Epilepsy is a chronic disease and the one of the most common neurological disorder which affects people of all ages. Epilepsy, by definition is the tendency to have seizures in person without any provocative factor. These seizures are usually recurrent, unprovoked and usually have various types and symptoms.
The chances of single person having a seizure in lifetime are about 23-69 per 100,000 populations. Tendency of repeated seizures is still less, but patients diagnosed with epilepsy have to face tremendous challenges throughout their life time. While the incidence of having seizures is high in early childhood, the causative factors defer according to age. In infants and toddlers, most common causes include birth related events and early life infections; adolescents and adults get seizures mostly due to accidental causes. Seizures in elderly populations are predominantly due to degenerative diseases or strokes.
The duration of seizure vary from 10 seconds to 2-3 minutes and rarely exceeds 5 minutes. Patients complaining of such a seizure are immediately advised for a MRI brain and EEG, which help doctors to decide the route of treatments.
Dos in Epilepsy: If you witness someone having a seizure, Please
Stay calm Move things out of the way Place something soft and flat under the head Try to turn the person on his/ her side If you are in a public place, clear a path for emergency medical workers
Dont’s in Epilepsy:
Do Not restrain the person. Do Not Offer food or drink OR put anything in the person’s mouth. Do Not attempt artificial respiration unless the person is not breathing when the seizure has stopped. of the brain pending upon wtihi Apart from medical help, the social conditioning of the patient is equally important due to the stigma attached to the disorder .Today, medical practitioners, plays an important role educating the patient & his family. Epilepsy is just like any other disease which can be treated with proper care, helping the individual to live a normal life.
