Seizures (Have I, had one?)

Have you ever asked yourself this question about seizures, have I, had one? Did you know you can have them in your sleep? That’s right I’ve seen my grandson have them in his sleep and not even know that he had one. Let’s talk about the ones we do know about here at livegreaterhealth.com.

Seizures, have I,  had one? If you have had seizures before then you definitely could of had them in your sleep. Seizures and short-term memory loss are highly associated together. I know that if you are having an EEG that it will not show if you have had a seizure or not. If you are hooked up to an EEG and have a seizure it will definitely show then.

What is a Seizure?

1. Let’s talk about what seizures actually are. Seizures are abnormal electrical impulses in the brain. The keyword there is abnormal. These impulses send signals to parts of the body and you have no control of it. Most of the muscles at any time can be affected it’s the face, arm, leg that usually shows. They can draw and shape and affect any part of the body that has muscles.

These are attacks that will normally come on suddenly, usually without warning.

They can be deadly and crippling or they can not bother you at all. When many people that have them, they are affected the rest of their lives. Often in children, they will grow out of them as they get older.

Epilepsy means having recurring seizures or a seizure disorder and is the fourth most common neurological disorder affecting people of all ages. They are called epileptic seizures. How are they Diagnosed

How are seizures diagnosed?

How are Seizures Diagnosed?

By the way of CT scans, EEG’s or MRI’s. Other tests can also be done that we are going to talk about. These three are the major ones depending on your case to seizure diagnosis.

• Computerized tomography (CT) scan – uses X-Rays to take images of the brain to detect tumors, bleeding or cysts that might be causing seizures.

• Electroencephalogram (EEG) – the most common test for seizure diagnoses. This test consists of placing electrodes to the scalp with a paste-like substance. These electrodes record brain electrical activity to show abnormalities in brain wave activity. Doctors can tell what type of seizures you are having with this test.

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – Uses radio waves and very strong magnets to make a detailed image of your brain. Doctors can detect abnormalities in your brain that could be causing seizures.

• Positron emission tomography (PET) – using radioactive materials injected in the vein to allow doctors a better way to see the abnormalities of the active areas of the brain.

• Single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) – similar to the PET by using a low dose of radioactive material injected in the vein. Only this test creates a 3-D map of the blood flow activity in the brain during a seizure.

Other tests may include Blood Tests these tests check for imbalances in your electrolytes, Blood sugar levels, and /or infections.

Types of Seizures

There are two major types of seizures.

They are classified into two groups.

1. Focal seizures – these types of seizures affect only one area of the brain.

• Complex focal seizures – affects the way your memory and emotional section of your brain works. When this kind happens you may lose consciousness and still look like awake with different body movements.

• Simple focal seizures – causes your smell and taste senses to change the way they react without losing consciousness. The limbs of your body may twitch or jerk with nausea and sweating.

 

• Secondarily generalized seizures – starts out similar to simple focal in one side of the brain and spreads to the other side. This can cause you to have a focal seizure, and then be followed by a generalized seizure.

2. Generalized seizures – affect both sides of the brain.

• Absence seizures (petit mal) – people who have this stare out into space without moving, usually up to 15 seconds. These are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

• Tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal) – you will have loss of consciousness and muscle contractions. People who have these usually have tonic seizure followed by a clonic seizure.

• Tonic seizures – causes the muscles to get tight and tense up with loss of consciousness. Can happen in anyone.
• Clonic seizures – abnormal electrical activity in one part of the brain that causes jerking in the limbs.

• Myoclonic seizures – Is a sudden jerking of the muscles as if you had a shock. The brain stem area that decreases and increases the muscle function are closely related, so you may have atonic and myoclonic close together.

• Atonic seizures – causes your muscles to lose strength and go limp. Causing you to fall or lose your balance and slump over.

Seizure Treatments

Some of the treatments used for seizures are medications to control their onset.

• Valproic acid (Depakene)
• Phenobarbital
• Oxcarbazepine (Oxtellar, Trileptal)
• Zonisamide (Zonegran)
• Phenytoin (Dilantin, Phenytek)
• Gabapentin (Gralise, Neurontin)
• Carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Tegretol)
• Topiramate (Topamax)
• Lamotrigine (Lamictal)

Other treatments might be physical therapy and exercise

Seizures in Children

There is a seizure type that is more common in children and it is Febrile seizure. Febrile seizures occur when an infection leading to a high fever comes on. There are other reasons for this type of seizures like medications, metabolic disorders, accidental poisoning, and drugs.

Febrile seizures usually occur in children from ages 3 months to 5 years old. These children that have tonic-clonic seizures with high fever, most commonly are called febrile seizures.

Seizure Causes

Here is a list of some main seizure causes that we’ve put together and reasons.

• Head injuries – this is a major cause many people have seizures due to accidental head injuries in their lives.

 

• Brain tumors – this is something you can’t prevent and you never know when you may get or have one.

 

• CNS infections – these infections involve the central nervous system some of them are…………

Meningitis, which covers the brain and spinal cord.

Cerabal Abcess, which is a bacterial brain infection.                                                                                                               Encephalitis, this is a viral infection of the brain.

• Genetics disorder (Neurocutaneous), tuberous sclerosis, or abnormal growth of cells that develop into tumors.

These may be the most common reasons for seizures, but there is more that is rare.

Reason for Seizure Help

This article is to help all people be more aware of seizure conditions, what they can do about them, where they should go for help. What to expect from seizures and how to react.

We want to spread this information out to the world for more and more people to become aware of Seizure Awareness. I believe that awareness of all diseases will help save more lives.

Conclusion

This is the end of our article at How to Stay Healthy for Life we hope we’ve made some sort of a difference in spreading the word about how we can be ready for first aid for seizures when we are confronted with one.

This website covers many diseases and conditions that affect our everyday lives. Our greatest hope is that we can make a difference. If we’ve made a difference in your life leave us a comment below and let us know, we appreciate you.

 

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