Epilepsy is a medical ailment in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed, causing seizures. Epilepsy consists of many levels of severity; there are staring spells on the lower end, and Grand Mal seizures on the higher end. Cheyenne is on the lower end with staring spells, memory loss, and involuntary talking it’s called Partial Onset Seizures; she has the potential that it can have it turn into Grand Mal seizures at any point in her life. On the path to discovering her epilepsy, it changed her and her family’s lives forever. Cheyenne was a somewhat normal teenager, she went to high school, tried hard to get good grades, and went home instead of going out with friends like any good teenager would. She was a good student, she got B honor roll, and was even in band playing the clarinet. Then suddenly, there was a drop in her B grades and a drop in interest. Cheyenne was now getting Cs or sometimes even D’s on test, and her family didn’t think anything of it, they just figured it was normal and that she would just try harder next time. Then …show more content…
To temporarily solve a more serious problem, they gave her medication, and we were on our way. When the time finally came to see the neurologist, they had hooked her up to an EEG, which monitored her brain waves. They found nothing in this EEG, until a different hospital performed a 24-48 hour EEG. She was in the hospital trying to make sure she had her homework completed and was caught up, when the machine caught strange brain waves when she was doing her math homework. This was the first time the doctor told us it wasn’t seizures due to stress, but partial onset seizures. Her brain looks normal, but when a seizure hits, it starts in the left temporal lobe and travels to the right side of her brain, lighting up like a firework. This affects her mood and emotions, to where her brain must reboot in order for her to
When I was eight years old I learned what epilepsy was. My family was in the car driving to get dinner, with my dad driving. We were stopped at a stop light, and when it turned green we never moved. My mother looked over at my dad and realized he was having a seizure. At the time I did not know what that was; all I remember is a blur of my sister calling 911, and us going to the hospital. It was one of the scariest moments of my life; I thought my dad was dying. Later that night my mom explained to us what a seizure was, and that he was going to be okay. This was the first time my dad had a seizure, and the doctors did not know why. He was sent home from the emergency room that night with no answers and a shaken up family.
Seizures are classified into two broad categories primarily generalized and partial seizures. A generalized seizure is characterized by loss of consciousness. There are several sub types of generalized seizure. The first is an absence seizure, this usually consist of brief spells of staring. This type of generalized seizure usually begins in early childhood and diminishes as the child grows older. However, absence seizures may continue until adulthood in some individuals (McKean, 2012). Next, myoclonic seizures are characterized by quick jerking movements. Atonic seizures display a sudden loss of tone and individuals frequently experience injuries related to falls. Generalized tonic clonic seizures display a tonic extension of extremities followed by clonic jerking. There can be variations of this type of seizure activity demonstrating either more tonic motion or clonic (McKean, 2012). Partial seizures initiate when there is an abnormal firing of neurons within the cerebral cortex. This area within the cerebral cortex dictates the symptoms of the seizure activity. A partial seizure can develop into a general seizure if both hemispheres are involved (McKean, 2012). Partial seizures are subdivided into simple and complex. In a complex partial seizure, the individual loses conciseness and has symptoms like lip smacking, staring, picking at clothes, walking around aimlessly. In a simple partial seizure the individual is awake and aware of the episode. The individual may
Epilepsy. In epilepsy, the grand mal seizure often begins with a sudden loss of consciousness and fall to the ground. The initial motor signs are a brief flexion of the trunk, an opening of the mouth and eyelids, and upward deviation of the eyes. The arms are elevated and abducted, the elbows semiflexed, and the hands pronated. These are followed by a more protracted extension phase, involving first the back and neck, then the arms and legs. There may be piercing cry as the whole musculature is seized in a spasm and air is forcibly emitted through the closed vocal cords. Since the respiratory muscles are caught up in the tonic spasm, breathing is suspended, and after some seconds, the skin and mucous membranes become cyanotic. The pupils are
Epilepsy and Seizure Disorder: All actions and functions travel to the different parts of the brain much like electrical wiring. The “electricity” moves from one area or wired circuit through another by jumping and traveling from area to area much like electricity Due to abnormal electricity and “jumping” seizures can occur. Epilepsy is where these electoral abnormalities are reoccurring often causing many seizures. The Tonic-Clonic or Grand Mal seizures that CM has is from muscles tightening and relaxing very fast due to the abnormal jumping of electricity in the brain. P. 417
The seizures more violent, the brain fog never ending. At a loss as to what to do, we decided to take our chances in a bigger hospital; she was taken to the emergency room hoping that a neurologist would be available. Without a wait Keli was taken back to start testing. A doctor, nurses, and yes a neurologist came, she observed Keli, asked a few question then left, she had the results of the tests when she returned. “Keli, your MRI, and EEG are normal, you are experiencing pseudo seizures” Instant relief came to me and gratitude for the “not” answers received, not MS, not a brain tumor, not epilepsy. However, Keli did not experience the same instant relief; she asked “Are you saying that I am making this happen, that I am crazy? The neurologist tried to help Keli understand that her subconscious mind was telling her body an unhealthy way to deal with the stresses of her life. Keli just saw that she was weak, she was embarrassed that so many people who loved her and had been serving her were doing it without a justified reason in her mind. Keli left the hospital not ready for people to know her
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.
In such cases, the theory most commonly accepted is that this epilepsy is the result of an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain causing them to have convulsions and those seizures can be
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
I remember three years ago, my family and I went to Palm Springs for the first time. That night I was fascinated, not from the beauty of the Palm desert, but the fact that my brother would have a seizure exactly twenty minutes after falling asleep. His brain acted like a clock-working machine. Exactly twenty minutes. Now what chemicals could his body be producing after falling asleep for twenty minutes that would trigger the seizure, I do not know, but I wanted to find out. Moreover, I had to alway keep an eye on my brother throughout the day, especially after he started losing control of his body and falling down without warning. The first time he experienced this, he could have cracked his head open if my father was not nearby to catch is forceless body. There is nothing more stressing than waking up nervous for tests and project while witnessing my own brother shaking uncontrollably. These are some things that clouded my thoughts and focus everyday when I was trying to pay attention in class. Right now, I could not be more than thankful that my brother hasn't had a seizure for months. The changes started taking place right after Christmas of last year, just like a Christmas
The amplitude of the fluctuations, the frequency spectrum and duration of RMS changes are the main causes of flicker phenomenon.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes episodes loss of consciousness, or convulsions. It is caused abnormal electrical activity in the brain. For some people with the disorder, the first, second, or third antiseizure medication helps reduce or stop seizure completely, while other try every antiseizure medication and has no positive results. For instance, Richard Shane recalls trying every medication and having no results. He suffered from seizures for 22 years. He would experience seizure two to five times a week. Fortunately for Shane, his doctor told him about a surgery that could stop the seizures. This surgery would require the surgeon to take out small chunk of the brain where the seizure originates. Ever since his surgery has
Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain becomes disrupted, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations and sometimes loss of consciousness. Epilepsy also known as seizures is a brain disorder involving repeated, spontaneous seizures of any type. Epilepsy is not a single disorder but rather a wide spectrum of problems. What all types of epilepsy share are recurrent, unprovoked seizures caused by an uncontrolled electrical discharge from nerve cells in the cerebral cortex. This part of the brain controls higher mental functions, general movement, and the functions of the internal organs in the abdominal cavity, perception, and behavioral reactions.
A child is reported as having “active epilepsy” if their guardian reports they have a history of diagnosed epilepsy or seizure disorder (CDC, 2017). Seizures that those with epilepsy experience fall into three main categories: generalized onset seizures, focal onset seizures and unknown onset seizures. Generalized seizures affect both sides of the brain at the same time (Type of Seizures, 2017). Focal seizures begin in only one part or section of the brain (Type of Seizures, 2017). Focal seizures can happen while the person is aware of the seizure (called focal onset aware seizures) or when the person’s awareness is impaired (called focal onset impaired awareness) (Type of Seizures, 2017). Seizures are classified as unknown onset when it is unclear where the seizure began (Type of Seizures, 2017). Seizure symptoms typically include loss of consciousness, jerking movements, muscle tensing and weakness as well as spasms (Type of Seizures, 2017). Focal seizures can also include automatic movements that a repeated in a rhythmic fashion such as clapping or lip-smacking (Type of Seizures, 2017). Often time EEG tests as well as blood tests or brain imaging tests like MRI or CT scans can be used to help diagnose the type of epilepsy and seizures (Type of
Epilepsy is a disease of the central nervous system. Out of everyone in the United States, 1 in over 26 people are prone to getting this disease. Before you really know you have epliepsy or go to the hospital you uusally have two unprovoked seziures. The sezuires that you have are caused from an abnormal activity in your brain cells.
EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain by placing multiple electrodes on the scalp. All the electrodes work instantaneously and produce data in the form of multi-channel time series in real time. These sensors can pick up about thousand data points every second. The electrical activity produced by a brain neuron is too small to be recorded by EEG [11]. An EEG electrode records from a combination of many concentrated neurons. Each EEG channel is calculated by taking the difference between recordings of two electrodes.