On National Epilepsy Day in 2023, learn about the causes, signs, and treatments of seizures
Every year on November 17th, people celebrate Epilepsy Day in an effort to dispel the stigma and raise awareness of this medical condition. A single seizure in a lifetime is not indicative of epilepsy for many individuals. Multiple seizures or a high risk of having another seizure after having one due to underlying risk factors such as delayed developmental milestones, a family history of seizures, abnormal neurological examination, febrile seizures during childhood, or head trauma are considered indicators of epilepsy.
Seizures do not affect people as they age, said Dr. Kandraju Sai Satish, a consultant neurologist and epileptologist at Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad. Seizures may appear for the first time at any age, although their frequency is highest in the early and late stages of life. While many seizure sufferers have a recognized etiology, for a small number, none is known. When seizures originate from a single, tiny area on one side of the brain, they are categorized as focal seizures; when they originate from many brain regions at once, they are classed as generalized seizures. Since the drugs used to treat focal and generalized seizures are different, this segregation is crucial. Good management of seizures depends on taking drugs as prescribed—not missing a single dose—getting enough sleep, and abstaining from recreational drug use.
Anti-seizure drugs have a lot of negative effects, however they are rare and not necessarily experienced by everyone using them, despite the fact that they are well documented in the literature. Even while we should be aware of these potential negative effects, using them shouldn’t be discouraged by them. With regular treatment, 70% of individuals will not have another seizure, but the other 30% have drug-resistant epilepsy, which causes seizures to persist even while taking well selected and dosed drugs. Therefore, it is crucial to choose the right anti-seizure medicine based on the kind of seizure and the individual’s characteristics. Even though every individual with drug-resistant epilepsy is assessed for potential surgical causes, only a small percentage of them get satisfactory seizure control after surgery.
Additionally, the surgeon has stressed how crucial it is to realize that surgery is used to manage seizures, not to cease taking medicine. It is crucial to maintain excellent seizure control since an individual with epilepsy may pass away during a seizure. This is known as SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy). With all of the information at hand, he underlines that an epileptic cannot be unsuccessful in any endeavor. A few industry veterans have excelled in their sector and transcended Epilepsy. With the right medicine, people with epilepsy can live regular lives just like anybody else. We epileptologists anticipate that new, safer, and more effective drugs will be available in the near future as research continues. Finally, he emphasized that the only way to overcome epilepsy is for those who have it to embrace it and see it positively.
