For others, surgery may be used to eliminate the likely source of irritation. In about 80% of cases, seizures can be controlled with medication. When seizures occur, or where sufficient risk factors are present, medication may be required to prevent or control them. When seizures appear later in recovery they are often more persistent, with 80% experiencing at least one more seizure. Individuals with a severe traumatic brain injury are 29 times more likely than the general population to have epilepsy. There are relationships between the severity and occurrence of injuries. In later appearing seizures, those with open head injuries are associated with a higher risk. Seizures associated with the time of injury possibly represent a different type of convulsive phenomena. Seizures at the time of injury are quite common, but are not always an indicator of later problems with seizures. Careful diagnosis of new-onset seizures is critical to appropriate treatment.Īpproximately 10% of individuals with brain injuries severe enough to require hospitalization have seizures. Other times, seizures may have no clear physiological component, thought to be caused by neuropsychiatric features. Some seizures are idiopathic, not known to be caused by anything in particular. Common causes are electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, fever, sleep deprivation or exhaustion, a new neurological injury such as bleeding or hydrocephalus, medication or illicit drug side-effects, or genetic predisposition. Any initial occurrence of a seizure warrants medical attention as it is a sign that something is not right with the brain. If a person has more than one seizure in a short period of time without recovering consciousness, or does not resolve a seizure episode within 5 minutes, it is called Status Epilepticus – and is a medical emergency. Grand Mal seizures involve a loss of consciousness and uncontrolled shaking as all muscle groups receive an overload of messages for movement. Sometimes, partial seizures spread and become generalized (Grand Mal), before they resolve. Partial seizures affect only one portion of the brain and have more limited symptoms such as visual distortions, odd sensations, unexplained emotional experiences, or non-purposeful behaviors or jerking movements. Most common with brain injuries are partial seizures, which typically arise from scar tissue from the injury. Among the remaining 40%, brain injury is one of the most frequent causes. In about 60% of cases, there is no known cause. And, approximately 110,000 people in Michigan are diagnosed with epilepsy. Typically lasting 1-5 minutes, they are characterized by changes in sensation, emotional experience, motor control, and levels of consciousness.Įpilepsy is the general term for a variety of neurological conditions characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures – it’s the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States. They are sudden, temporary episodes of brain dysfunction, caused by the abrupt, non-purposeful discharge of electrical activity in the brain. Seizures are the individual events of a sudden loss of control of functions associated with normal brain activity. Epilepsy and seizure disorder are terms often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences. One of the common challenges seen with brain injury is seizure disorder – more commonly known as epilepsy. November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, a time of the year to help promote awareness and educate the general public about epilepsy and seizures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |