Epilepsy - Often an invisible disease

Epilepsy is a brain disorder caused by signaling disturbances in the brains electrical system. In some patients, this may cause abnormal sensations and emotional or behavioral disorders. Often when a patient has epilepsy, they may experience convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. When left untreated seizures can and often are recurring and may vary in frequency and intensity. This can be a dangerous disease and could even be life threatening when seizures are uncontrolled.

There are many reasons why this disease occurs a number of which include brain chemistry, genetic, tumors, alcoholism, head injury, prenatal injury, diabetes, and environment. Different factors may affect the seizure part of the disorder such as flashing lights, stress and a lack of sleep to name a few. However, this disease is not contagious nor is it a form of mental illness.

There are several common types of epilepsy, which include:

Absence: The patient often appears to be staring into space what some would call a blank stare. This type of seizure may or may not cause jerking or twitching movements. This usually only last for a few seconds. Sometimes the individual may move about without purpose.

Temporal lobe: The patient may experience strange feelings that can range from euphoria to feelings of fear at the beginning of the seizure. The individual will usually remain conscious but they are unaware of their surroundings and often do not remember what happened. These types of seizures affect people of all ages. Those who have temporal lobe seizures most often will remain conscious during a seizure, but they lose awareness of their surroundings and it is not uncommon for them not to be able to remember what happened. During the seizure, they may appear to be picking at their clothing or smack their lips.

Frontal lobe: These usually occur during sleep and often the patient seems to be trying to walk, run or some other type of physical activity. The individual may laugh or curse while sleeping.

Occipital lobe: The patient may experience visual hallucinations, decreased vision, eye pain, involuntary eye movements, or fluttering.

Parietal lobe: The patient may complain of numbness, pressure, vertigo, illusions, distorted vision, and pain.

In order for the physician to diagnose the patient, he/she must obtain a complete medical history including information about possible previous seizure experiences. Even when diagnosing an adult it is beneficial to the patient to bring a family member or someone with whom they have close relationship to share information with the attending physician. There are additional test that are ordered which usually include blood work and any other test the physician may consider necessary to accurately diagnose and recommend a treatment.

Treatment often includes medication and blood test to monitor the amount of medication in the blood stream, which must be kept at a certain level to avoid future seizures. Unfortunately, the medication does not work properly in all individuals therefore; sometimes surgery may be advised to eliminate future seizure activity. Other forms of treatment that may or may not be included are nerve stimulation and diet.

Often this disease can fall into the category of an invisible disability. Many who have been diagnosed with this disease are fortunate in that they are able to control their seizures with medication. Under these circumstances, someone that does not know the individual would be unable to discern that the patient has epilepsy. On the other end of the spectrum are those patients that cannot control seizures through medication. For these individuals life can become more complicated with epilepsy affecting every aspect of their lives.

We should always be kind to others; we never know when we meet someone what burdens they may bear in life. Epilepsy is just one disease that can hide itself from others many individuals we meet daily suffer with invisible disabilities.

Ephesians 4:2-3 (New International Version) 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.