Getting to Know Epilepsy, Types of Seizures and Treatment

Epilepsy is a disease of the nerves. There are about 65 million people in the world who have epilepsy. The typical symptoms are seizures and can occur at any age causing a person to experience recurrent seizures without any provoking factors causing seizures due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Not all seizures are epilepsy, for example in the case of someone who has seizures due to low blood sugar levels, fainting, metabolic disorders are not epilepsy, because that's why seizures are the main symptom of epilepsy. However, that does not mean that everyone who has seizures has epilepsy. In people with epilepsy, seizures will take place more than once, aka recurring at the same or different times. In some cases, epilepsy can occur when a person sleeps. Most likely the cause is a change in body phase from wakefulness to sleep which triggers brain activity to become abnormal.

Recognize some forms of seizures

1. Generalized seizures: Motor involvement such as rhythmic movements, muscle stiffness, brief muscle twitches. Does not involve the motor, for example: absence seizures
2. focal seizures:

50. Motor involvement: jerking movements, muscle stiffness, muscle twitching.
50. Automation movements can also be found, such as: clapping hands, rubbing hands, tasting, chewing movements.
50. Non-motor symptoms: do not involve the motor, can be a change in sensation, emotion, thinking, autonomic disturbances.
50. Sometimes someone can tell what they feel, for example they can smell certain smells, this is called "aura".

3. Tonic-clonic seizures: In this type of seizure, a person experiences stiffness and twitching of the body, biting the tongue, foaming at the mouth, and bulging eyes.
4. Absence seizures: In this type of seizure, a person is not aware of their surroundings, or when talking suddenly stops in the middle of a conversation. Generally short duration Recovery is fast or immediate. Often found in children aged 4 to 14 years. These seizures need to be suspected if the child is having problems at school.
5. Atonic seizures: Muscles suddenly limp, head falls forward, drops items held, if in a standing position, the patient may fall forward, seizures last more than 15 seconds.
6. Clonic seizures: In this type of seizure, there are stiff and then relaxed muscle movements, lasting many times. Movement cannot be restrained
7. Infantile spasms: Characterized by brief movements (1-3 seconds) of the arms, legs and head-down movements. It often occurs shortly after waking up, and can occur several times a day. Babies become more irritable and can cry during an attack.
8. Focal seizures without disturbance of consciousness Patient is conscious, partially unresponsive during seizure Brief seizures, usually less than 2 minutes. The patient can remember events
9. Focal seizures with impaired consciousness Focal seizures in the form of involuntary movements, for example: hand rubbing movements, tasting, chewing There is a disturbance of consciousness. The patient makes movements but is actually not aware of it. Some patients can feel the presence of an aura

What do you feel after the seizure?

In most types of seizures, the patient is unconscious during the seizure, and is not aware of or aware of the condition that has been experienced (other people can tell).

After a seizure, the patient may experience a state such as confusion, fatigue, headache.

There are also post-seizure conditions that experience weakness in the hands or arms or legs, difficulty speaking, and so on.

Causes of Seizures There are several categories of causes of seizures:

Seizures are provoked: for example due to the use of some drugs, metabolic disorders. Such seizures generally will not recur if the cause is resolved. Nonepileptic seizures: eg fainting, psychological conditions.

In the diagnosis of seizures, doctors need information about what was experienced in detail, information is needed from people who witnessed seizures.

Do you need tests? Of course, an EEG blood laboratory examination – to see the brain's electrical wave activity and a CT or MRI scan – to see a structural picture of the brain.

How are seizures treated? Treatment of seizures is based on the cause of the seizures. If you experience recurrent seizures due to epilepsy, treatment with anti-epileptic drugs is needed.

Friends of Hermina, if you experience characteristics such as seizures lasting 5 minutes or more, repeated seizures without recovery of consciousness between seizures, difficulty breathing, seizures occurring in water, injuries or seizures for the first time. Immediately take it to the hospital to be examined by a Neurologist.