Hannah Rackley
Biology
A Warren
September 26, 2016
Epilepsy
Epilepsy refers to a seizure disorder where the central nervous system does not function properly. It is a neurological disorder. It is when nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed, causing seizures. There is no cure for epilepsy, but there are treatments to help limit the number of seizures. Most people that have epilepsy live normal lives with some or no restrictions. Most people outgrow their seizures once they get to adulthood. Seventy percent of people with epilepsy are diagnosed before the age of twenty and thirty percent develop a seizure disorder after the age of twenty. Understanding epilepsy’s origin, symptoms, diagnosis process, treatment options, and effects on daily life will eventually lead to a cure.
The first book written about epilepsy was by the Greek physician, Hippocrates. It was written around 400B.C. and was titled On the Sacred Disease. Hippocrates’ book is believed to be the first record of a person suffering from epilepsy. On the Sacred Disease laid the foundation for the education of epilepsy. Although it included some misleading myths, it also contained many truths about the disease. Epilepsy was called the "sacred disease" because people believed that the seizures were administrated by demonic spirits. People believed the seizures were sent by the gods to punish someone who had done wrong. Around 1494 A.D. Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic clergyman, wrote Malleus Maleficarum. It
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.
Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which individuals have recurrent seizures. Seizures can occur in children and adults of any age. There are around 50 million people in the world who has the disorder. Individuals in developing countries are at a higher risk for developing the disorder. Seizures occur due to hyper-excitability and hyper-synchronization of neurons. Action potential transmits messages and it leads to depolarization. When neurons are uncontrollably depolarizes because of hyper-excitability due to too little inhibition, it cause a seizure. Seizures can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. As spontaneously they can develop is also as fast and spontaneous they can end.
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.
It was believed a seizure in the brain caused by the electric current would stimulate the release of neurotransmitters, and would allow the brain to reorganize to function correctly (Nasar). Neurotransmitters are chemical substances that transmit signals that facilitate cell to cell communication throughout the nervous system, and play a key component in the biological paradigm for treatment of schizophrenia. At this early stage of understanding schizophrenia’s pathology, it was believed these chemicals were imbalanced and shocking the brain would force a rebalance of these vital chemicals. Once rebalanced, it was hypothesized the patient would no longer suffer from schizophrenia (Tharyan, 2005). The insight into treating neurotransmitter imbalances in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia began the treatment path to present day antipsychotic pharmaceutical drug therapy. While the actual effects of electroshock therapy on patients with schizophrenia are unclear, it is still used today to treat schizophrenic patients who are resistant to pharmaceutical drug therapy. Electroshock therapy was the utilization of insulin coma therapy and electroshock therapy to treat schizophrenia were successful partly due to the required hospital admittance and doctor administered methodology. In both treatments the patients were required to be admitted into a hospital and were not responsible for administering the treatment themselves. While both treatment methods were viewed as inhumane and
Epilepsy, also called a seizure disorder, is a disease that affects many people around the world. Epilepsy causes people to have epileptic seizures. This illness causes about 50,000 deaths each year and believe it or not, the harm that a person could inflict on themselves is more dangerous that the seizure itself.
“Epilepsy is a neurological condition, which affects the nervous system. (www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_epilepsy) Epilepsy is also known as seizure disorder. People are usually diagnosed after having two seizures that was caused by a known medical condition such as extremely low blood sugar or withdrawal from alcohol.
Epilepsy is not what you think. It is a complicated disease, a disease that doesn't just affect one type of person or age. Over fifty million men, women, and children cope with this disease daily. Epilepsy is a mysterious disease to those who are unfamiliar and uneducated about the disease. Many people have preconceived notions about Epileptics. Researching the topic thoroughly, the five preconceived notions I explored have been proven to be false.
Epilepsy is a complicated neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system, specifically the brain. It can be caused by the over-excitation of neurons, which occurs when the electrical activity is irregular or when two or more unprovoked seizures arise. The left hemisphere communicates to the right hemisphere by sending signals in order to let it know what’s going on (vice versa). In epilepsy, the signal goes back and forth, resulting in a positive feedback. Positive feedback is a self-amplifying cycle, where a physiological change leads to a greater change in the same direction. As the stimulus goes back and forth, rapidly it gets bigger each time, hence the stimulus process becomes unstable, and an epilepsy can occur. This
Many people experience different medical conditions in their life, along with conditions that can effect them for the rest of their lives. Some people are fortunate enough not to be diagnosed with those medical conditions and are very lucky to experience life without medical burdens. One disorder I found interesting is epilepsy and how it affects the brain in numerous ways. I have had a few encounters when I was in school but never fully understood what was happening to those people with epilepsy. I was always interested in this disorder because people who have epilepsy have to live a different lifestyle and sometimes they don't get to do things others get to. For example I like to play video games on occasion and some of those games have strobe
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.
Epilepsy is a neurological condition that affects the nervous system and may also be referred to as seizure disorder. A person may be diagnosed with epilepsy or seizure disorder after having two or more seizures with no related medical condition (epilepsy.com, 2014). According to Dr. Dimitri P. Agamanolis, seizures arise from a neurotransmitter dysfunction causing interference between the electrical activity and the brain. Approximately 25% of seizures are a result of genetic inherited abnormalities. Another 25% of documented seizures arise from structural lesions including; brain tumors, brain trauma, infections and perinatal brain lesions. All of these presentations stem from environmental influences and not congenital in nature.
Epilepsy is a daily struggle for a person each and every day. People with epilepsy never know when or where they are going to have a seizure. Some people with epilepsy can control it with medication or surgery. Others aren’t so lucky and have complications finding medicines that prevent them from having episodes. Many people with epilepsy have mental, physical, emotional, and social problems in their life. Epilepsy does not just affect the person with it affects everyone involved. Epilepsy is a hard disease to live with; it can affect a person in a lot of ways.
Pathophysiology of epilepsy- Epileptic seizures arise from an excessively synchronous and sustained discharge of group of neurons [9].Abnormal cellular discharges may be associated with various causative factors such as trauma, oxygen deprivation, tumors, infections. Although different types of epileptic syndromes differ pathophysiologically, ictogenesis related mechanisms are often common. It is generally accepted that ictogenesis results from hyperexcitability of neuronal membrane. Both neurotransmitters and ion channels play a crucial role in neuronal excitability[9]. Excitability is a crucial feature of ictogenesis that may originate from individual neurons, neuronal environment and population of neurons. Excitability arising from single
Epilepsy is the least acknowledge subject that science has yet to discover. What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed that is followed by the loss of conclusions, jerking, convulsions, and more. Even though people have epilepsy it does not have to be a seizure. The word epilepsy comes from the greek term for seizure. Seizures can appear without a known cause but epilepsy is caused by known causes. The disorder of Epilepsy has existed for years but recently has it begun to be understood. Through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was believed that epilepsy was related to religious matters and considered contagious. Without the help of modern science, epilepsy was still
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.