Epilepsy Drug Therapies

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.

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.

Nowadays, Epilepsy is the 4th most common neurological disorder –only migraine, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease occurs more frequently-, and it commonly has no identifiable cause, according to the World Health Organization. These figures are just one factor that persuades me that my choice of a career in neurosciences was the right one, and motivates me to study further at PhD level in this field to help combat serious problems like epilepsy.

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

Psychiatrists observed that after spontaneous epileptic seizure the psychiatric conditions of patients improved. Previously, in the sixteenth-century, Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist gave camphor by mouth to produce convulsions and to cure lunacy. Originally, the induced convulsions treated severe catatonic stupors and schizophrenia. Today we know the convulsions are secondary to grand mal seizures in the brain, and that the seizure is the primary therapeutic agent of electroconvuslive therapy (ECT). Metrazol and Cardiazol later replaced Camphor because of its rapid onset. The extremely

Hippocrates main concepts are derived from the fact that this disease originates from a natural cause. He states , "Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder...this notion of divinity is kept up by their inability to comprehend it (33-35)." It was this 'sacred disease' of epilepsy that people used to connect with divine interference. Divine stimulation was never in form of a sickness or disease. These people were under the idea that sickness was not a sole presence, but rather an ailment that affects the human body and is sent by divinities. Therefore people did little to treat the affected, but rather tried to appease the so-called divine powers that sent the disease. In fact, the epileptic attacks were often referred to different gods depending on the symptoms such as Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, and Hecate.

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.

One again epilepsy took on religious implications throughout the middle ages and renaissance period similar to the Greeks, although, a difference in opinion between the commoners and the nobles were present. The church and the nobles were convinced that epilepsy was not a disease rather a sign of prophetic powers and great intelligence. As for the commoners, they viewed it as a terrible illness and sought a cure through contact with holy relics. The enlightenment started to change the way people view epilepsy. It was once again believed to be a natural disease, and this theory was accepted globally. However, it was also believed to be a form of insanity and contagious resulting in epileptics being confined in a mental hospital away from other

This paper is on epilepsy and seizures. The human brain is the source of all human epilepsy. (Steven C. Schachter, Patricia O. Shafer, Joseph I. Sirven, 2013) What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is sometimes referred to a seizure disorder, though not all seizures are related to epilepsy. According to the website Stony Brook Medicine, the reason a seizure occurs is because of an unexpected surge of electrical activity in the brain. (Stony Brook Medicine, 2014) Due to the overloading of electrical activity, it causes short-lived disturbance in the messaging system between the brain cells. The word epilepsy approaches from a Greek word 'epi' signifying 'upon or above' and the Greek word

Epilepsy affects about 65 million people around the world. In average, the incidence of epilepsy is about 150,000 people every year in the United Stated (Schachter, Shafer, and Sirven, 2013). It is a neurological disease of the brain marked by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Likewise, the recurrent unprovoked seizures are temporary disturbances of the brain function due to abnormal, excessive electrical activity in the brain (“Fact,” n.d.). Seizures may vary from person to person, thus, they are sub-classified into different types of seizures. They reoccur at unexpected times, so this has led to several different innovations to aid people with seizures to alert and to prevent the risks of seizures. In this paper, the information and importance

The topic to be researched is epilepsy. Epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder where the brain is prone to seizures. Seizures are caused by neurones in the brain receiving too much electrical activity. Recurring seizures are the only visible symptom of epilepsy. Epilepsy has 2 main types of seizures – generalised and partial. The type of seizure will depend on the brain area affected. Epilepsy is most commonly diagnosed during childhood – under the age of 15, and also during later stages of life – over the age of 65. Genetics can also play a part in some types of epilepsy, such as Lafora Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsy and Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. As epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system it can affect the body in different

One of the earliest descriptions of a secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizure was recorded over 3000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Epileptic seizures were described in ancient cultures, including those of China, Egypt, and India. An ancient Egyptian papyrus described a seizure in a man who had previous head trauma. Hippocrates wrote the first book about epilepsy almost 2500 years ago. He rejected ideas regarding the divine etiology of epilepsy and concluded that the cause was excessive phlegm that caused abnormal brain consistency.11 English neurologists--John Hughlings Jackson, defines a seizure as "an occasional, an excessive, and a disorderly discharge of nerve tissue on muscles." He also recognizes that seizures can alter consciousness,

The epileptic participants were diagnosed by a neurologist/epileptologist following a neurological evaluation which included a clinical interview and electroencephalography (EEG).

Epilepsy is a general term for any brain disorder that causes unpredictable regular seizures. These seizures as caused by a disturbance in the brain’s electrical activity. It is considered a chronic neurological disorder, the fourth most common in the world. There were around 3.4 million people reported as having epilepsy in the United States in 2015 with 470,000 of those being children (CDC, 2017). This is about 1.2% of the population in the United States (CDC, 2017). There are about 50 million people who experience epilepsy globally (WHO, 2017). In the District of Columbia there are about 7,500 cases of active epilepsy. It’s estimated that 2.4 million people per year are diagnosed with epilepsy globally (WHO, 2017).

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.