What is Epilepsy?
Friday 26th March is Purple Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of epilepsy, what it is, why it happens and what to do if a seizure happens around you.
65 million people across the world have epilepsy and, although it isn’t life-threatening in itself, the potential for an accident to happen while someone has a seizure is massive.
Cassidy Megan from Canada founded Purple Day in the hope of raising awareness of the different types of seizure that can affect people with epilepsy. She wants to teach others how to react to seizures, hoping that doing so will save as many lives as possible.
Knowing how to react in the event of an epileptic seizure is the best way to avoid accidents. So, until Purple Day, we are going to support Cassidy and help her raise awareness of epilepsy, starting with the basics: what is epilepsy?
Cassidy Megan, age 9, founded Purple Day to raise awareness of epilepsy and teach people what to do if they see someone having a fit.
What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy has just one symptom: seizures. For seizures to classify as epileptic, they must happen repeatedly and be diagnosed by a doctor.
To diagnose epilepsy, a neurologist will perform an Electroencephalogram (EEG). This involves attaching electrodes to your head and taking an image of the electronic signals that our brains send.
The EEG might be accompanied by a video recording of a seizure happening or a doctor attempting to trigger an abnormal brain pattern. Triggers include conducting the test while you are overtired or a flashing light in your eyes.
The results of the EEG can sometimes indicate what is causing epileptic seizures. Brain-related diseases such as stroke and tumours are extreme causes, but head injury and sleep disorders might also be to blame.
In around 50% of cases, the cause will never be determined. We will touch more on this next week.
The most common diagnostic method for epilepsy is EEG. This is non-invasive, painless and quick.
Types of Epileptic Seizures
Epileptic seizures are categorised by their “onset” (where the seizure originated in the brain).
If the seizure is found to affect the entire brain, it is known as generalised. Generalised seizures can be characterised by a range of symptoms from subtle blinking to loss of consciousness.
Focal seizures, on the other hand, are those that begin in a certain part of the brain. These can occur with or without loss of consciousness.
The third category is unknown onset seizures, which is any seizure where the onset cannot be determined. Usually, this is because the person was alone when the seizure happened, so any later diagnosis will be assumed for the previous seizures.
Different types of epileptic seizure: Focal onset, Generalised onset and unknown onset.
Focal and generalised seizures can have the same symptoms. The most common characteristics of epileptic seizures are:
1) Tonic-clonic seizures
Tonic-clonic seizures are the ones most people imagine when they think of epilepsy. These make the muscles stiffen and the whole body convulse. These can also be split into tonic (stiffening) and clonic (jerking) seizures.
Tonic-clonic seizures are very dangerous because of the possibility of biting your tongue, bashing your head or otherwise injuring yourself.
2) Atonic seizures
Atonic seizures are those where the sufferer goes limp – rather than rigid or jerky – and can also be very dangerous. Losing control of the muscles often causes the person to drop to the ground, potentially causing serious injuries.
3) Absence seizures
Absence seizures, formerly known as “petit mal” are the subtlest seizures and they last only a few seconds. They are most common in children and could be as unassuming as a blank stare or rapid blinking.
Purple Day
Epilepsy can be life-threatening, but the best way to prevent accidents and injury while someone is having a seizure is to know what to do. Over the next couple of weeks, we will cover everything you need to know to be prepared and help spread awareness.
Help spread awareness and, on 26th March, wear purple.
Epilepsy Awareness Day is 26th March "Purple Day" but what is epilepsy and what should you do if you witness an epileptic seizure?
Felicity Thompson