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Posts Tagged ‘Seizure Activity’

The symptoms of epilepsy vary depending on what kind of seizure the person has. Possibly the simplest way of explaining this is to give an overview of what the different kinds of seizure would look like to an observer and feel like to the person experiencing them.

Partial seizures are often called ‘petit mal’. To the outside observer, the signs of this are not obvious ones. In the simple partial seizure the person first has what is famously called an ‘aura’. This is actually the first part of the seizure activity. There is no loss of awareness however, which can make it seem like a separate phenomenon. The aura is not necessarily a set of lights shimmering in front of the person. It is equally likely to involve a sense of numbness or tingling in some part of the body. Alternatively, there may be a compulsive twitching start in the face of some other familiar part of the body. It can be very unpleasant, like nausea or increased heart rate. However, the aura has also been described as ecstatic and may come in the form of hallucinations that are considered by the person to be worth the pain of the seizure that will inevitably follow.

The next type of epileptic seizure is the complex partial seizure. To the observer, the epilepsy symptoms are obvious and disturbing. In this type of seizure the person does lose consciousness and they can proceed to behavior that is so odd and out of character that they can be a danger to themselves and others. This behavior can involve taking off clothes, doing strange random actions, walking around and mumbling. The variety is endless and quite individual and these seizures can last from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

The more common conception of an epileptic seizure is of someone having a ‘fit’. This is the generalized tonic-clonic seizure, or ‘grand mal’ beginning with a sudden cry and a fall. The stiffening of the body that starts the process is called the tonic, the spasms and jerking that follow is called the clonic. This can look quite alarming, especially if the person manages to bite their tongue and blood appears. It usually lasts for only about 2 minutes, which can feel like an eternity if you are the onlooker. The person usually needs some care and reassurance when they come around as they are likely to feel confused and extremely tired after the epilepsy symptoms pass.

Finally there is a general group of tonic and myclonic seizures. The myoclonics involve significant muscle jerks, causing the person to spill what they are holding or even to fall off the chair. Among the tonic disorders here are two types of ‘drop’ attack, so called because they cause the person to fall to the ground if they happen to be standing. The ‘tonic’ causes the person to go rigid, while the ‘atonic’ predictably causes the person to lose all tone and also fall for that reason. In none of these last seizures is there any noticeable loss of consciousness.

There are actually many common epilepsy treatments that one suffering from this brain disorder may benefit from participating in. However, the most common form of treatment is drug therapy. This is basically due to the fact that prescription medications have been deemed as the most appropriate course of action for preventing and stopping seizure activity.

The goal of treatment is to reduce the occurrence of seizures and other uncomfortable symptoms associated with epilepsy. When deciding which epilepsy treatments are the most appropriate for your condition, there are many factors that must be considered.

These include the severity of the seizures experienced, if you suffer from other medical conditions, and your general medical history. Here, you will be introduced to several of the common epilepsy treatments.

Medication

Many individuals are put on medication therapy. These medications are in a class of drugs known as anticonvulsants. There are several different drugs that are used to prevent and stop seizures. These include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Neurontin

• Tegretol

• Dilantin

• Lamictal

• Lyrica

• Topamax

The down side to drug treatments for epilepsy is that many uncomfortable and troublesome side effects may be experienced while taking the medications. These side effects may include lethargy, cognitive complications, depression and other types of mood fluctuations, and even thoughts and attempts of suicide.

Nerve Stimulation

A type of nerve stimulation that is identified by specialists called “Vagus” is used as a common treatment for epilepsy. There is a nerve found in the back side of the neck that is relatively large that is called the “Vagus” nerve. Specialists will send short, quick electrical bursts to this nerve so that they reach the brain. While this is not a treatment that has been used for a long time, it is a treatment that is becoming more common as it seems to provide a type of balance within the electrical circuitry of the brain.

The Ketogenic Based Diet

There is a special diet that is low in carbohydrates and exceptionally high in fats that may specialists put epilepsy patients on to treat their condition. This diet works to ensure that the body burns the fat that it receives for energy rather than burning the fat for glucose. This diet has been found to assist individuals in experiencing less seizure activity.

This seems to be effective in patients that suffer from epilepsy due to a metabolic disorder or when the body unsuccessfully processes vitamins and nutrients. Most patients that benefit from this type of epilepsy treatment are children.

It is unknown why this seems to work better for children. The down side to this diet is that it could result in a high level of triglycerides in the body. If you are interested in learning about common epilepsy treatments, be sure to discuss all of your options with a medical professional.

Epilepsy sufferers’ live every day of their lives with the fact they can at any point have a seizure. It is not “if” it is “when”. They must be prepared at all times to deal with the embarrassment and repercussions of this fact. Then when considering that it has not been very long ago that people were burned at the stake, accused of being witches, simply because of the misunderstood “firestorm” in their brain that unpredictably caused them to lose control; epilepsy was scary, both for those who suffered with it and those who watched a seizure unfold in someone else.

I remember one sunny Saturday morning when I was 13 years old. I heard strange sounds coming from my 16 year old brother’s room. I tentatively opened the door to his room and saw the horrible site of my brother having a grand mal seizure in his bed.

A few weeks later we were all playing a game of baseball in the school yard. At one point, when my older brother was playing second base, he lay down on the black top, had a grand mal seizure, and then stood up as if nothing had happened. The rest of us ran over to him in an alarmed state, while asking, “Are you OK? Are you OK?” He replied, “What? What do you mean?” It seems that he was completely unaware of what the rest of us had observed.

I know firsthand how troubling it is when a loved one has epilepsy. I wish that neurofeedback had been one of the therapies that my brother had available back in 1973 when this took place. Instead he had to take heavy medication that slowed down his bright conversational style.

Almost 30 years later, in 2001, Dr. Barry Sterman looked very carefully at all of the available research on the use of neurofeedback in the treatment of epilepsy. The results were very promising; of those treated for epilepsy- some of them experiencing severe and uncontrolled seizures prior to treatment-82% improved significantly. There was a considerable reduction in seizure activity.

Now, knowing full well, that the “naysayers” would jump on results like these, claiming everything from flawed studies to the placebo effect, one group of scientists utilized neurofeedback to do just the opposite. They actually wanted to cause seizures to be more intense, and to increase in frequency. Why? To show that neurofeedback could be used to train the brain in either direction. The results? They were just as successful going the other way-making symptoms worse-as they had been in using neurofeedback to reduce symptoms.

Were there still skeptics? Of course; we live in a society where some people still think the moon landing was a scam, and that Neil Armstrong was filmed on a soundstage, and not the surface of the moon. For some, the satisfaction comes from not believing. Fortunately, neurofeedback is one treatment that does not depend on the belief or expectation of the patient.