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Recommended: Conclusion for epilepsy
All I saw was my brother’s limp body fall backwards straight onto the cold concrete. It happened so fast. I stood there in shock as my brother was lying on the ground, as still as a statue, almost dead-like. My heart was beating a million miles per hour as I ran to get my mom and dad. My dad asked me what was wrong, but no words could come out of my mouth. I dragged him to our basement where my brother was laying lifeless. “Oh my.. go upstairs, everything will be alright.” said my father, with a voice that was rushed and cracking, almost as if he didn’t believe his own words himself.
This was the first time I ever witnessed my brother have a seizure and how it caused me to learn the dangers of epilepsy.
The day started out like any other
Epilepsy, also known as “seizure disorder,” or “seizure attack,” is the fourth most common neurological disorder known to mankind, affecting an estimated 2.3 million adults and 467,711 children in the United States. Unfortunately this disorder is becoming far more common and widespread worldwide. This staggering number of cases of people suffering from Epilepsy also involves an average growth rate of 150,000 new cases each year in the United States alone. Generally, many of the people who develop who are a part of the new are mainly either young children or older adults. Your brain communicates through chemical and electrical signals that are all specialized for specific tasks. However, through the process of communication, chemical messengers, also known as neurotransmitters can suddenly fail, resulting in what is known as a seizure attack. Epilepsy occurs when a few too many brain cells become excited, or activated simultaneously, so that the brain cannot function properly and to it’s highest potential. Epilepsy is characterized when there is an abnormal imbalance in the chemical activity of the brain, leading to a disruption in the electrical activity of the brain. This disruption specifically occurs in the central nervous system (CNS), which is the part of the nervous system that contains the brain and spinal cord. This causes an interruption in communication between presynaptic neurons and postsynaptic neurons; between the axon of one neuron, the message sender and the dendrite of another neuron, the message recipient. Consequently, the effects that epileptic seizures may induce may range anywhere from mild to severe, life-threatening ramifications and complications. There are many different types of seizures associa...
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the brain causing people to have seizures. A seizure is a big disruption of electrical communication between neurons, leading to the temporary release of excessive energy in a synchronized form Epilepsy is very unpredictable. Having a seizure disorder doesn't mean that you can only have one type of seizure. People can have many different types of seizures; it can vary on the person. In some cases depending on the type of seizures someone may have they can grow out of them. (“Epilepsy Foundation." What Is Epilepsy? N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.)
Later, the doctors told me I had epilepsy, specifically the type known as grand mal. Immediately, the doctors put me on some medications to prevent the seizures. They also gave my parents a bunch of packets of information about epilepsy. When I got older, some of those packets informed me that 20-25 million people have suffered from an epileptic seizure. Many people grow out of childhood epilepsy or they take medicine to control it. However, there is still a risk of having a seizure even if you take medication. Over the past few years, I have become increasingly aware of the chance of a seizure at any time.
Approximately 50% of children with epilepsy will have some form of learning disability and the incidence of mental retardation among the number of people with epilepsy is between 20 and 29% compared to the general population at 1-2% (Massachusetts General Hospital, 2006). Since epilepsy already causes a lot of complications, it is very easy for other disabilities to come forth. How does epilepsy effect child development? The answer is simple. It interferes with daily life that would non-existent if epilepsy was not present. However, these complications are very normal in all epileptics. It may harm the individual, but thankfully epilepsy awareness is becoming more well-known and ways of cooperation and handling disabilities present, are getting stronger and stronger with each effort that is taken.
So, Epilepsy is a very complicated disease. There is over 40 types of seizures, affecting men, women, and children, with treatment options of AED's (Anti-epileptic drugs), or surgery. Through my personal experience and research, my thoughts were changed. Hopefully it will open people's minds about Epilepsy and the people who have it.
My seventeen years of life have all been through the word of God and the hope that one day I would beat something that no one thought would ever happen not even my own doctor. Since the time, I was ten years old I have suffered with Epilepsy, it was like an overnight type thing that came from out the blue. It was around time of 1:30 – 2:00 in the morning when my mom noticed me shaking in the bed next to her I heard her say to me “Miyah, Miyah, wake up!!!!” of course the only moving at that time being I could do was shaking my legs and arms. After seizing for a good thirty minutes I finally woke up, but that wasn’t the end of my terrifying situation it was just the beginning.
With music blasting, voices singing and talking, it was another typical ride to school with my sister. Because of our belated departure, I went fast, too fast. We started down the first road to our destination. This road is about three miles long and filled with little hills. As we broke the top of one of the small, blind hills in the middle of the right lane was a dead deer. Without any thought, purely by instinct I pulled the wheel of the car to the left and back over to the right. No big deal but I was going fast. The car swerved back to the left, to the right, to the left. Each time I could feel the car scratching the earth with its side. My body jolted with the sporadic movements of the car. The car swerved to the right for the last time. With my eyes sealed tight, I could feel my body float off the seat of the car.
M.D Puttam, Tracy. Epilepsy: What it is & What to do about it. New York: Lipponcott, 1958, 1-186.
I see all my family members dressed in black. I wipe the tears with my sleeve. I look around to find people I haven't seen for years and years living miles and miles away from me. I look around. There's granny. Standing there. Looking sharp as can be. A handful of tissues ready to mourn someone else's death. Granny is alive. Who died? There's a big picture, leaning against a casket. A picture of me. Underneath reading, Brooke Elizabeth Peterson. My name. My picture. My casket. My death. I could feel a hand grabbing around my heart. Beads of water started falling down my cheek, one after another. I fall to the ground. The cellar, the fire. It killed me. Now lying in the casket I so selfishly hoped someone else was in. The world quickly turned into a blur, as well as the sounds, the tastes the smells, everything was gone. The last few emotions pounded against me as I slowly lost the feeling of feeling. The world around me went from colors to black. This was it. The four was three. I was one slowly becoming zero. So now
The human brain is one of the most fascinating parts in the human body. Many diseases, such as Epilepsy, can affect your Brain and the Nervous System by causing seizures. An analysis of different types of Epilepsy, medication, and the future of Epilepsy will show that there are different types of Epilepsy and the different types of medication and how this affects the nervous system and causes someone to have seizures constantly.
While epilepsy affects millions of people, it is still not understood by a vast majority of the population. If more people were educated of this particular disorder, recognizing it as well as having the common knowledge to treat it, would be a highly beneficial to millions of people
I slowly got up on one leg and struggled up to the road. There was an old white pickup coming down the road and I waved it down. It was a farmer and he called an ambulance on his cell phone. While we were waiting for the ambulance I was hysterical. I couldn’t move or feel my left arm or leg. I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain in my broken limbs. The farmer did everything he could think of to calm me down a little bit. He asked me questions about family, school, and pretty much anything he could think of. I learned all about his wife, and his family; his grandkids, and even their grandkids. Eventually, after what seemed like three hours waiting for the ambulance, it finally got there. The paramedics rushed out, and loaded me into the wailing vehicle.
The moment I realized our vehicle was approaching the rear end of another car, I shut my eyes tightly and prayed it was just a dream. I hoped I would wake any second from this horrible nightmare I was currently living in. At the moment of impact, I watched my entire life flash before my eyes, as if it was a home movie playing in my head. I saw myself at seven-years-old, climbing my papaw’s sacred apple trees and swimming in the creek on hot July days. I watched 11-year-old me nervously walk through the doors for my first day of junior high, anxiously flipping through my planner, praying the next three years would go by fast. I revisited eighth grade dance, twirling and dancing the night away and having the time of my life. I finally opened my eyes, and for a moment, it was all a blur. My mind couldn’t process this incident. I couldn’t believe this had actually happened to us. I finally realized it was reality when I felt my brother lying on top of me. For a split second I thought my older brother, the one who has always been there for me, my best friend from the minute I was born, was dead. I began to panic. I nervously started to shake uncontrollably. I could feel the anxious sweat and tears roll down my face. As I prepared myself to start screaming for help, he finally sat up and looked over at me. I instantly felt a rush of relief blast throughout my body. I had never felt such ...
Oh my God! TJ!“ It was just my mom.She was crying and calling my name again and again.I was so embarrassed and disappointed of my self.I had let her down. After, two of the EMT guys put us on an ambulance. Finally,we made our way to the hospital. My friend john and me were sent in palo alto medical center. It took us about fifteen minute to get there. My friend john was alright. He had a couple of stitches in his head and his arm. He got relieved after a couple of tests but, I was severely injured. I was lying on a hospital bed and thinking what I would have done in the past. Cause this terrible accident happened to me. I was sent to el camino hospital, where I went to the operation theater for my hipbones surgery.The doctor told me after surgery that my hipbones was fractured the reason they had to put a plate in hipbones to stay together.Although, my left arm was also fractured the reason I could not feel my arm. After surgery, they took me to the other room and gave me a couple of injections. Momentarily, I went to sleep. I woke up in the next day and thinking hopefully it was just a dream,but it’s not. I opened my eyes and saw a couple of relative looking me like a stranger. My dad came over my bed and gave me a hug and I literally started crying after thinking about the accident. I could not believe after a massive car accident I was still alive. Doctors kept in hospital couple of
Cop sirens…..gunshots…. I was shocked by what I was seeing. I had no idea what to do except cry, cry my eyes out. I wiped my tears and ran outside, then I see everyone just standing waiting for the ambulance to come. I was shaking uncontrollably, my brother trying to comfort me I couldn't watch I shut my eyes and…