Epilepsy Seizure disorder explained
Epilepsy is a kind of brain disorder in which clusters of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain sometimes signal abnormally. More than 2 million people in the United States about 1 in 100 have experienced an unprovoked seizure or been diagnosed with epilepsy. Brain is a highly complex electrical system, powered by roughly 80 pulses of energy per second. These pulses move back and forth between nerve cells to produce thoughts, feelings, and memories. An epileptic seizure occurs when these energy pulses come much more rapidly-as many as 500 per second for a short time-due to an electrical abnormality in the brain. Any kind of changes in the brain is known as epileptic seizure. Epilepsy is not contagious.
Causes:
- Epilepsy may develop because of an abnormality in brain wiring, an imbalance of nerve signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters, or some combination of these factors.
- In some cases, the brain's attempts to repair itself after a head injury, stroke, or other problem may inadvertently generate abnormal nerve connections that lead to epilepsy.
- Research suggests that genetic abnormalities may be some of the most important factors contributing to epilepsy.
- Epilepsy develops as a result of brain damage from other disorders like brain tumors, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease.
- Seizures can result from exposure to lead, carbon monoxide, and many other poisons.
Seizure: A seizure is a symptom of epilepsy, but not all seizures are caused by epilepsy. A seizure not related to epilepsy can be caused by a reaction to:
- A drug
- A high fever
- A severe head injury
- Other disorders such diabetes, some heart conditions, and narcolepsy.
First seizures, febrile seizures, nonepileptic events, and eclampsia are examples of seizures that may not be associated with epilepsy.
Types of Seizures:
1. Partial Seizures: Partial seizures are often named for the part of the brain in which they happen. About 60% of all people who have epilepsy have this type of seizure.
2. Simple partial seizures: People who have simple partial seizures stay awake and aware but may hear, see, smell, or taste things that aren't real. They may also suddenly feel afraid, angry, happy or sad for no reason. They may become confused or experience jerking or tingling in an arm or leg.
3.
Complex partial seizures: Complex
partial seizures usually begin with a blank stare that indicates a brief loss
of consciousness. People who have these seizures may blink, twitch, chew or
smack the lips repeatedly. They may seem drunk, express exaggerated anger or
fear, and throw things around.
4. Aura: Some people who have partial seizures experience unusual sensations that warn them that they are about to have a seizure. This premonitory state is called aura. A person experiencing an aura is having a simple partial seizure without losing consciousness.
5. Secondarily generalized seizures: Sometimes people have partial seizures that spread to the whole brain and become generalized seizures.
6. Generalized Seizures: Generalized seizures affect a more widespread area of the brain than the partial seizures do and they have more serious consequences.
Types of Epilepsy:
- Absence Epilepsy: Absence epilepsy tends to run in families. The seizures frequently begin in childhood or adolescence. If the seizures begin in childhood, they usually stop at puberty. Children with absence epilepsy frequently have so many seizures that it interferes with school and other normal activities.
- Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most frequent cause of partial seizures and aura. TLE often begins in childhood. Repeated TLE seizures can damage the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is important for memory and learning. It is important to treat TLE as early as possible.
- Frontal Lobe Epilepsy: The frontal lobes of the brain lie behind the forehead. Frontal lobe epilepsy causes a cluster of short seizures that start and stop suddenly.
- Occipital Lobe Epilepsy: Occipital lobe epilepsy is like frontal and temporal lobe epilepsies, except that the seizures usually begin with visual hallucinations, rapid blinking, and other symptoms related to the eyes.
- Parietal Lobe Epilepsy: The parietal lobe lies between the frontal and temporal lobes. Parietal lobe epilepsy is similar to other types in part because parietal lobe seizures tend to spread to other areas of the brain.
Prevention of Epilepsy:
- Wear seatbelts and bicycle helmets.
- Place children in car seats.
- Take other measures that prevent head injury and other trauma.
- Prescribing medication after first or second seizures or febrile seizures also may help prevent epilepsy in some cases.
- Good prenatal care, including treatment of high blood pressure and infections during pregnancy, can prevent brain damage in the developing baby that may lead to epilepsy and other neurological problems later.
- Identifying the genes for many neurological disorders can provide opportunities for genetic screening and prenatal diagnosis that may ultimately prevent many cases of epilepsy.
Treatment: There are many different ways to treat epilepsy. Once epilepsy is diagnosed, it is important to begin treatment as soon as possible.
- Medications: The most common approach to treating epilepsy is to prescribe antiepileptic drugs. The choice of which drug to prescribe, and at what dosage, depends on many different factors, including the type of seizures a person has, the person's lifestyle and age, how frequently the seizures occur. Some doctors will advise people with epilepsy to discontinue their antiepileptic drugs after 2 years have passed without a seizure. Others feel it is better to wait for 4 to 5 years.
- Surgery: When seizures cannot be adequately controlled by medications, doctors may recommend that the person be evaluated for surgery. Surgery for epilepsy is performed by teams of doctors at medical centers. To decide if a person may benefit from surgery, doctors consider the type or types of seizures he or she has. The most common type of surgery for epilepsy is removal of a seizure focus, or small area of the brain where seizures originate.
- Multiple subpial transection: When seizures originate in part of the brain that cannot be removed, surgeons may perform a procedure called a multiple subpial transection. In this type of operation, surgeons make a series of cuts that are designed to prevent seizures from spreading into other parts of the brain while leaving the person's normal abilities intact.
- Corpus callosotomy: Corpus callosotomy, or severing the network of neural connections between the right and left halves, or hemispheres, of the brain, is done primarily in children with severe seizures that start in one half of the brain and spread to the other side.
- Diet: Studies have shown that, in some cases, children may experience fewer seizures if they maintain a strict diet rich in fats and low in carbohydrates. This unusual diet, called the ketogenic diet, causes the body to break down fats instead of carbohydrates to survive. This condition is called ketosis.
- Hemispherectomy and hemispherotomy: These procedures remove half of the brain's cortex, or outer layer. They are used predominantly in children who have seizures that do not respond to medication because of damage that involves only half the brain.
Children with epilepsy can face problems in school.
These include: learning disabilities, safety risks, behavior problems, social problems, chronic absenteeis. But having saiid all this they should all be encouraged to participate in everythingand they should not feel left out because of their epilepsy. Remember also that there are people and groups willing to help you and your family, you just have to ask.
(Sources: ehealthmd.com, medicinenet.com, epilepsyontario.org)
(Image sources: irishhealth.com/article.html?id=13241, threebobbypins.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html, bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/epilepsy/childrenepilepsy_index.shtml, health.howstuffworks.com/epilepsy2.htm, takingmeds.com/medicine-tips/epilepsy/what-it-means.html)
