Convulsions (Epilepsy) In Dogs Essay

Seizures or epilepsy are brain disorders where the person has repeated convulsions over a period of time. They’re episodes of disturbed brain activity that cause changes in attention and behavior. Seizures are considered the most common observed neurological dysfunction in children. They are very sudden intermittent episodes of altered consciousness lasting seconds to minutes and include involuntary tonic (stiffening of muscles) and clonic (altering contraction and relaxation of muscles) movements.

Treatment for epilepsy is often focused on controlling the seizures with the least amount of medication as possible. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are the class used to accomplish this. Some of the AEDs that are used most often are Clonazepam, Diazepam, Divalproex, Gabapentin, and Phenytoin. The most common side effects of these medications include nausea, vomiting, sedation, fatigue, and lethargy. (Kwan,1; Benbadis, 3-5; Huethers,637)

Seizures occur when abnormal signals from the brain and changes the way the body functions. Many people have seizures but they have different effects on them. Some people have a little shaking of their hands and do not lose consciousness, while others have a lot of shaking and do lose consciousness. While seizures have a range of life changing effects for adults, more needs to be focus on children.

Seizure disorders, according to the Mayo Clinic (2015), affect approximately 1 in 26 people in the United States. Persistent, or chronic, seizures result from a condition called epilepsy, a neurological disorder of the central nervous system. It can affect anyone regardless of age, but is more common during early childhood and after age 60. Given the number of people that seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, affect, it becomes helpful to gain a foundational understanding of the disease, including some of the causes, symptoms, and treatments available.

My companion animal placement was with a program that organises the fostering and adoptions of greyhounds, often getting 30 dogs into foster homes and 30 dogs into adoptive homes every month. As such, they and the veterinary clinic they associate closely with are in charge of establishing a preventative healthcare routine for hundreds of dogs through their foster programs and attempting to persuade adopters to maintain this routine.

In the present time, the usage of 24-hour EEG video monitoring have proved many past physicians incorrect about their distinction between true and false seizures. EEG/video of pseudoseizures has revealed that urination, injury, and drug responsiveness may be part of nonepileptic episodes as well as epileptic episodes. As a result, EEG/video has become the gold standard for discriminating between epileptic and nonepileptic attack (Bergen, 154-155). Both clinical observation and EEG/video have reveal that long durations of start-stop pattern, direct actions, and situational triggers are more common in pseudoseizures than in true seizures (Bergen, 154-155). In addition true tonic-clonic seizures with combination of postictal oxygen debt, accumulation of saliva, and reduce level of consciousness are often followed by deep respirations and snoring or stertorous respiratory patterns, however, pseudoseizures lack these characteristics (Bergen, 154-155). The eyes remained open in every tonic-clonic and hypermotor seizures, but were closed in almost 90 percent of pseudoseizures (Bergen, 154-155). The result have shown that it is important to be able to differentiate between pseudoseizure and true seizure, but it is also crucial that physicians be able to find the underlying cause of the seizure as well.

Epilepsy means reoccurring seizures. Seizures may happen as a one-time occasion in a canine from an assortment of causes, however just if the seizures reoccur over and over a timeframe do we call it epilepsy. Seizures are an indication of brain disease the same way a hack is an indication of lung infection. Saying a canine has epilepsy resembles saying it has a constant hack; it is an indication of an issue which is not leaving. Anything which harms the brain in the right region can bring about epilepsy. In the event that we can distinguish the reason for the seizures, say a cerebrum tumor or a stroke, then we say the pet has symptomatic epilepsy. That is, the seizures are a side effect of an illness handle we've possessed the capacity to distinguish.

A dog’s ability to predict an episode is also something profound. In fact, some have been able to predict incidents 6 to 24 hours in advance. In Gregory L. Krauss journal, “Pseudo seizure dogs” A study involved six patients with seizure response dogs. Four of the six experienced PNES while the other two patients had epilepsy. After the article went to press, they saw three additional patients with seizure response dogs – of whom two had PNES and one had epilepsy. They further cited one study in which a patient was “alerted by his dog 7 minutes prior to having psychogenic seizures.” (Neurology 2007; 68:308-309). In Melissa Fay Greene’s “Wonder Dog” article, published on the New York Times, Greene reports on Donnie Kanter Winokur and her husband,

Epilepsy Research Paper People most often associate violent twitching, falling to the floor and drooling with epilepsy. However the described event is only one kind of an epileptic seizure, which is called a tonic-clonic seizure. There are many other kinds of seizures, and each has different sets of signs and symptoms. During generalized seizures the whole brain is affected and the initial symptom is loss of consciousness. This category includes such seizures as absence seizure, myoclonic seizure, and atonic attack.

Each hospital has a specific policy and procedure protocol for every patient related procedure etc. These protocols vary form hospital to hospital yet their main purpose is to provide specific details on how they want the procedures performed. It is important to provide a rationale along with current research as to why certain procedures need specific details. I will be including what current evidence based practice suggest and what Santa Clara Valley Medical Hospital’s policy suggest is the proper protocol for seizure precautions.

People uneducated about Epilepsy may have confused thoughts on what it really is. People have these "notions," which are partly or entirely not true. So, throughout this research paper, these notions will be proven untrue, mostly by factual information given by

procedures, and more veterinary specialists to meet the demands of owners committed to the best

Epilepsy, also called seizure disorder, chronic brain disorder that briefly interrupts the normal electrical activity of the brain to cause seizures, characterized by a variety of symptoms including uncontrolled movements of the body, disorientation or confusion, sudden fear, or loss of consciousness. Epilepsy may result from a head injury, stroke, brain tumor, lead poisoning, genetic conditions, or severe infections like meningitis or encephalitis. In over 70 percent of cases no cause for epilepsy were identified. About 1 percent of the world population, or over 2 million people, are diagnosed with epilepsy.

Some options could be medications such as anticonvulsants, a change in diet, and possibly surgery. Medication may help to alleviate the seizures, but can be linked with side effects such as: "fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, incoordination, and gait imbalance" (Krishnamurthy, 2016). These side effects depend greatly on dose amount, and vary person-to-person. If medication is no longer an option, the patient may benefit from implanted devices. Currently, there are two FDA approved devices used to treat epilepsy. One option, the vagus nerve stimulator, is implanted into the patient's chest wall or under their arm. It can either be programmed to send electrical signals every so often, or can even be controlled with a hand-held magnet. The second option for an epileptic patient is the responsive neuro-stimulation system. This is implanted into the skull in the region that the seizures derive from. Like the vagus nerve simulator, this device sends electrical impulses to the brain when a seizure occurs. (Krishnamurthy,

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has two or more seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Epilepsy is one of the oldest conditions of the human race. Epilepsy Awareness is important because Epilepsy is a widely misunderstood disorder. The reason that Epilepsy has been misunderstood has been mainly due to research not being conducted until the middle of the nineteenth century. There are six main types of seizures and many treatments that can assist an epileptic patient. Many facts and myths exist about a person who has Epilepsy, which, is why it is an important disorder to understand. A person living with Epilepsy can typically have a normal life after seeking medical advice from doctors.