Understanding Epilepsy

  First, welcome to the Living With Disabilities Advocacy Website. It's run by none other than Katrina Smith, a person with a learning disability. Her mission behind Living With Disabilities is to bring awareness to all people with disabilities.

  Today, Living With Disabilities wants to talk about Understanding Epilepsy.

What is epilepsy? A neurological condition of the brain that is characterized by different seizure patterns. The nerve cells' activity is disruptive, causing seizures. A genetic condition or an acquired brain injury, such as a stroke or trauma, can cause seizures.

A person has strange behavior, symptoms, and sensations during a seizure, which can occasionally cause unconsciousness. Between seizures, there are few symptoms.

Medication is typically used to treat epilepsy, though occasionally surgery, gadgets, or dietary changes are also used.

What are the symptoms of Epilepsy? 

1. Temporary confusion.
2. staring spell.
3. Stiff muscles.
4. uncontrollably jerking movements of the arms and legs.
5. loss of consciousness or awareness.
6. psychological symptoms of fear, anxiety, or déjà vu.

Symptoms vary depending on the type of Seizure. The symptoms will be consistent from episode to episode since, in most situations, a person with epilepsy tends to experience the same sort of seizure every time.

According to how and where the abnormal brain activity starts, doctors typically categorize seizures as either focal or generalized.

Frontal lobe Seizures

These are a typical type of epilepsy in which clusters of brain cells produce incorrect impulses, resulting in seizures. These types of seizures stem from the front of the brain.

 Frontal lobe Seizures (Without loss of consciousness): Frontal lobe seizures use to be called Partial seizures, There is no loss of consciousness during these seizures. They may modify feelings or affect how objects appear, feel, sound, or smell. Some people have déjà vu. Additionally, this kind of seizure can cause an uncontrollable jerking of one body part, like an arm or leg, as well as spontaneous sensory sensations including tingling, vertigo, and flashing lights.

Frontal lobe Seizures (With impaired awareness): Frontal lobe seizures used to be called partial complicated seizures, These seizures cause a shift in consciousness or a loss of awareness. This kind of seizure could make you feel like you're dreaming. You might stare off into space, not react normally to your surroundings, or make repetitive movements like rubbing your hands together, chewing, swallowing, or walking in circles during a focal seizure with decreased consciousness.

Symptoms and warning signs may vary with a patient. Focal seizures might be mistaken for other neurological conditions such as narcolepsy, migraine, or mental illness. To identify epilepsy from other illnesses, a thorough examination and tests are required.

Generalized Seizures

  Generalized seizures appear to affect all parts of the brain and are distinguished from focal seizures. Generalized seizures come in six different varieties.

1. Absence seizures: Petit mal seizures, as they were formerly named, usually affect children. They only endure for 5 to 10 seconds and are characterized by blank stares, with or without slight body movements like eye blinking or lip smacking. These seizures can happen in clusters, up to 100 times each day, and they can cause a momentary loss of awareness.
2. Tonic Seizures: Tonic seizures generate tense muscles, which could impact awareness. Your back, arms, and legs are typically affected by these seizures, which might make you lose your balance and fall to the ground.
3. Atonic Seizures: sometimes known as drop seizures, result in a loss of control over the muscles. You frequently collapse or drop to the ground as a result of this since it most frequently affects the legs.
4. Clonic Seizures: Clonic Seizures are related to jerking, repetitive, recurrent muscular movements. The arms, face, and neck are typically affected by these seizures.
5. Myoclonic Seizures: Myoclonic seizures frequently manifest as quick, short jerks or twitches that affect the arms, legs, and upper body.
6. Tonic-Clonic Seizures: The most severe kind of epileptic episodes, formerly known as grand mal seizures. They may also cause the body to jerk, twitch, or shake, as well as an abrupt loss of consciousness. Sometimes they make you lose control of your bladder or make you bite your tongue.

 When to visit a doctor

 seek medical immediate attention if the following occurs.

1. More than five minutes pass throughout the seizure.
2. After the seizure has ended, neither consciousness nor breathing has returned.
3. A second seizure immediately follows.
4.  Have a very high fever.
5.  (Females) If you are expecting.
   
6.  If you have diabetes.
7.  If you injured yourself during a seizure episode.
8. despite taking anti-seizure medication, you still get seizures.

Living With Disabilities will not leave you hanging here, stay continue to part 2 of Understanding Epilepsy. 

 Let's have a one-on-one discussion about dealing with Epilepsy if you have a disability. Let's talk about this on The Living With Disabilities Online Talk Show and connect. Make an appointment with Katrina Smith, the host.

Work Cited page

Epilepsy - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic

https://anchor.fm/livingwithdisabilites/episodes/Understanding-epilepsy-e1m2f5s