Epilepsy is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system. Epileptic seizures occur due to the occurrence of pathological activity in the brain, causing short-term violations of the basic functions of a person — motor, mental, autonomic.
Epilepsy definition
By epilepsy meaning, not every seizure is epilepsy. Anyone can suffer seizures at least once in certain situations, for example, at a high temperature (febrile seizures), after vaccination, with severe traumatic brain injury. It should also be remembered that many serious diseases of the nervous system, such as encephalitis and meningitis, can begin with seizures against a background of fever.
Therefore, whenever you experience seizures, you should contact the doctor.
At what age does epilepsy start?
Epileptic seizures can start at any age — from the period of a newborn (first month of life) to old age. The most common seizures occur in children under 15 years of age, approximately half of all seizures that occur in a person in his entire life occur at this age.
What are the possible causes of epilepsy?
There are many factors that cause epilepsy symptoms. An important role belongs to the hereditary predisposition. It has been noticed that in those families where there are relatives suffering from epilepsy, the likelihood of developing epilepsy in a child is higher than in those families where the relatives have no diseases.
In some types of epilepsy, which are called symptomatic, the cause of the development of the disease is brain damage as a result of:
- congenital anomalies of its development;
- intrauterine infections;
- chromosomal syndromes;
- hereditary metabolic diseases;
- generic damage to the central nervous system;
- infections of the nervous system;
- traumatic brain injury;
- tumors.
What are the basic principles of epilepsy treatment?
The basic principles of epilepsy therapy are:
- monotherapy — epilepsy treatment with one anticonvulsant drug;
- regularity;
- duration (at least 3 years);
- individual approach.
It is important to note that there is no “universal anticonvulsant drug” for epilepsy treatment, equally effective for different types of seizures and different forms of epilepsy. The drug that helped the patient with your friends may turn out to be completely ineffective for your relative.
The choice of the drug should be made by the doctor based on the correct diagnosis, based on what causes epilepsy of a certain individual. You should never self-medicate, you can harm your health, since if the drug does not match the nature of the attacks, there may be an increase in the frequency and aggravation of the clinical manifestations of the disease.
Can epilepsy be treated?
People often ask What is epilepsy? and What treatments for epilepsy can be considered successful? Due to the successes of modern pharmacotherapy, complete control of seizures is possible in 70-75% of cases. Thus, most epilepsies are treatable diseases.
The main goals of epilepsy treatment for beneficial types of epilepsy are:
- complete control of seizures;
- no side effects of therapy;
- lowest cost and ease of treatment.
Remember, before treatment, our neurologists examine the patient and communicate with relatives.
