Living with epilepsy in childhood

Most people with epilepsy carry apparently normal lives . Around 80% is attended by modern therapies and, in some cases, months or years can pass between one crisis and another. However, epilepsy does affect the daily life of people, as well as that of their loved ones, while ignorance and prejudice persist.

According to the Mexican Chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy (CAMELICE), at present, it is still common for many children and adolescents to be discriminated against and even expelled from schools public and private when teachers and managers find out they have epilepsy or because they present a crisis in the classroom.

Many schools, he assures CAMELICE , they demand from parents medical certificates that "guarantee" that they will not present a crisis, arguing that the institution has the responsibility in the event of an accident during the seizure. On the other hand, there is a mistaken belief that children with epilepsy have behavioral, learning and / or language problems. Only a small group can present some disorder related to epilepsy (for example, a patient with a lesion in the left frontal lobe), problems attributed to the same disease (in the case of progressive myoclonic epilepsy), or the use of antiepileptic drugs.

 

What triggers an epileptic seizure?

Experts indicate that sleeplessness, fever, infectious processes and stopping antiepileptic drugs can cause epileptic seizures. However, there is also the call "Reflex epilepsy" in which a crisis may occur in response to a given stimulus, for example, photosensitivity to a certain type of lighting, such as the stroboscopic so common in nightclubs. Menstruation can also have effects: some women have decompensation just before starting their menstrual period, in what is known as "catamenial epilepsy".

  • Other important factors of epilepsy

According to CAMELICE, most epileptic seizures do not damage the brain since they are transient and reversible episodes. The risk of brain damage exists when crisis are prolonged (more than 30 minutes) or occur one after another, without the patient regaining consciousness between them.


Video Medicine: Living With Epilepsy | Hailey's Epilepsy Surgery Story (March 2024).