Epilepsy - All The Details Which You Need To Know

Epilepsy refers to a disorder in the central nervous system, where the brain starts to function abnormally, resulting in seizures or certain situations where the person starts to behave unusually, at the time even leading to loss of awareness.

A single instance of a seizure doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has epilepsy. To be diagnosed with this type of neurological disorder, a minimum of two unprovoked seizures are usually required.

Symptoms

The main symptom of this kind of disease is repeated seizures but there are other instances as well when a person should consider seeing a doctor due to the fact that they might well lead to epileptic tendencies. Some of them are listed below:

1. The person becomes stiff all of a sudden
2. Little spells of a blackout or the memory are getting confused
3. If a person does not respond to questions or instructions for a brief period
4. A person seems to be in a daze and failing to communicate appropriately for a short span of time
5. If an individual is carrying out repetitive movements in an inappropriate manner

Causes

Epilepsy occurs when the brain is unable to send signals to other parts of the body, hence restricting our movements.

Though the exact cause is not known, still some generic factors inherited, can make epilepsy more likely happening and they are mentioned below as follows:

1. Head trauma suffered during a car crash
2. An injury which has might have occurred before birth
3. Due to faulty electrical activity in the brain, it is not able to send messages to other parts of the brain
4. Brain stroke or tumours can also increase the risk of epilepsy
5. People suffering from a developmental disorder like autism
6. Epilepsy can also be caused by infectious diseases like AIDS or Meningitis

Who Are Likely To Be More Susceptible To Epilepsy?

Children under the age of 2 years and adults aged more than 65 years are people most likely to get exposed to the risk factors, which might trigger the warning bells for epilepsy.

When Should You Go And Visit A Doctor?

You should visit a doctor or the emergency department of any hospital as and when you have the first seizure. Getting diagnosed with seizure disorder, change in seizure patterns or being affected by frequent seizures, also require immediate medical attention.

How Can Epilepsy Be Prevented?

Epilepsy can easily be prevented or at least the risk can be reduced if you follow certain measures:

1. Sleep for a minimum of 7 to 9 hours every day. Sleep deprivation is one of the major reasons behind increased number of seizures
2. Do not get stressed out and try to relax as much as possible
3. Drugs and alcohol should be avoided
4. As per doctor’s advice, take all your medicines on a regular basis
5. Maintain a healthy diet

So, we have looked at certain aspects related to epilepsy, from which you could get a fair idea as to why and how this occurs and the ways in which you can prevent yourselves from getting affected