Epilepsy. What it is?

A chronic neuralgic disease that involves sudden body cramps is called epilepsy. These seizures are associated with discharges in the brain. Epilepsy can be hereditary as well as acquired. 

Symptoms and Causes

A seizure is the main symptom of epilepsy. It comes on quite suddenly, regardless of external stimuli. But before such a seizure, a person may feel sleep problems, headaches, deterioration of mood in a few days. A few hours before the attack, the patient may feel dizziness, hallucinations, and anxiety. The attack lasts a couple of minutes. A person only remembers what was right before the seizure, and also feels lethargic, sleepy. In addition to large seizures, small seizures also occur. They are characterized by convulsions of the muscles of the face, repetitions of the same actions. The person will also not remember this seizure.

There is no definite and specific cause of epilepsy. There is also no exact evidence that it is inherited, but there is a high probability of getting it from ancestors.

Some of the known causes of epilepsy:

– craniocerebral trauma;

– accumulation of pus in the brain;

– oxygen starvation of the brain;

– abnormalities in the structure of the brain;

– diseases due to parasites and viruses;

– a brain tumor.

The reasons for the appearance of sudden convulsive seizures have not been identified by specialists. The same stimulus in one case causes this seizure, and in the other case it does not.

Treatment and first aid

Specialists diagnose a person if they have had more than two seizures. For diagnostics, specialists carry out a full examination, which consists in collecting tests, examining, studying the diseases of the patient’s relatives, and electroencephalography.

The goals of treating a patient for epilepsy are many processes. The method of treatment depends on them. For example, to make the period of seizures painless, doctors prescribe anticonvulsant and pain relieving drugs. Also, medications are prescribed to prevent new attacks. Anticonvulsants can be prescribed to a person to drink for life. Medications are changed periodically. Medicines also reduce the frequency of seizures. Surgery is a non-drug treatment for epilepsy, which reduces the frequency of seizures and prevents them. Patients may be assigned a low-carb diet.

Unfortunately, all these methods of treatment do not completely get rid of epilepsy, but they help the patient to live easier.

Since seizures are sudden and can even be in a crowded place, each person needs to know how to provide first aid for an attack. To begin with, you need to try to soften the fall, if this happens, you also need to remove foreign objects that can harm a sick person. You should hold your head or place it between your knees so that the person does not hit it on the surface. When opening the patient’s mouth, place a piece of tissue between the teeth to avoid biting the tongue or herbs of the mouth. It is necessary to wipe off the saliva and prevent the person from choking on the vomit if it accompanies an attack.

A person with epilepsy needs to follow the advice of a doctor in order to make his life easier, and a healthy person needs to learn how to help.