Epilepsy: Types, Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

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The term epilepsy (pronounced as eh-puh-lep-see) originates from a Greek word ‘epilepsia’ meaning ‘falling sickness’ It is an illness that affects the brain, causing repeated seizures or ‘fits’ in the patient which make them to fall.

Epilepsy is disease categories by seizures, tremors or unconscious also known as fits. seizures occurs due to electrical imbalance or sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain there is an overload of electrical activity in the brain. This causes a temporary disturbance in the messaging systems between brain that Low oxygen during birth.

epilepsy-seizures-symptoms

Seizures or fits in young children are called Febrile Convulsions. Usually this occurs after the child runs a high temperature. This does not cause brain damage or lead to epileptic attack when they grow up. This usually stops when the child completes 6 years. It is important not to panic when a child experiences Febrile Convulsions. Immediate medical help must be sought.

Causes

Head injuries that occur during birth or from accidents during youth or adulthood it may cause epilepsy

Brain tumors often causes epilepsy attacks

Genetic conditions that result in brain injury.

Infections such as meningitis or encephalitis cause abnormalities in brain.

Due to Stroke it is a condition in which brain cells are deprived of oxygen or any other type of damage to the brain

Abnormal levels of substances such as sodium or blood sugar or other electrolytes

Types

Simple Partial Seizure – the patient is conscious during the seizure. In most cases the patient is also aware of his/her surroundings, even though the seizure is in progress.

Complex Partial Seizure – the patient’s consciousness is impaired. The patient will generally not remember the seizure, and if he/she does, the recollection of it will be vague.

Grand Mal” or Generalized tonic-clonic Unconsciousness, convulsions, muscle rigidity

Absence Brief loss of consciousness

Myoclonic Sporadic (isolated), jerking movements

Clonic Repetitive, jerking movements

Tonic Muscle stiffness, rigidity, Atonic Loss of muscle tone

Symptoms

Body jeeking with repetative body movements

Stops breathing and skin color changes with loss of consciousness

Arise of fearfulness with no reason

Treatment

An EEG (Electro-encephalogram) – an electrical tracing of the brain can be done to confirm epilepsy.

Antiepileptic drugs

anti-epileptic drugs are useful for the treatment of epilepsy many drugs are market which causes decrease in the flow of electrolytes in the head or suppress excitatory electrolytes release. Most people with epilepsy can be successfully treated with AEDs. AEDs do not cure epilepsy, but can prevent seizures from occurring.

Fatty diets

a diet high in fats and low in carbohydrates and protein, and it is thought that it may make seizures less likely by altering the chemical composition of the brain like fish oil is beneficial in epilepsy

Yoga therapy

It was one of the main treatments for epilepsy. For some people with epilepsy, stress can trigger seizures. Stress-relieving and relaxation therapies such as exercise, yoga and meditation may help.

Herbal remedies should also be used cautiously because some of their ingredients can interact with anti-epilepsy medication.

Long term treatment with medication is required to control epileptic fits. Usually these fits can be controlled with medication but may not be cured. Implants or surgery may be tried in for refractory cases where tablets do not work.

Latest Publication and Research on Epilepsy

Sleep disordered breathing in children and adolescents with Chiari malformation type I. – Published by PubMed

Panic Versus Epilepsy: A Challenging Differential Diagnosis. – Published by PubMed

Importance of Video-EEG Monitoring in the Diagnosis of Epilepsy in a Psychiatric Patient. – Published by PubMed

Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs on Antioxidant and Oxidant Molecular Pathways: Focus on Trace Elements. – Published by PubMed

Hippocampal Gene Expression Profiling in a Rat Model of Posttraumatic Epilepsy Reveals Temporal Upregulation of Lipid Metabolism-Related Genes. – Published by PubMed

Written By:

DEEPTIDeepti Rawat 

Trainee Medical Coder, Delhi