What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a set of chronic medical or long-term neurological disorders characterized by seizure symptoms.
These seizures may be very mild and almost undetectable or, conversely, prolonged and accompanied by severe tremors. In epilepsy, seizures occur frequently and have no fixed and clear cause.
Signs and symptoms
Epilepsy is characterized by the possibility of long-term intermittent seizures. These seizures may appear in different forms depending on which part of the brain is affected and depending on the age of the person.
Epilepsy campaigns
The most common type of seizure is motor seizures. Of these, two-thirds appear as local epileptic seizures, which later develop into diffuse seizures.
Local seizures often occur after certain experiences, known as aura. These experiences may include sensory (visual, auditory, or olfactory), psychological, voluntary, or motor phenomena.
Types of General Attacks
There are six main types of generalized seizures: epilepsy with seizures, tonics, tonic epilepsy, with seizures, muscle tension, distress, and weak seizures. All of these seizures involve loss of consciousness and usually occur without warning signs.
Stretching-elastic attacks are accompanied by contraction of the limbs and then stretching of them and the simultaneous arch of the lower back, which lasts 10 to 30 seconds (tonic phase). Then the harmonious tremor of the limbs occurs (clonic phase). Stretching attacks cause even muscle contractions. A person usually bruises when they stop breathing. In clonic seizures, there is a uniform tremor of the limbs. After the shaking stops, it takes 10 to 30 minutes for the person to return to normal. This period is called the post-seizure phase.
Muscle attacks involve muscle cramps in some or all areas.Distress attacks can be subtle and consist only of a gentle rotation of the head or the blinking of the eyes.The person does not fall and returns to normal after the period is over.Weak attacks involve a loss of muscle activity for more than a second. It occurs on both sides of the body.
After seizures
After the active part of the attack, there is usually a period of confusion known as the post-attack period, which precedes the return of normal level of consciousness.
This course usually lasts 3 to 15 minutes.
Other common symptoms include fatigue, headaches, difficulty speaking, and abnormal behavior.
Factors
Epilepsy is not just a disease, but a symptom of a disease that can be caused by multiple disorders. Seizures occur spontaneously and without a specific cause, such as severe illness.
The main cause of epilepsy can be genetic factors or structural or metabolic problems.
Seizures can also be caused by other health problems; if they occur due to a specific cause, such as a stroke, head injury, ingestion of toxic substances, or metabolic problems, they are called acute symptomatic seizures instead of epilepsy and fall into a higher category of seizure-related disorders. Most acute symptomatic seizure agents cause subsequent seizures, which are called secondary epilepsy.
Signs
There are several symptoms of epilepsy that are grouped according to age of onset: infancy period, childhood, adulthood, and cases without significant age relevance
Prevention
Most cases of epilepsy are not preventable, measures to reduce head injury, necessary care at birth, and the reduction of peripheral parasites such as tenia solium may be helpful in preventing epilepsy. Measures to reduce tenia solium rates in one part of Central America led to a 50 percent reduction in new epilepsy cases.
Diet
A healthy lifestyle and proper eating habits are very important in optimal seizure control, the important thing in the diet of these patients is to ensure the intake of micronutrients in the food basket.
These substances include folic acid (raw and slightly cooked vegetables and fruits), calcium and magnesium (dairy products), vitamin B12 (in dairy and animal products), vitamin K (vegetables with green leaves, grains, and legumes), and vitamin D (fish meat oil and skin exposure to the sun).
Treatment
Epilepsy is usually treated with daily chemotherapy after the first seizure, but in people at high risk, drug treatment can be started after the first seizure. In some cases, a special diet, the use of a nerve stimulant, or neurosurgery may be required. In the opinion of experts, epilepsy is curable, and the length of treatment for epilepsy depends on the type, which lasts from two to five years.