Epilepsy

Epilepsy refers to a chronic condition in which repeated fits or attacks of unconsciousness occur with or without confusions. It is a serious disorder of a central nervous system. It occurs in both children and adults. Most attacks, however, occur in childhood and in early adult life. Attack rates show a progressive decline in frequency with age.

Epilepsy is a very ancient disease which afflicted some of the world’s greatest personalities, including Napoleon, Alexander and Julius Caesar. The actual word " epilepsy" comes from the Greek word which means " to seize upon". The ancient people believed that evil spirits entered the body of the person afflicted, seized upon his soul and threw his body into convulsions. The Greeks believed that the gods induced this disease. The early Christians blamed the devil for convulsions.

One of the main problems that a person with epilepsy has to face is continual uncertainty about whether or not he or she will have an attack on any particular occasion. Patients may find themselves increasingly inhibited from engaging in social events because of the understandable fear that they might embarrass themselves by having another attack. Such people also encounter difficulties in employments and other relationships.

Symptoms

Epilepsy is recognized by recurrent sudden attacks at irregular intervals. The patients twitch convulsively and fall unconscious to the ground during these attacks which cause tremendous nervous unheavel. There are two main types of epilepsy known as petit mal and grand mal. Each follows its own specific pattern.

In petit mal, which is a less serious form of epilepsy,an attack comes and goes within a few seconds. The patient has a momentary loss of consciousness, with no convulsions except sometimes a slight rigidity, or there may be slight attack of convulsions such as a jerk, or movement of the eyes, head trunk or extremities, with no perceptible loss of consciousness. The patient may not fall. He may suddenly stop what he is doing and then resume it when the attack is over, without even being aware of what has happened. Petit mal attacks may occur at any time in life but are most frequent in children.

The attack in case of grand mal comes with a dramatic effect. There are violent contractions of the arms, legs and body, accompanied by a sudden loss of consciousness. Before the onset of an attack, some patients have a warning or aura in the form of strange sensations such as a current of air or a stream of water flowing over a body, noises, odors and flashes of light. IN a typical attack,. the patient cries out, falls to the ground loses consciousness and develops convulsions.

With the convulsions may come foaming at the mouth, twitching of the muscles, biting of the tongue, distorted fixation of limbs, rotation of the head and deviation of the eyes. The patient may lose control of his urine and faces. The attack may last several minutes and is usually followed by a deep sleep. On waking up, he may remember nothing of what happened to him.

People who suffer from epilepsy are not abnormal in any other way. They usually know that fits can be triggered off by particular stimuli. Between epileptic attacks, their brain functions normally.