(Sisacast, SISACAST = Reporter Lee Hyun-joo)
Recently, Mr A experienced a situation where the person next to him had a sudden seizure and collapsed while biting bubbles.
“I was shocked and confused and didn’t know what to do.”
The situation Mr A faced was the symptoms of a seizure caused by ‘epilepsy’. Epilepsy is a common disease, with 20,000 patients a year in Korea alone, but not many people understand the disease correctly.
‘Epilepsy’ was called ‘epilepsy’ in the past, but the name of the disease was changed in 2012 to improve the negative perception of the term and highlight that it is a brain disease.
Epilepsy is a disease that causes temporary paralysis of brain functions, such as loss of consciousness, seizures, and abnormal behavior, as a result of temporary abnormalities in the neurons of the brain, resulting in excessive excitation.
A representative symptom of epilepsy is motor convulsive seizures. In the cerebrum, neurons that are connected to each other exchange information with electrical signals, and seizures occur when electrical signals are generated abnormally. Depending on the area of the brain affected, symptoms can manifest differently.
Seizures are divided into partial seizures and generalized seizures Partial seizures begin in part of the cerebral cortex, and generalized seizures begin when abnormal electrical signals occur in a wide area on both sides of the cerebrum.
Partial seizures are divided into simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures.
Simple partial seizures do not spread through the cerebrum and remain conscious. Depending on the area affected, symptoms can appear in different forms, such as motor seizures, sensory seizures, and mental symptoms such as déjà vu. Complex partial seizures are characterized by impaired awareness and repetitive behaviors with unclear intentions. For example, various symptoms of automaticity appear, such as stopping what you are doing, staring blankly at one place, smacking your mouth, waving your hands and playing with objects. Most patients do not remember what they did.
Generalized seizures can be divided into △miniature seizures △generalized tonic-clonic seizures △myoclonic seizures △atonic seizures.
Mini seizures occur mainly in children. They stop what they are doing and stare blankly ahead or up, or lose consciousness for several seconds and do not respond to nearby stimuli. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are the most common form of generalized seizures, and the whole body becomes stiff, and the eyes and head turn to one side. If stiffness persists, saliva and foam may come out of the mouth, tongue biting, or incontinence.
In addition, myoclonic seizures, where sudden muscle contractions are repeated in one or both arms, and atonic seizures, where the muscles of the whole body lose strength and collapse, accompanied by loss of consciousness, can presenting symptoms.
What Causes Epilepsy?
The cause of epilepsy is not clearly identified, but it is estimated that ▲ nutrition during pregnancy ▲ complications during birth ▲ head trauma ▲ stroke ▲ brain infection ▲ tumor ▲ degenerative changes in the brain. As the causes of epilepsy vary with age, an accurate diagnosis is necessary when epilepsy occurs.
How to treat epilepsy?
Epilepsy can be treated with medication or surgery. First, treatment is carried out with anticonvulsants, and 70 to 80% of patients with epilepsy manage their symptoms with drugs. If it is not treated with drugs, the symptoms can be improved by removing the brain tissue.
What to do when an epileptic seizure occurs
As in the case mentioned above, when a patient with epilepsy has a seizure, the patient must first be placed in a safe place, and then loosen the buttons, belts and ties of the tight clothing’ the body. In addition, it is good to turn the head to the side so that the airway is not blocked by saliva and secretions and watch until the symptoms stop.
Usually, when a person collapses, CPR is performed in case of cardiac arrest. However, epilepsy is not a disease that causes cardiac arrest, and instead, the act of chest compressions during a seizure can worsen the patient’s condition. In addition to performing CPR, you should never perform body weight that weighs down your arms and legs.
Most seizure symptoms stop within 1 to 2 minutes and consciousness is restored. However, if the seizures are repeated several times, are severe, or if the symptoms continue for more than 5 minutes, you should go to the emergency room and receive appropriate treatment.
How to prevent epilepsy symptoms?
Epilepsy symptoms can be controlled by taking medicines, so it is most important to take medicines regularly as prescribed by a specialist.
In addition, the accumulation of fatigue, drinking, overeating, and stress are factors that cause epileptic seizures, so lifestyle changes such as enough sleep, regular meals, and abstinence from alcohol should be made together.
Epilepsy is a treatable disease. Patients themselves should not be alarmed, and social awareness of epilepsy should be improved. According to the Korean Epilepsy Association data, there are 400,000 epilepsy patients in Korea. However, many patients still experience prejudice and discrimination, and some live their lives hiding their illness to avoid falling into that trap.
Since 2015, the International Epilepsy Society and the International Federation for the Elimination of Epilepsy have established and commemorated the second Monday of February each year as ‘World Epilepsy Day’. This year, February 13th is World Epilepsy Day. It is necessary to understand the disease called epilepsy correctly and to know in advance how to deal with symptoms when symptoms appear. [시사캐스트]
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