As promised here is the second article on Epilepsy. I decided to write this article about the symptoms of Epilepsy, but before I get any further into this article let recap a little bit on the previous article.
So what did we learn in the first article? First things first, what is epilepsy? We found that epilepsy is a neurological disease. Which by the way does not qualify it as a mental illness, so before everyone starts getting on their warhorse to march down to my castle and siege it, I will admit it myself: The first article in the Category of Mental Illness is not about a Mental Disease.
If you want to know why this disease was picked as the first for this series you will just have to read the first article right here What is this word you say “Epilepsy”? So go ahead give that a read if you are interesting in find out what Epilepsy is.
So neurological disease, what is that? Neurology just means a specialty that deals with nervous system, things like movement and senses.
That should summarize the main point of the first article, so lets move on to the topic of this article “Symptoms”.
So what are the main symptom(s) of Epilepsy? Seizures. These seizures break up into a few categories:
1. Generalized seizures, also known as the grand mal seizure
2. Partial or focal seizures
3.Absence seizures, also known as petite mal seizure
These are the three main categories of the seizures that happen when a person is effected by Epilepsy. Now lets get into detail about each one so that we can better understand them.
Grand mal seizures are the ones that effects all areas of the brain, thus the whole body gets effect when this seizure occurs. If you were to be present at the moment that this happens you might see the following things: the person experiencing such a seizure may cry out or make some sound, stiffen for some seconds, then have rhythmic movements of the arms and legs. Often the rhythmic movements slow before stopping. Eyes are generally open. There have been reports of the person having a grand mal seizure to also start foaming at the mouth. The person may not appear to be breathing. The person is often breathing deeply after an episode. The return to consciousness is gradual and should occur within a few moments. Loss of urine is common. Often people will be confused briefly after a grand mal seizure. Grand mal seizures don’t last very long usually a few minutes. A seizure that lasts longer then three to five minutes is very unusual and a doctor should be contacted.
Partial or focal seizures is when only part of the brain is involved. Depending on the part of the brain having abnormal electrical activity, symptoms may vary. So for example if the part of the brain that is responsible for the movement of your arm is effect then the effect would be a rhythmic movement of your arm. The oblivious the difference between a grand mal and the partial seizure is that in grand mal seizure everything is effect and the partial seizure only the certain parts are effect. The other symptoms of the partial seizure are lip smacking, picking at the clothing and/or strange sensations. Another symptom that should be mentioned is the partial complex seizure. When a person effected by epilepsy looks dazed or confused, this might mean their are having a partial complex seizure. The term complex used by doctors to describe the state between being fully alert and unconscious. This is not as frightening as the grand mal seizure, but it is still uncomfortable for the person experiencing it, I would think. I my self have no experience with epilepsy aside from hearing about it and reading about it. So if any of these sounds a bit insensitive, I am sorry. Lets move on to:
Petite mal seizure are usually very small and sometimes are even unnoticeable. The petite mal seizures include things like staring blankly into the distance, rapid blinking and/or other small movement. The person effect by Epilepsy may experience many of these in a day. Also these seizures are the most common in children.
These are the most common 3 types of seizures, but there are others especially in small children.
In my next post I would like to talk about how to react when you see a person going into a seizure, what to do and what not to do. This a good topic for anybody human, because you never know when this might happen to someone next to you, and it is a good idea to be prepared for anything. A person going into a seizure has no control over him/herself and is absolutely reliant on the people around him/her. It might be you or me, and it will be up to us to guide that person to safety so they do not hurt themselves.
See you guys next time.
KroNick
Popularity: 55% [?]