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Epilepsy



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Sun Sep 05, 2010 12:34 am
canislupis says...



Hello everyone,

I am considering putting a character with epilepsy into one of my stories. As it would be a fairly major character, and thus will change the story quite a bit, I'm going to do a lot of research. Starting here.

So, if you, or someone you know, has epilepsy, or you just know a lot about it, I'd really really really appreciate your help!

Specifically with these questions:

1: What is it like to have a seizure?
2: Do you/the person in question take medication, and does it work?
3: How often do you have a seizure (of any kind) and how long does it take you to recover afterwards?
4: How much warning do you have before a seizure?

Thanks!

Lupis
  





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Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:45 am
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spike71294 says...



Ok so I my self have epilepsy, but it's a very minor one and only happens after waking up without getting proper sleep.
The seizure is like uncontrolled jerking of hands, it happens suddenly and you can't control it.
Sometimes while brushing for example the seizure happens and the brush falls from my hand.
In my case no seizure will happen after like half an hour has passed after you wake up from sleep.
Yes I do have to take medication at night, 1 tablet of 500mg a day.
But it's for long term treatment and if you don't get enough sleep the seizures still happen anyway.
But compared to the initial years my condition has somewhat improved.
Basically in my case I have two kinds of seizure-
1 Hands jerk sometimes; everything get's back to normal after sometime.
2 Excessive jerking of the body, after the major attack the body stiffens and you become unconscious. I don't know for how long but my parents say it was for a fairly long period. After waking up there's this heaviness you feel like something kept on your head. When you don't get enough sleep you feel the same after waking up.
So that was it. I only got the major attack two times and I guess the medication eventually will help in prevention of these attacks.
I have epilepsy for 5 years and I live a pretty fantastic life, I won't say normal because I was weird from the beginning and my life was never normal. I love it that way :P
Hope I helped
:)
  





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Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:54 pm
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Shepherd says...



Not always epilepsy, but I have treated maybe a dozen people with seizures (preliminary treatment of course).

1: What is it like to have a seizure?

I'm going to assume we aren't talking about absency seizures. =)

Larger (grand mal) seizures are the most perilous. They often have full-body involvement and can cause the person experiencing the seizure to injure his or herself in a number of ways. The pair of dangers that we (as paramedics) tend to look out for the most is the possibility of cranial injury caused by spasms that jerk the head backward and laceration of the tongue (or cracked teeth) caused by involuntary clenching of the jaw. Prior to that, the biggest concern is falling down.

Externally, the person's body tends to bow backwards and they will thrash with varying degrees of intensity. Sometimes it will manifest as general trembling, and other times it will seem that there is a complete loss of control. In both cases, muscles tend to remain rigid.

From what I understand, having a seizure is coupled with waning awareness as the brain exhausts itself. Having never had a serious seizure, I wouldn't know.

2: Do you/the person in question take medication, and does it work?

Epilepsy medications tend to be relatively effective, but some cause negative side effets in a small number of people.

3: How often do you have a seizure (of any kind) and how long does it take you to recover afterwards?

To be honest, this depends on the severity of the disorder. For us, any seizure that lasts longer than a few minutes after the use of a drug (Ativan, for example) is cause for concern because of the documented risk of brain damage that can result after a single long seizure or several shorter ones. It is uncommon, though, for seizures to last this long, especially after the administration of an anti-seizing medication.

4: How much warning do you have before a seizure?

Little to none in most cases.
Paramedic
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Nije vas zahvatila druga kušnja osim ljudske. Ta vjeran je Bog: neæe pustiti da budete kušani preko svojih sila, nego æe s kušnjom dati i ishod da možete izdržati.
  





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Mon Oct 04, 2010 2:14 am
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Talulahbelle says...



Hey, I'm in no way any kind of expert on this, but I suppose any info is helpful right? Helpful or easily ignored, anyway. :wink: Anyways, my Mom was never diagnosed with epilepsy (thank groodness) but she did have a few months were she had seizures after she was in a car wreck. Here's what I know from witnessing hers;
1. she never remembered them.
2. she always had a short time span before where she felt "off".
3. afterwards, she recovered really quickly - I'm talking like just a few minutes.
4. it looked as if all her muscles consritcted with all their might. shaking like when your arms muscles do when your trying to keep something thats too heavy lifted above your head for too long.
5. they happened more often if she got upset or stressed out - and if she didn't eat or otherwise keep her body in like perfect condition.
6. its terrifying to watch the first few times, but then once you know whats happening and what to do - its less scary and just kind of tiring. (I don't mean that in a bad way, but I'm trying to be honest for you.) Its really frustrating because its out of your hands and you feel pretty useless.
7. the medicine did help, unless she was just way stressed out or hand't gotten proper nutrition.
That's all I got, I think. I hope it helped. You can always PM me if you want any more about it from a bystander's POV.
I go to seek a Great Perhaps...
  








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