Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. This disease affects many families worldwide. These seizures are transient signs and symptoms of an abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, with almost 90% of these people being in developing countries like Africa and South America. Epilepsy is more likely to occur in young children, and people over the age of 65 years, however the disease can strike at any time.
Epilepsy is usually controlled, but not cured, with epilepsy drugs or surgery in the most difficult cases. Epilepsy surgery is performed infrequently. However, over 30% of people with epilepsy do not have seizure control even with the best available medications. Not all epilepsy children syndromes are life long, and some forms are confined to particular stages and ages of childhood. Epilepsy should not be understood as a single disorder, but rather as a group of disorder or syndromes with immensely differing symptoms but all involving episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
The diagnosis of epilepsy usually requires that the seizures occur spontaneously. Nevertheless, certain epilepsy syndromes, especially in adult onset epilepsy, require particular precipitants or triggers for seizures to occur. These are termed reflex epilepsy which includes epileptic seizures triggered by reading or flashing lights. Many people who have epileptic seizures are required not to be around strobe lights or large flashing lights. Other precipitants can trigger an epileptic seizure in patients who otherwise would be susceptible to spontaneous seizures.
Temporal lobe epilepsy is a form of focal epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures. While focal epilepsy accounts for about 50% of all epilepsy cases, the prevalence of temporal lobe epilepsy among these cases remains uncertain. Temporal lobe epilepsies are a group of medical disorders in which human and animals experience recurrent epileptic seizures arising from one or both temporal lobes of the brain. The temporal lobes are responsible for speech, hearing and memory functions and are at either side of the brain.
There are no real symptoms of epilepsy but they can be classified in five ways; by their cause, by the observable manifestations of the seizures, by the location in the brain where the seizures originate, as part of discrete, identifiable medical syndromes and by the event that triggers the seizures. Epilepsy drugs often work but sometimes surgery is recommended.
The Epilepsy Foundation is a non profit national foundation, headquartered in Landover, Maryland, dedicated to the welfare of people with epilepsy and seizure disorders. The foundation was established in 1968 and now has a network of 59 affiliates. The foundation’s programs aim to ensure that people with seizures and their families are able to partake in all life experiences and to prevent, manage and cure epilepsy through research, education, encouragement and services. To contact them or find out useful information, you can check their website at www.epilepsy.org. Be Healthy!
