Bio 201 Epilepsy Research Paper

BIO 201
October 17th, 2012
Dr. Sillanpaa

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological condition in which affects the nervous system and is also known as a seizure disorder. It is normally diagnosed after a person has had two or more seizures that weren 't caused by a known medical condition like extremely low blood sugar or alcohol withdrawal. The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family tendency but most of the time it unfortunately unknown. “Epilepsy”, the word itself, does not indicate anything about the cause of the person 's seizures, what type they are or how severe they can or may be. Epilepsy is the condition of recurrent spontaneous seizures arising from abnormal electrical activity within the brain. Epileptogenesis
All symptoms may vary depending on the type of seizures the patient may get. Pathological: There are two categories of seizures in epilepsy; generalized and focal.
Generalized seizures are caused by abnormal electrical impulses in the brain and typically occur with little or no warning. There are six types of generalized seizures. The first is tonic-clonic seizure also known as grand-mal. This seizure can cause you to lose consciousness and often cause you to collapse all together. When this happens, your body becomes stiff, during what is called the “tonic” phase and the “clonic” phase is when muscles start to contract and the body starts to jerk. The jaw clamps shut and you could bite your tongue. Your bladder could contract and cause you to urinate. After about two minutes you fall into a deep sleep. This is the most common seizure. Second is called absence seizure, petit mal, during these brief episodes, you being to lose awareness and stare blankly. Usually here, there are no other symptoms. They usually last for 5 to 10 seconds but can be longer and may occur several times a day. Third, myoclonic seizures are very brief ones that cause the body to jerk, as if shocked by electricity for couple
If that doesn 't work they proceed to doing surgery of the brain. Generally, most people can become seizure free by using some form of an anti-epileptic drug. Others, it will just decrease the chances of a recurrence seizures and their intensity. More than half of the children that have seizures live a life of seizure free when starting the medication at a young age. Although this sounds easy, finding the perfect medication for their specific seizure is complex. Typically one will start out with a lower dosage and it raises if seizures still occur, once controlled they stop upping the dose. Majority of the medications come with several symptoms such as dizziness, weight gain, loss of bone density, skin rashes, loss of coordinations and speech problems. Severe cases of symptoms include depression, suicidal thoughts, severe rash, inflammation of some organs. Surgery is most commonly done when your test results come back showing an originate in a small, yet well defined area of the brain that doesn 't interfere with your senses. Now if the portion of the brain interferes with your senses, they preform a different kind of surgery which consists of a series of cuts throughout the brain to prevent the seizures from spreading to other parts of the brain. Next month, the month of November is actually the month for awareness of Epilepsy. The ribbon color is a light purple, lavender. Only about 1 of 20 epileptics are sensitive