced by people living with epilepsy.
Tonic-colic seizure are typically what people are referring to when the use the term 'epileptic fit'.
People can experience any of the above types of seizure, but usually the pattern of somebody's symptoms remains the same. This pattern is known as an epilepsy syndrome.
