What is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system in which seizures
(also called fits) or convulsions occur repeatedly in a person.
These seizures are caused due to the abnormal release of an
electric charge in the brain. Information between the nerve cells
are transmitted in the form of electric impulses. Sometimes when
these charges become too large, a seizure occurs.
What are the kind of seizures?
Epileptic seizures are of several types. People with epilepsy may
have predominantly one type of seizure, but the degree of the
attack may vary and some may have more than one type.
1. Grand mal seizures (generalised tonic clonic seizures) – they
are violent seizures that cause whole body convulsions. All major
portions of the body are affected and the patient may lose
consciousness for sometime. Breathing may stop for some time and
the face may become pale. The patient may bite her cheek or tongue
during the attack and may lose control over her urinary bladder.
Such attacks are often preceded by a loud cry due to spasm of
vocal cord.
2. Petit mal (absence) seizures – these are milder seizures and
are characterised by a temporary loss of consciousness. Thus, the
patient may just stare, stop what he/she is doing and not be aware
of what others are saying. There may be repeated blinking of the
eye accompanied by a sudden loss of awareness. The attack lasts
10-25 seconds and may occur several times a day. Characteristic of
this absence is that the patient is not aware that she is going to
get an attack and after the attack is quite normal immediately.
There is another form of absence where the patient feels some
warning, then is absent for some while and then would like to
sleep for 5-10 minutes. This is called Atypical absence. Absence
seizures were called Petit mal earlier.
3. Simple focal seizures – these seizures affect a particular part
of the body. There are recurrent muscle contractions in that part
of the body. This is usually associated with nausea, vomiting and
sweating. There is no loss of consciousness. At times an attack
can start focally at one part of the body and get generalised and
so look like grand mal seizure. When it gets generalised the
patient loses consciousness.
4. Complex partial seizures – these seizures are characterised by
confusion and an inability to remember the last few minutes. The
patient may also get a prior indication of the fit. Warnings are
of different types. There may be a smell, or a sound or seeing
objects, which are not there. There may be a warning like a sense
of fear or confusion or giddiness or a funny feeling in the
stomach. The warning is followed by the fit. The fit may be like a
usual grand mal or it may be unusual. The child might turn round
and round, or run in some direction, or become violent. The person
may not be aware of what is happening during the attack, she may
not remember what happened after the attack and the attack is
brief usually less than 10 minutes.
5. Myoclonic fit. Here there is a sudden involuntary shock like
contraction of the limbs. If it affects the hands, objects appear
to be thrown out and if it affects the legs the patient may fall
and then get up by herself. In children it may affect the trunk
and cause falling.
How is it caused?
Most cases of epilepsy are said to be idiopathic i.e. doctors
cannot find a clear cause. Thus, 60% of grand mal is "idiopathic"
and nearly 100% of classic absence is idiopathic. Partial seizures
are always due to focal brain disease.
The ones where doctors find a cause are called symptomatic i.e.
the fit is a symptom of some brain damage. Among such cases are
brain tumour, strokes, head injury, cerebral infection and errors
of development that are present since birth. Biochemical cause
like low sugar, low calcium, very high sugar and high blood
pressure, and less circulation of blood to brain may cause
seizures.
Idiopathic only means that the doctors are unable to locate the
exact cause. However, the cause may be genetic or development
abnormalities which are at microscope levels and cannot be seen by
the MRI Scan.
What are the symptoms?
Seizures of any of the above type are the main symptoms of
epilepsy. Epilepsy in most cases is also associated with some
intellectual impairment, though it is not always present. During
the seizure, there may also be frothing at the mouth and rolling
back of the eyes.
How is it diagnosed?
Epilepsy is essentially diagnosed by taking a careful history of
what happens during an attack. This is best taken from one who has
observed the attack. It is only rarely that a doctor can see an
attack but if he does he should be able to diagnose. The two
conditions, which are most likely to be confused are faints (which
are brief losses of consciousness with no jerking and which are
known to come under certain circumstances) and a patient who is
faking a fit to try and gain sympathy, attention etc. The EEG is a
record of the electrical activity of the brain and is often
helpful but as the record lasts only 15-30 minutes, it may be
normal in a patient whose fits are uncommon (1 EEG is normal in
30-40% of epileptics).
Once a diagnosis of epilepsy is made one tries to find a cause
either by history or by tests. A CT Scan or MRI is very useful to
look for a structural lesion. Blood tests may find biochemical
causes low sugar, low calcium etc. Examination of the cerebro-spinal
fluid is done if infection is thought to be the cause. In India,
one infection particularly known to cause epilepsy is
cysticercosis. It often shows a small ring like lesion on the CT
Scan or MRI.
What is the treatment?
Epilepsy may be treated with the help of anti-convulsant drugs
like phenytoin, sodium valporate, phenobarbitone, carbamazepine,
lamotrigine, gabapentin and topiramate. The patient may be able to
identify certain materials (which might be some food products)
that aggravate the symptoms of the condition. The use of such
materials called triggers, must be avoided. The seizures may also
be minimized or stopped by treating the underlying cause such as
removal of a brain tumour.
With the use of one drug, given in proper dose and gradually
increased, 65% of all epileptics can be controlled. By adding a
second drug and sometimes a third, upto 80% of cases can be fully
controlled. For the remaining there are now newer drugs e.g.
clobazam, tamotrigene, Vigabatrine.
For myoclonic epilepsy, absence and idiopathic grand mal Sodium
Valproate is the most commonly used drug. For focal epilepsy
phenytoin and carbamezapine is the first choice drug.
Phenobarbitone is a cheap and very effective drug and is the
mainstay at our Public Health Centers.
Surgery may be useful in some partial epilepsies. The important
thing in treatment is that drug be continued for 3 years after the
last fit and then slowly tapered. Stopping after 6 months - 2
years is a cause of relapse and leads the patient to believe there
is no effective treatment and then he seeks other medicines and
faith healers. The drugs are very useful if well used.
What first aid can be provided?
In case a patient is having an epileptic seizure, the following
should be done to provide relief:
* The patient should be made to lie down in a comfortable position
on her side, so that the saliva can flow out of the side of the
mouth and the person does not gag.
* All the clothing of the patient must be loosened so that she is
able to breathe easily.
* No hard object like a spoon should be inserted in the mouth of
the patient. To prevent her from biting her tongue, she can be
made to clamp her teeth on a piece of cloth or a handkerchief.
* The person should not be made to drink water or any other liquid
during the seizure as she may choke.
* If the patient falls asleep immediately after the seizure, she
should be allowed to rest and not be made to move or walk. In
simple terms a fit will subside by itself in 1-10 minutes and the
attendant only needs to see that the patient does not hurt
himself.
* After the attack is over she should see a doctor or if she is
already a known epileptic she should take an extra dose of his
usual medicine as the occurrence of a fit implies the dose is
inadequate.
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