Epilepsy: Essential Information You Need To Know About This Condition
Epilepsy is a condition in which cells of the brain are damaged, resulting in seizures. During an epileptic attack, a person may experience unconsciousness, unusual behavior, and sensations.
Experts state that any person can develop epilepsy regardless of age, sex, or ethnic background. These are some of the essential information you should know about epilepsy.
Symptoms Of The Condition
Some of the epileptic symptoms include changes in touch, smell, or sight, slight dizziness, and tingling sensations of limbs. However, it’s essential to get a proper physician diagnosis from qualified and licensed doctors.
Possible Causes Of Epilepsy
Some possible causes of epilepsy include stroke, severe brain injury, insufficient oxygen in the brain, dementia, or genetics.
Types Of Epileptic Seizures
Epileptic seizures occur when brain electrical impulses surpass the typical limit hence spreading to the adjacent areas creating electrical impulses that lead to convulsion. The two types of seizures include; focal and generalized seizures.
Generalized seizure affects all the parts of the brain. It’s further divided into six additional types, including; tonic seizures, which leads to stiffening of arms, legs, and back muscles.
Atonic seizures can result in you dropping on the floor and losing your muscle control. Clonic seizures result in repeated jerking in your arms, neck, and face.
An absence seizure is a generalized seizure that affects mostly children and involves blinking eyes and smacking lips.
Tonic-Clonic seizures lead to unconsciousness, biting your tongue, or losing bladder control. Myoclonic is also another type of generalized seizure that results in twitching motions in both your legs and arms.
Focalized seizure a non-generalized and mainly affects your brain partially and may or may not cause consciousness.
Diagnosis Of Epilepsy
If you experience any epileptic symptoms, it is best to consult your doctor immediately. Your physician will do an ECG-EEG test in diagnosing to determine if you have an epileptic condition.
The test involves attaching electrodes in your scalp, which will subsequently record your brain’s electrical activity. Thus, if you experience seizures with unexplainable, then it is an indication of epilepsy.
Treatment Options For Epilepsy
If you have epilepsy, your doctor may recommend the following treatment methods depending on how severe it is. These include;
Anti-Convulsant Drugs
Your doctor may prescribe these drugs to help reduce the number of seizures you experience. These anti-epileptic drugs work by altering the chemical levels in your brain. These drugs will mainly manage your seizures but not cure epilepsy.
The anti-seizure drugs are available in liquids, syrup, tablets, and capsules form. Some general side effects of these medications may include headaches, rashes, drowsiness, and tremors, to mention a few.
Surgery Of The Brain
Your doctor may recommend brain surgery to remove part of your brain. Your physician can settle for this procedure in case epilepsy has affected only a part of your mind, which, if removed, will not lead to any effects.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
VNS involves your doctor places a tiny electrical device under your chest and connects it to your Vagus nerve.
The tool then sends electricity into your nerves, and it helps control the seizure by altering your brain’s electrical signals. Other additional treatment options include deep brain stimulation and a ketonic diet.
Epilepsy is a condition that you can manage with proper care. It’s best to consult a doctor who will then use an ECG-EEG test to diagnose and give you the right treatment options. Also, it would help if you learned all the necessary information about the condition to prepare yourself better.
