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Causes of epilepsy (essays)
Causes of epilepsy (essays)
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Introduction With 65 million people worldwide suffering from it, epilepsy is a growing health concern. One in twenty-six people will be diagnosed with epilepsy in the United States at some point in their lives. Epilepsy affects people of any age and any background (TEF, 2013). Sixty percent of cases are of unknown cause. Seizures affect different parts of the brain and result from different factors such as genetic, symptomatic, or idiopathic. Seizures can express themselves as partial (involved in one side of the brain) or generalized (involved in both sides of the brain), and as absent (the person stares blankly for a few seconds), atonic (person falls to the ground with loss of consciousness), tonic (the patient becomes very rigid and may or may not lose consciousness and falls to the ground), myoclonic (repetitive jerky motion) and tonic-clonic (a series of muscle stiffening and loosening and the patient loses consciousness and the patient falls to the ground). Patients can display signs of more than one type of seizure occurring in different parts of the brain (Solomon et. al., 2012). The condition is named epilepsy when the seizures are recurrent without any definitive trigger such as fever (Burns et. al., 2009). Disease Process Seizures are a result of misfiring of the cortical neurons of the brain which can cause episodes of involuntary contraction of voluntary muscles (Burns et. al., 2009). This sudden, transient disturbance of brain function can also influence involuntary motor, sensory, autonomic, or psychic events in any combination with or without the loss of consciousness (Hay et. al., 2011). Diagnosis is based on a good history. The patient may or may not remember the incident and bystanders may only rec... ... middle of paper ... ...e, R. R. (2009). The humanbecoming family model. Nursing Science Quarterly. 22 (4). 305-309. Seaburn, D., & Erba, G. (2003). The family experience of "sudden health": the case of intractable epilepsy. Family Process, 42(4), 453-467. Solomon, N., & McHale, K. (2012). An overview of epilepsy in children and young people. Nursing Children & Young People, 24(6), 28-35. Soria, C., Callu, D., Viguier, D., El Sabbagh, S., Bulteau, C., Laroussinie, F., & Dellatolas, G. (2008). Parental report of cognitive difficulties, quality of life and rehabilitation in children with epilepsy or treated for brain tumour. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 11(4), 268-275. The Epilepsy Foundation. (2013). Epilepsy. Retrieved from http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/index.cfm. Zamani, G., Mehdizadeh, M., & Sadeghi, P. (2012). Attempt to Suicide in Young Ages with Epilepsy. Iran
At admission, Mollie’s main complaint was right hip pain. She was not oriented to person, place or time, responding with “I don’t know” to questions asked. While the emergency department nurse completed a physical assessment, Molly’s hospital record was retrieved. Molly was discharged from the hospital two weeks ago, having been admitted for dehydration. Her health history was significant for hypertension and diabetes. Her primary care provider and home health care information were included in Mollie’s hospital record, as was her daughter’s contact information. The emergency department performed an x ray to evaluate Mollie’s right hip pain and there was no evidence of a fracture. Per MD order, labs and samples were collected and processed: CBC-diff, CRP, hyperal, blood culture, prealbumin level and urinalysis. Molly was evaluated for sexual assault and the appropriate samples were gathered. The forensic nurse gently scraped material from underneath Mollie’s fingernails. Bruises were measured and age of each bruise was estimated by
Many people with epilepsy usually have more than one type of seizure and may have other symptoms of neurological problems as well. The cause of epilepsy varies by age of the person, but the majority of the time the cause is unknown. Common causes of seizures by age in Elizabeth Otte’s case would be congenital conditions (Down’s syndrome; Angelman's syndrome; tuberous sclerosis and neurofibromatosis), genetics, head trauma, and progressive brain disease which is rare (Schechter & Shafer, Ltd., 2013, p.1). The diagnosis of epilepsy is based on medical history of the patients including family history of seizures. They ask several of questions to figure of what type of seizures the patients could possibly be suffering from. Doctors then preform test such as EEG, take blood, and study images of your brain. Epilepsy is treated by a neurologist specialist that may or may not subscribe medication depending on the severity and frequency of the seizures. Also treatment can be a change in the patients’ diet or
In “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, the whole story revolves around Lia, the thirteenth child of the Lee family. Lee family was a refugee family in USA and Lia was their first child to be born in US. At the time of birth, she was declared as a healthy child but at the age of three it was found that she is suffering from epilepsy. In the words of western or scientific world the term epilepsy means mental disorder of a person and in Hmong culture, epilepsy is referred to as qaug dab peg (translated in English, "the spirit catches you and you fall down"), in which epileptic attacks are perceived as evidence of the epileptic's ability to enter and journey momentarily into the spirit realm (Wikipedia, 2014). In this case, communication and medication adoptions were the main difference in the treatment of a Lia.
I intend to explore the effects of a parietal brain injury from the perspective of a neuropsychologist; ranging from types of tests that are employed when trying to determine the extent of the damage, to gaining an understanding of how this damage will affect the rest of the brain and/or the body. I will also explore the effects of a brain injury from the perspective of the family members, and their experiences with the changes that occur during the rehabilitation process. According to The Neuropsychology Center, “neuropsychological assessment is a systematic clinical diagnostic procedure used to determine the extent of any possible behavioral deficits following diagnosed or suspected brain injury”(www.neuropsych.com). As mentioned previously, a brain injury can be the result of many types of injuries or disorders, thus a broad range of assessment procedures have been developed to encompass these possibilities.
Seizures occur because of sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain. This cause is a temporary and disturbed in the messaging system between brain cells. Epilepsy may occur as a result of a genetic disorder or n acquired brain injury, such as trauma or stroke. There are four different kinds of seizures that can occur. Simple partial seizure, which is when the patient is conscious during the seizure in most cases, and the patient, is aware of his/her surrounding even when the seizure is in progress. Complex partial seizure is when the patient is conscious is impaired. The patient will generally not remember the seizure and if he/she does the recollection of it will be vague. Generalized seizure is when both halves of the brain have epileptic activity and the patient conscious is loss. Secondary generalized seizure is when epileptic activity starts as a partial seizure but then spread to both halves of the brain. The main symptom of epilepsy is repeated seizures. But, there are other symptoms such as short spells or black out or confused memory, panic or become fearful, repetitive movement that seem inappropriate, short period the person is unresponsive to instructions or questions etc.… There is no cure for epilepsy but overtime you can help it get better or find ways to adjust to it. You can also take medication, gob through surgery etc.… Epilepsy was a main point in the book because the main character Lia Lee was diagnosed with it. Her culture believed that it was a blessing rather than a disorder. Because of her culture it was impossible for Lia to be treated the way she supposed to be treated. Her parents did take her to get treatment and medication but they also utilized traditional healing methods. The family believed that little medicine and treatment was okay but not too much or that would stop the spiritual healing. In our presentation we talked
This prospective study was approved by Hospital Research Ethics Board and written informed consent was obtained from the subjects. This study was performed on all the 56 cases of positively diagnose...
There are many different types of seizures. Each different types of seizure can have different symptoms or signs that the patient could be going to have a seizure. Some symptoms can vary from loss of consciousness to nausea, vomiting. Some of the causes of seizures are lack of oxygen, infections of the brain, high fever, sleep deprivation, etc.
...iately discovered and the patient was fine, but had there been proper communication between the healthcare staff, such blunders could have been avoided altogether (Dolanksy, 2013).
My colleague and I received an emergency call to reports of a female on the ground. Once on scene an intoxicated male stated that his wife is under investigation for “passing out episodes”. She was lying supine on the kitchen floor and did not respond to A.V.P.U. I measured and inserted a nasopharyngeal airway which was initially accepted by my patient. She then regained consciousness and stated, “Oh it’s happened again has it?” I removed the airway and asked my colleague to complete base line observations and ECG which were all within the normal range. During history taking my patient stated that she did not wish to travel to hospital. However each time my patient stood up she collapsed and we would have to intervene to protect her safety and dignity, whilst also trying to ascertain what was going on. During the unresponsive episodes we returned the patient to the stretcher where she spontaneously recovered and refused hospital treatment. I completed my patient report form to reflect the patient's decision and highlighted my concerns. The patient’s intoxicated husband then carried his wife back into the house.
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...
Not everyone who has a seizure has epilepsy. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. Unprovoked means that there is no immediate cause for the seizure, such as a fever, an infection of the brain, or head trauma. Nearly 10 percent of people will have a seizure during their lifetime; most of these are provoked seizures during an acute illness or condition. These people may never have epilepsy. There are two types of seizures people can have. One is partial seizure or focal they begin in one part of the brain. They cause varied symptoms auras which is a funny feeling in your stomach, staring, chewing, lip smacking, shaking, or stiffness in parts of the body. Generalized seizures are when the entire brain is effected. This causes loss consciousness. One type is grand mal is when the body stiffens and jerks. Another type is petit mal, which is momentary loss of consciousness without abnormal body movement. Some factors of this are infections of the brain this includes meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscess. Strokes are also a risk of epilepsy. Also alcohol can cause seizures for heavy drinkers when they stop drinking abruptly (withdrawal seizures) and also have a good chance of epilepsy. Epilepsy can also cause brain tumors usually they are slow growing and don't affect them for years. Some other factors that cause epilepsy is age the risk of seizures is higher in young children. Also gender epilepsy is higher in males than in females. The most common treatment for epilepsy is the daily use of anticonvulsant or antiepilectic drugs to prevent seizures. These medications act on brain signals to limit hyperexcitability. While medications do not cure epilepsy, they allow many people to live normal, active lives. Other treatments are vagus nerve stimulation this treatment involves electronic stimulation of the brain using an implanted device like a pacemaker. Another is epilepsy surgery this is when a part of the brain that is causing the seizures is removed so that it prevents it from spreading to anther part of the brain.
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.
Problem solving research was initially aimed at describing reasoning by physicians to improve instuctions and as a process of testing hypotheses. Solutions to difficult diagnostic problems were found in hypothesis early in the diagnostic process ad use them for further collection of data (Elstein & Schwarz, 2002). Problem solving consists of four strategies; hypothesis testing,pattern recognition, specific instances, and general prototypes. The choice of strategy for diagnostic problem solving depends on the perceived difficulty of the case and on knowledge of content as well as strategy (Elstein & Schwarz, 2002). Decision making involves many information typically perceived and evaluated in order to produce the best single choice (Wickens et al., 2013). Availability is when people tend to overestimate the frequency of vivid or easily recalled events and to underestimate the frequency of events that are either very ordinary or difficult to recall as it refers to the ease which instances or occurrences can be brought to mind (Wickens et al., 2013). Representativeness refers to estimating the probability of disease by judging how similar a case is to a diagnostic category or prototype (Elstein & Schwarz, 2002). Bias, of course plays a role as well, confirmation bias describes a tendency for people to see