Who gets it?

Primarily, rolandic epilepsy represents about 15% of most epilepsy in young people. The seizure usually begins at age from 6 to 8 or in a range of 3-13. This syndrome usually affects boys than females. Children with this type of epilepsy may have normal intelligence and the seizures cannot affect their studies. Research revealed that children that are prone to have this condition are the ones with family history of epilepsy.

Tell me more

Benign rolandic epilepsy is named after one area of the brain called as rolandic, which is also known to control the movements of face. This syndrome is also called as benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. This refers to a particular pattern that can be seen on the child’s EEG, that can help on identify this syndrome. MRI and neurologic are some of the tests that can be done. Even though rolandic is considered as benign and some children can outgrow this conditions but there are some children that may have difficulties in their behavior and learning. However, the problem usually disappears after the seizure stops to appear.

How is it treated?

Because the seizures of benign rolandic epilepsy can be infrequent and typically occurs when they are sleeping, most children with epilepsy this type may not need to take medication to prevent seizures. However, the child may be prescribed with medication if they have a daytime seizure, frequent seizures at night or mild mental handicap. In addition some of the medications for rolandic epilepsy are Carbatrol, Tegretol, Trileptal and Neirontin.

Individuals with partial epilepsy are being considered for epilepsy surgery because they find it difficult to control their seizures and fail to respond to medication successfully. In the early years, the people who are considered for surgery are the ones that cannot respond well to medications after years of trying to use these treatments. But today, many expert believed that the sooner that the surgery for epilepsy are conducted, the effect can be better. As a trend, the patient may only try taking medications for a year or two, if it is not effective, wherein they cannot still control their seizure he may be a candidate for epilepsy surgery. In addition, the patient may also need to try two medications or a combination to determine if surgery is badly needed.

Epilepsy surgery are ideal to patients with seizures that are linked with structural brain abnormalities like blood vessel malformations or benign brain tumors and disorders such as strokes, cavernous, venous agiomas and arteriovenous malformations

treatment for epilepsy has already evolved like considering the quality of life of the patient not just the quantity of seizures. The patient may still need to take medications for the rest of his life. This can help an individual to have his individuality, educational, social and employment to be attained. However, it is a decision that the physician will need to think about whether you need to have a surgery or not.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder distinguished by repeated and spontaneous seizures in any type occurring without any actual cause. In addition, epilepsy could affect many individual of any age. The epilepsy seizures are known as convolutions or fits, which are an effect of unusual electrical signals of brain. The seizure may last for seconds or minutes. Basically, the form of seizure based on the portion of the affected brain and may lead to seizure. Generally, the cause of seizure may not be identified and they seem to start between the ages of 5 to 20.

Seizures could also be a effect of inherited abnormality. Some of the causes are:

Injury during the development of unborn child
Infections
Family history of epilepsy
Strokes
Birth trauma
Head injury

In addition, some of the causes of seizures are related to other factors like: addition to drugs, withdrawal from drugs, irregular levels of sodium in blood or glucose in blood. If these seizures stop after correcting the above discussed factors then epilepsy may not be the case.

Types of Seizures

Generalized Seizures – These type of seizure basically affects most part of the brain and they could be tonic-clonic or absence.

a. Tonic-Clonic Seizures- It is a certain type of seizure epilepsy, wherein there is a cruel contraction of the entire body. It is basically the most terrifying type of seizure.

The body may go stiff and rigid
The breathing may stop briefly.
The person might be unconscious.
The person might bite his tongue that may lead to bleeding.
b. Absence Seizures – This is a type of seizure that is minimal or no movements at all apart from blinking of the eye. There can be a abrupt loss of awareness or full consciousness. This is very common in children.

Partial Seizures

Partial seizures may only affect a certain part of the brain. They may be simple or complex partial seizures. The following are some of the signs and symptoms of partial seizures.

Feelings of déjà vu
Sweating
Nausea
Muscle construction
Hallucinations
A strange odor or smell

Four Types of Myclonus Epilepsy

Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy Juvenile myclonic epilepsy is a form of myclonus and characterize as muscle twitching in shoulder, upper arms or neck. Typically, the seizures start to show after waking up. This is called juvenile because it primarily affects adolescents or young adults. Typically, individuals with normal intelligence are affected by this condition. JME can be controlled by the assistance of medications but the patient need to continue taking medications all through his lifetime.
Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsy – Progressive myclonus epilepsy causes by a plethora of conditions that represents a sets of disorders and diseases. It is very different compare to juvenile myclonic epilepsy in several factors. The seizure occurs differently and the patient needs an individual medication. Unfortunately, the patient may not get back to normal life because it can make them deteriorate as time passes by. In fact it rarely responds to certain medications. In fact there are certain medications that can make progressive myoclonus epilepsy worse such as carbamazepine and phenytoin.
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome – This is a type of myoclonus epilepsy is pretty uncommon. Typically, it may include several types of seizure. This is basically occurs to young children and the seizures are considered to be severe. This epilepsy affects the upper part of body.
Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy – Myoclonic astatic epilepsy or known as Doose syndrome is also a rare type of myoclonus epilepsy. In every 100 children with epilepsy, only 2 can have this type. It is characterized by repeated seizures that may lead falling on ground. There are times also when the child may lose consciousness. It manifest in numerous hours. Fortunately, children with myoclonic astatic epilepsy can respond to medications positively and they can able control this if they continuously taking medications. However, children with this condition may find it difficult to perform in class very well. Remember that it should be diagnosed so that the underlying disease can be cured to avoid this problem.

Epilepsy could start in any time of an individual’s life but it is very typical in children below 5 years old. Even though this condition varies from person to person, the children with this condition respond effectively to certain medication and they can enjoy an active and normal childhood. As a matter of fact more than half of epilepsy children outgrow this condition as they go mature.

Recognizing seizures

Seizures aren’t always familiar in children when it first happened. Seizures may be short and subtle like the case of absence seizure, wherein the child has short episodes or reduced responsiveness and awareness. The following are some of the most common childhood events that can be confused with this condition are:

Psychological problems
Gastrointestinal and heart problems
Migraine
Night terrors
Daydreaming
Normal sleep jerks
Breath holding spells
Fainting spells
Understanding the diagnosis

If the epilepsy is believed to be the cause of genetic disposition is usually known as idiopathic epilepsy. If the epilepsy is caused by a brain injury, it is known as symptomatic epilepsy. In general, pinpointing the main cause of epilepsy can be difficult to do.

Determining the epilepsy pattern in child can be gradual and sluggish in process, which can be a frustrating situation for most parents. It’s not only possible to determine the exact condition of the child during the diagnosis. The clear condition may just appear as the child develops.

Treatment

Medications for epilepsy are used to prevent the seizure from coming back. However, it cannot be prescribed for every child with epileptic seizures because it can be depend on the following:

The type of epilepsy that the child has
If the child is high risk of other seizures
The child’s age
The occurrence of the behavioral or developmental problems
The attitude of the child as well as the family

It is very important to keep in mind that the epileptic episodes that can trigger this condition are not due to low blood sugar, poison of other chemical stimulants. Experts believed that it can be caused by a locus, wherein the brain’s nerve tissue is damaged or have an abnormality.

The epilepsy attack in dogs may occur without any sign or symptoms. Just like a seizure attack in people, the dog may show symptoms of being shaking.

The Examination

When you take your dog to the veterinarian, he may conduct a complete physical examination and check for the heart of the dog as well as the neurological symptoms. In this event the veterinarian will conduct blood sample testing. This can help them determine the metabolic process of the dog.

The Blood Sample

Blood sample plays an important role in diagnosing dogs epilepsy. It can help the veterinarian determine whether there’s a chemical imbalances during the episodes of epilepsy. As example, the liver helps the system to function properly, there can be an indication that the dog is suffering from a disorder that can affect their nervous system. Aside from the blood sample, urine sample will also be acquired too for further test.

Treatment

Yes there are drugs and medications that can treat dogs epilepsy. However, it is very important to keep in mind that there’s no permanent cure for this conditions. Medications are only use to alleviate the symptoms that can affect your pet’s life. In most cases, if the seizure doesn’t appear for a year, the medication can be gradually stopped.

Anticonvulsant medications are commonly uses to reduce or eliminate the seizures caused by epilepsy. As you know there are various types of these medications. However remember that not all of these may work in some case. The physician may need to try any of the medications as well as the dosage, so that he can determine the right one for a particular patient.

Examples of Anticonvulsants

Valproic acid
Topiramate
Phenytoin
Lamotrigine
Carbamazepine

However, most anticonvulsants medications do have side effects. Some of these can make the patient’s mind slow-moving. Some could cause hair growth in the face as well as blunt facial features. In addition, they could reduce the usefulness of oral contraceptive pill and lead to birth defects.

In the event that the seizure hasn’t shown for about a year or so, the physician may order to stop the use of epilepsy medication. In fact, two-thirds of case, the seizure may not return.

Epilepsy originating from injured part of the brain may involve surgical procedures when medications are not sufficient for treating epilepsy

Additionally, another treatment for epilepsy is the use of implanted devices like a pacemaker that incites the vagus nerve in the neck regularly. A patient wearing this type of device feels that a seizure is coming he can wave s magnet into the implant to turn-on the stimulator.

Another thing to keep in mind, especially women who are active sexually and may bear a child should consult their doctor regarding folic acid supplements that can lessen the birth defect risk. In addition there are also some treatments for sexual problems that are accompanied by epilepsy.

One of the most epilepsy treatments is by getting a regular exercise. This can surely reduce the probability of having seizures. Basically, people with epilepsy must remember some important points to avoid injury are swimming alone or bath unsupervised, operating a heavy machine, climbing ladders and others. The best key here is the right information about epilepsy, people with this condition can still live a normal life.

The following are some of the important facts that you need to know regarding

At least 80 percent of people with epilepsy use epilepsy medications, surgery or both to control the seizures.

Individual with epilepsy may require taking medication 4 times a day to avoid seizures.

These drugs for epilepsy are only used to treat the symptoms caused by this condition, not the disease itself.

There are several types of epilepsy and there are particular medication that can work for any form of epilepsy.

Types of Epilepsy Drugs

Since the 90’s a wide array of epilepsy medications are approved, which increases the treatment selection for patient as well as their physicians.

Phenobarbital and phenytoin are the oldest epilepsy drug used way back in 1912 and 1938. All together, there are about 24 various medicines that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Some of the widely used drugs for epilepsy are pregabalin, dizepa,, tiagabine, lamotriagine, gabapentin and felbamate.

Tailoring the Dose of Epilepsy Medications

When a person with epilepsy starts a new medication, it is very essential to keep in mind to tailor the appropriate dosage for better results. As you know, not every people has the same body and they may react differently into certain medicines and drugs. So, it may take time before you can able to find the right drugs and dosage.Side Effects and Interactions With Medication for Epilepsy

Most of the times, the side effects of medication for epilepsy usually depends on the drugs and the period of time the patient is taking it. It means it basically depends on the medication; even now drugs do have its side effects.

Unluckily, it is not possible for a physician to determine which type of medication that can cause a side effect to patient. Normally, the physician will prescribe low dose first then he will monitor the patient’s blood levels to determine the excellent dose ideal for the patient.

Ketogenic diet characterize by consuming four grams of fat for every one gram of protein as well as carbohydrate altogether. An individual under this diet may need to consume more on fatty foods like peanut butter, cream and butter. Foods like vegetables, fruits, pasta and bread should be entirely restricted. Total fluids and calories should also be under control. In fact, the food for each meal must be carefully measured cautiously. The failure to follow this diet can revoke its effectively.

What To Expect After Treatment

It is very important to remember that when you going to start this diet for epilepsy, you need to fast the day before you begin. The diet must be steadily introduced to the body, so that the system can allow the dramatic change. Normally, the person may feel lack of energy and tired during the first few days of the diet.

In case of children, they are normally admitted to hospital or a certain epilepsy center when they are starting epilepsy diet, so that they can be closely monitored. This type of diet must be given or try under the supervision of a physician and dietitian.
Why It Is Done

Moreover, this diet for epilepsy can be sometimes used for children with rigorous seizures and cannot respond to antiepileptic drugs successfully. This has worked mostly for treating seizuresassociated to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. This is ideal for children wherein certain treatments are not successful.

Risks of Ketogenic Diet
This diet usually causes side effects for people and these are not typically serious:
Slow development of children
Behavior changes
Kidney stones
High cholesterol level
Vomiting
Constipation
Dehydration
People under this diet may also develop vitamin as well as mineral deficiencies unless they try to use supplements that can able to complete these shortage. This is because ketogenic cannot supply sufficient amount of nutrients that the body needed. That is why, it is very important to consult a physician that can help you with this diet.

Bacopa extract is an effective Ayurvedic medicinal herb originated in India. It is believed to decrease the epileptic seizures frequency for some people. It basically increases the GABA or serotonin level, which are two essential brain chemicals that is deemed to normalize pyramidal neurons as well as internuerons that can trigger an seizure epilepsy.

Valerian is also an essential medication for epilepsy because it has an anticonvulsant effect. The extract of the root of this herb is used to prevent the seizures caused by epilepsy. This is due to the effect of one characteristic on reducing the calcium current in the thalamic neurons that instigate seizure.

Aloe vera extract is one of the herbal treatments for seizures. We all know that aloe vera’s extract is used for treating hair and scalp problems. However, it is also known for an alternative cure in epilepsy. This is because its polysaccharide gum has an ability to reduce the seizure. However, research and studies are still on-going, that is why seeking physician’s advice is the first thing you need to do if you are considering herbal treatment.