Epilepsy, also known as epilepsy, is a neurological disorder that develops due to short-term brain dysfunction.
What is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy, which occurs as seizures as a result of abnormal electrical activity of nerve cells affecting the brain, affects approximately 1% of the world's population. The rate of those who have had an epileptic seizure only once in a lifetime is 5%. Having epilepsy-induced seizures only once, which is the fourth most common disease among all neurological diseases, does not indicate that a person has epilepsy.
In epilepsy, which is characterized by involuntary contractions, the person is extremely healthy when they do not have seizures. Epileptic seizures can occur in many different ways. In addition to the generalized (tonic-clonic) seizure, which is widely known among the people and comes to mind when epilepsy is mentioned, there are also mild seizure types that others cannot notice. Despite the described types of seizures, most of the seizures people have have their own characteristics. Epilepsy is examined in three different etiological groups as idiopathic, symptomatic and cryptogenic.
Epilepsy is a disease that develops due to many different causes and is characterized by recurrent and random seizures. The disease, which is seen equally in women and men, can be idiopathic, that is, without an underlying cause, symptomatic, that is, the cause of which is known and cryptogenic, or in other words, the cause of which is unknown. Epilepsy is caused by abnormal electrical activity in a group of neurons in the brain. During this condition, which causes the person to have a seizure, brain functions are temporarily impaired. Therefore, the person cannot control his body during the seizure and may experience loss of consciousness. Epileptic seizures last between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. Then it ends on its own. But some epileptic seizures can last longer than 5 minutes.
In such a case, the person should seek immediate medical help. Although epileptic seizures take place in a very wide spectrum, they are mainly seen in two different types as partial and generalized. Partial seizures begin limited to one part of the brain, while generalized seizures are widespread in the brain. starts. Therefore, the symptoms that occur due to epileptic seizures differ. Common epilepsy symptoms include memory loss, fainting, tremors, loss of consciousness, uncontrollable movements, and urinary incontinence. In addition, symptoms such as weakness, exhaustion, sensitivity to smells, and confusion may also occur after the seizure. incomprehensible. The types of epilepsy whose cause is determined are mostly caused by congenital (congenital) anomalies, birth trauma, cerebrovascular diseases, brain inflammation. Apart from these, epilepsy can also be seen due to alcohol use and head trauma. In addition, epilepsy can also be seen in the presence of tumors or narrowing of the brain vessels due to advanced age.
What are the Types of Epilepsy?
There are many different types of epilepsy. These differences are related to the region of the brain where the retention takes place. The patient may have a single seizure type or more than one seizure type. Frequent epileptic seizures can be listed as follows:
- Absence Seizures: During absence seizures, which are more common in childhood, the person often seems to be immersed. The type of seizure that develops at an early age and gives symptoms in this way is often confused with attention disorder. During an absence seizure, the person usually stops doing what he or she is doing suddenly and remains frozen and motionless for about 10 seconds. During this time, the person does not respond to the questions asked. In older age groups, the person may utter meaningless words, walk, and make repetitive hand or lip movements during the seizure. Absence seizures, in which the person does not remember what happened, are usually short-lived and the person does not remember what happened during the seizure. It is open. Simple partial seizures develop in three different ways, depending on which brain lobe they originate from. In an epileptic seizure originating from the frontal lobe, the person turns his head to the right or raises his arm. seizure If the person turns left or moves their left limbs during t, the seizure originates from the right frontal lobe, and if these movements are on the right side, the seizure originates from the left frontal lobe. can develop. There may also be temporary paralysis, defined as Todd's palsy. Seizures originating in the temporal lobe are also known as motor seizures. In this type of seizure, the person experiences a sudden feeling of fear, bad smell and taste, feeling of drowsiness, numbness, nausea, sweating and a feeling of having experienced the events before (deja vu). The parietal lobe in the brain is the region where stimuli from the body are perceived. Therefore, the deterioration of electrical activity in this region causes the person to feel different sensations. Symptoms such as pain and numbness can also be seen. All the muscles in the body of the unconscious patient begin to contract and relax. After the seizure, the person's consciousness slowly recovers. When the patient regains consciousness, he is very tired and confused.
- Complex Partial Seizures: In this type of seizure, the consciousness of the person is affected. Therefore, the person cannot remember the moment of the seizure and what happened. During the seizure, the person unconsciously tugs and walks around. They mostly do movements such as licking, chewing and swallowing.
How to Approach a Person Having Epileptic Seizure
The person who has an epileptic seizure should never be left alone, it should be placed on the ground to be fixed. should not be tilted and their uncontrolled movements should not be hindered. In order to prevent the patient from harming himself during the seizure, hard objects around him should be removed. It is extremely wrong to try to open the patient's mouth or to drink water during the seizure.
Since the seizure is over, the person should be informed that he/she has had a seizure, and he/she should be expected to come to him/herself. An ambulance must be called if the person having an epileptic seizure is pregnant, injured, or if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes or if the person does not regain consciousness after the seizure.
How to Diagnose Epilepsy?
During an epileptic seizure, the patient is unconscious. Therefore, he cannot remember what happened during the seizure. Since it is very important to accurately convey what happened during the seizure to the physician, for the correct diagnosis to be made, the relatives of the person who are with the person during the seizure should also come to the doctor with the patient. Thus, the physician can take the patient's anamnesis from his relatives. After the physical examination, the physician may request radiological imaging examinations such as CT, MRI, EEG or PET to clarify the diagnosis when deemed necessary. In the light of the findings obtained, the person is diagnosed with epilepsy.
How to Treat Epilepsy?
After the diagnosis of epilepsy is made, the physician aims to stop epileptic seizures with medication. It is extremely important to use the drugs known as anti-epileptic drugs at the specified dose and for the duration.
Mostly, the seizures of the patient end with drug treatment. However, if the seizures continue, different surgical treatment methods can be applied depending on the underlying focal disease. Epileptic focus is eliminated with resective surgery. Seizure spread paths are separated by functional or palliative surgery. Thus, the frequency and severity of seizures is reduced.
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