Juvenile Absence Epilepsy: Life-long and Hereditary or Curable and Induced?
The topic of epilepsy itself has always been important and close to me personally, due to the fact that my, currently 8 years old, brother has had issues with it his entire life. Although he does have a form of the neurological disorder and similar background, his situation is much more complicated than the exact diagnosis being JAE. Juvenile Absence Epilepsy is an epilepsy syndrome with absence seizures, or staring spells, during which the child is not aware. It can begin from later childhood years up through adolescence, usually being a life-long condition. The cause of the syndrome is predominantly genetic, rarely ever being simply acquired by a person (child).
…show more content…
Attempting to imagine living with JAE, or any epilepsy, is difficult when having no connection to it yourself or through others.
Characterization of the syndrome often includes staring spells, and unawareness from the young person diagnosed. The eyes tend to roll up briefly or flutter, some experience unintended automatisms, although these spells last from 10 to 45 seconds each, the person usually resumes their normal activity and often has no recollection of the episode. Episodes can occur from 1 to 100 times a day, which makes people with JAE at a greater risk of developing nonconclusive status epilepticus. The differences with this development are significant, and can leave the person with seizures that can last from minutes to hours, along with confusion, irregular responses, and potentially difficulty walking. About ¾ of people with JAE also have generalized tonic-clonic seizures with body jerking and stiffening, which can occur before absence seizures or upon waking, lasting from seconds to minutes. Despite the many episodes and difficulties that come with them, including learning difficulties for children with frequent episodes, people with JAE usually develop normally. 1/3 of children have attention, memory, and concentration problems, although, learning problems often improve after treatment
starts. The cause of JAE is predominantly genetic and effects about 2% of people with epilepsy. Seizures usually start around the ages of 9 and 13, but can start earlier for some. When being diagnosed for JAE, information on family history, health, and a physical and neurological examination the beginning of diagnosing episodes and spells. EEG's are common ways of testing for seizure activity, along with CT and MRI scans of the brain, and screening for attentional problems. During an EEG, the young person with be required to hyperventilate for about 3-5 minutes, as it can trigger a staring spell. The EEG shows wave discharges and spikes at 3-6 cycles per second that are generalized. After diagnosis going by these procedures, treatment is mainly determined through different medications. The decision of which medication or medications taken can be determined by whether the child has tonic-clonic seizures, whether the episodes are persistent, or whether they only have absence seizures. Some medications are used, but aren't very well tested. Coincidentally, my brother takes or has taken a few of these specific medications and it has been a success for him. Therefore, both treatment and diagnosis can differ between epileptic patients. Although having JAE or any type of epilepsy can be difficult for children, the outlook is better than assumed. The syndrome usually responds well to treatment, which is needed for life to control seizures from the life-long condition. Besides medication, only close monitoring is needed, as attention problems can still continue despite successful treatment. Personally, I can say that the syndrome can cause some drawbacks before treatment is completely figured out, but positivity has always been helpful. As of about 6 months ago, my brother has been seizure-free for 2 years, and may be able to start sports soon. Therefore, positivity, treatment, and persistent efforts really is a good thing for children with JAE, or any type of condition like epilepsy.
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 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 time of birth, she was declared as a healthy child but at the age of three it was founded that she is suffering from epilepsy. In the words of western or scientific world the term epilepsy mean 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)
It is characterized by normal early growth and development followed by a slowing of development, the loss of purposeful use of the hands, slowed brain and head growth, problems with walking, seizures, and intellectual disability.
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
One of the most memorable case studies I read about in high school psychology was the procedure of removing large portions, sometime half the brain, to treat young children with epileptic seizures. This procedure, called hemi-spherectomy, was developed in the 1920's but rarely performed due to complications (8). With the advances in medicine today, it has become a more common practice in treatment severe epilepsy. At first, though the procedure was expected to stop the seizures, doctors did not expect these children to ever function normally. After all, with so much of the brain missing, it is hard to expect much of the mental functions of these children. Surprisingly, these children often retained much of their personality, memories and sense humor (8), awing their doctors with the flexibility of the brains to adjust after such invasive surgery.
that caused seizures, hemiparesis, and dementia normally in the first ten years of life. The seizures that
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.)
Over some period of time, affected children (patients) experience mental impairment, worsening seizures, and progressive loss of sight and motor skills. Affected patients become totally disabled and eventually die.
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...
...of minutes but can reoccure many times a day. The group inculeds paroxysmal paresthesia, trigeminal neuralgia, painful tonic spasms, paroxysmal dysatrias and ataxias, paroxysmal diplopia, paroxusmal dyskinesia, facial myokymia. Here we can also include the symptom of Lhermitte.
Epilepsy is a very common neurological disorder. Some reports estimate that five in one-thousand people suffer from this problem. Throughout history, people with epilepsy have been shunned or considered inferior. Even today, ignorance leads many people to treat the epileptic as "abnormal" or "retarded". Although the etiology of epilepsy is still not fully understood, it is quite treatable due to advances in modern medicine.
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.
This source states that women living with epilepsy seem to face different issues than males with epilpesy do. The source states that the two sex hormones inside a woman's body, progesterone and estrogen, play a role in influencing seizures as both of these hormones interact with brain cells. Usually, there are equal amounts of progesterone and estrogen inside a woman's body. However, the problem occurs when the balance of these becomes unequal. It explains that estrogen is an excitatory hormone which basically means that it "makes brain cells give off more of an electrical charge". Prosgesterone, however, is an inhibitory hormone, meaning that it calms the cells - that have been electrically charged by the estrogen - down. The problem arises when the body starts producing more estrogen than progesterone which "can make the nervous system excitable" and can make a woman with epilepsy more exposed to seizures. The source emphasises that a change in hormones don't cause the seizures but they are able to inluence the occurence of seizures. About 10% - 12% of women (with epilepsy) have catamenial epilepsy which means that their seizures are directly affected by their menstrual cycle. The seizures tend to occur when a lot of estrogen is present during the body such as during ovulation. For some others, the seizures can occur when the progesterone levels in the body drop such as during menstruation. It is said that as many as" 40% of menstrual cycles in women with epilepsy do not release an egg" and that women with epilepsy generally produce eggs less often than the normal ...
Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seizures which are unprovoked by any immediately identifiable cause (Hopkins & Shorvon, 1995). It is also known as a seizure disorder. A wide range of links and risk factors are associated with the condition, but most of the time the cause is unknown. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting approximately two and half million people in the US and about 50 million worldwide. Though seizures can occur at any age, epilepsy is most commonly seen in children and the elderly. Most respond well to treatment and can control their seizures, but for some it is a chronic illness. A clinical diagnosis is the first step to finding a potential cure for the disorder.