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Epilepsy: symptoms, causes and treatment

by Alivia Nyhan
Published: Last Updated on

Epilepsy is a disorder where brain activity is altered and can have psychological and cognitive consequences, producing a disorganized electrical action in groups of neurons. It is one of the most common neurological disorders after strokes and dementia and has a very low risk of sudden death. To diagnose this condition you must have had at least three spontaneous seizures throughout life. At FastlyHeal  we explain the symptoms, causes and treatment of epilepsy .

Symptoms of epilepsy

The symptoms of epilepsy vary from one person to another, but most of the time they can present, violent tremors, absences, aura, this means that before an epileptic attack the patient may feel tingling, odors that do not exist or changes emotional These symptoms usually appear suddenly and are brief.

There are also types of epilepsies , which will depend on the area of ​​the brain that is affected and the cause that produces it:

  • Absences : last a few seconds and occurs in people under 20 years old and mostly in children between 6 and 12 years old, it can be confused with inattention or bad behavior and includes symptoms such as interruption of movement, fixed gaze and changes in the muscle activity.
  • Generalized tonic-clonic seizure : involves the whole body, can occur at any age and occur only once. Symptoms include violent muscle contractions, blue discoloration, tongue biting, and loss of alertness.
  • Partial seizures : they are common in children of 1 year of age and in those older than 65 years with some vascular deficiency. They may or may not affect consciousness and presents with abnormal movements of the head, eyes, flushing of the face, and sweating.

Causes of epilepsy

There are several causes for epileptic seizures , one of them is of hereditary origin, secondly we have congenital causes such as tumors, vascular malformations, chromosomal abnormalities and metabolic disorders. On the other hand, there are the acquired causes, and they are due to injuries that affect the brain, they can be after surgery or a very strong infection such as meningitis , trauma or dementia. In other cases they may not have an apparent cause, these are called ideopathic.

Treatment for epilepsy

The treatment for epilepsy may include drugs, changes in lifestyle or surgery. The anticonvulsant medications can reduce the number of crisis, your doctor will prescribe appropriate for this type of seizure, they must be ingested orally and may be accompanied by blood tests to see if there are any side effects. If you want to get pregnant, you should consult with your doctor to make the necessary adjustments in the medication.

Surgery will be recommended in cases where the epilepsy is due to tumors or bleeding in the brain or if after having tried several medications the seizures continue. A previous study must be carried out to know the area of ​​the brain where the crisis originates and thus avoid neurological damage.

This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Epilepsy: symptoms, causes and treatment , we recommend that you enter our Brain and nerves category .

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