- February 12, 2016
- Posted by: emobile
- Category: Trending Issues
Emobileclinic Trending Issue
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain which occur in many people. Popularly recognized with ‘ recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement that may involve a part of the body (partial) or the entire body (generalized), and are sometimes accompanied by loss of consciousness and control of bowel or bladder function’
Epilepsy isn’t contagious against general perception.
The commonest type of epilepsy which affects 6 out of 10 epileptic patients is called idiopathic epilepsy and there is no known cause.
Epilepsy with a known cause is called secondary epilepsy, or symptomatic epilepsy. Epilepsy with a secondary cause can be as a result of :
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brain damage from prenatal or perinatal injuries (e.g. a loss of oxygen or trauma during birth, low birth weight),
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congenital abnormalities or genetic conditions with associated brain malformations,
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a severe head injury,
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a stroke that restricts the amount of oxygen to the brain,
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an infection of the brain such as meningitis, encephalitis, neurocysticercosis,
certain genetic syndromes, -
a brain tumor.
Risk Factors
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Age:Most episode of epilepsy appears in childhood and after 60 years, but the condition can occur at any age due to other influences of medical conditions like;
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Pregnancy , labor and childbirth, and the post-partum, or post-natal period (after birth) can be at a risk factor at times, especially with complications like eclampsia
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Cerebrovascular disease exposes older people to epilepsy
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Stroke and other vascular diseases. Stroke and other blood vessel (vascular) diseases can lead to brain damage that may trigger epilepsy. You can take a number of steps to reduce your risk of these diseases, including limiting your intake of alcohol and avoiding cigarettes, eating a healthy diet, and exercising regularly.
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Dementia. Dementia can increase the risk of epilepsy in older adults as confirmed in many researches.
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Brain infections. Infections such as meningitis, which causes inflammation in the brain or spinal cord, can increase the risk.
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Seizures in childhood. High fevers in childhood leading to seizure sometimes be associated with secondary seizures. Children who have seizures due to high fevers generally won’t develop epilepsy, although the risk is higher if they have a long seizure and repeated seizure. So is important to avoid high fever in kids.
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Family history. It could occur if there is a family history of epilepsy.
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Head injuries. Traumatic brain injuries are responsible for some cases of epilepsy in children and adolescent.
Treatment
According to WHO ‘epilepsy can be treated easily and affordably with inexpensive daily medication that costs as little as US$ 5 per year.’
‘Recent studies in both low- and middle-income countries have shown that up to 70% of children and adults with epilepsy can be successfully treated (i.e. their seizures completely controlled) with anti¬epileptic drugs (AEDs).
Furthermore, after 2 to 5 years of successful treatment and being seizure-free, drugs can be withdrawn in about 70% of children and 60% of adults without subsequent relapse.’
Sources
WHO
I once observed series of seizures when my sister was small,and my mom will call it ‘giri’.infact anytime my sis had malaria then we were always scared she might die.my mom will put spoon to suspend her teeth from closing. She would would grind the spoon and if by mistake the spoon fell off,my mom will quickly put her finger and she will screamed as my sis almost cut it off with her teeth. She managed to overcome series of seizures and we don’t call it seizure,as that sounds too similar or a term used for epilepsy. Wondering if is the same as convulsions.
Very familiar with this scenerio,there used to be someone like that when I was in primary school, his episode did last for 3 to 4 minutes and there will be tensed atmosphere. I never knew this can lead to real epilepsy.
Even if epilepsy isn’t contagious, people don’t want to go near the affected victim in his episode.they shouldn’t be left unattended to in the public as they might be injured in the process or if the episode last more than usual.