Epilepsy - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
Posted in: health in pejung's Blog
Epilepsy is a physical condition that occurs when there is a sudden, brief change in how the brain works. When brain cells are not working properly, a person's consciousness, movement, or actions may be altered for a short time. These physical changes are called epileptic seizures. Therefore, epilepsy is sometimes called a seizure disorder. Epilepsy affects people in all nations and of all races.

What Causes Epilepsy

Any condition that keeps blood or oxygen from getting to the brain (e.g. hardening of the arteries)

Alzheimer's disease or other diseases that change the brain's structure

Dozens of genetic syndromes representing a variety of seizure patterns may account for the different forms epilepsy.

A genetic cause has been identified for at least some cases of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, which represents 10% of all epilepsy cases. (Such research and other studies have pointed to the GABA signaling system as an important player in many cases of epilepsy.)

Symptoms of Epilepsy

The severity of symptoms can vary greatly, from simple staring spells to loss of consciousness and violent convulsions. For many patients, the event is the same thing over and over, while some people have many different types of seizures that cause different symptoms each time. The type of seizure a person has depends on a variety of many things, such as the part of the brain affected and the underlying cause of the seizure.

Experiencing changes in the way things look, smell, feel, taste, or sound.

Experiencing an intense feeling of déjà vu (a feeling that these events have happened before).

Epileptic seizures often happen without warning, although some people may have an aura at the beginning of a seizure. A seizure ends when the abnormal electrical activity in the brain stops and brain activity begins to return to normal. Seizures may be either partial or generalized.

How is epilepsy diagnosed?

First, a detailed history is needed. A physical and neurologic exam are performed by your veterinarian, a panel of laboratory tests are run, and sometimes x-rays (radiographs) are taken. If a cause of the seizure can not be identified, the condition is diagnosed as idiopathic or primary epilepsy. There is no test to diagnose epilepsy per se, our tests simply rule out other causes of seizures.

How Can You Treat Epilepsy

The goal of epilepsy treatment is to treat, and prevent, seizures.

In some cases, seizures can occur because of the presence of a substance, infection, or other condition. These can be stopped by treating the fever, the poisoning, low blood sugar or the infection, if this is discovered to be the cause of the seizures.

Some medications can be taken daily in order to prevent seizures altogether or reduce the frequency of their occurrence. These are termed "anticonvulsant" or "antiepileptic" drugs (sometimes AEDs). All such drugs have side effects which are idiosyncratic and others which are dose-dependent; it is not possible to predict who will suffer from side effects or at what dose the side effects will appear.

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By:By: Scott Gillespie

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

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Added January 01, 2009
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