Epilepsy

Essay by microchipCollege, UndergraduateA+, March 2004

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"Epilepsy is a nervous system disorder that produces sudden, intense bursts of electrical activity in the brain. This abnormal electrical activity in the brain causes seizures, which may briefly upset a person's muscle control, movement, speech, vision, or awareness."

My definition of Epilepsy is pretty much the same; however, I would not have used the word briefly as it makes it sound so short lived. Seizures can last anywhere from a few seconds up to a few minutes. To get an accurate time adjustment use this comparison, for every second you are in a seizure you are killing many times the brain cells than if you were not. Add into this equation that the lack of oxygen to brain while in a seizure also increases the rate of brain cell death. Every second now feels like an hour. Then figure in that if it is a Grand-mal seizure where every second of convulsion is physically compared to 30 minutes of intense aerobic exercise, now you can begin to get somewhat of an idea.

To get an even better picture let me explain what happens after the seizure. Disorientation: not knowing where you are when you come out of a seizure. Sometimes not knowing who you are or anyone else around are. No concept of what day or time it is.

Physically: After having a Grand-mal seizure you are physically drained and tired. After getting the strength to get moving again, you now have a major migraine headache which lasts for about another day, and it gets worse with every eye movement.

Having one seizure does not an Epileptic make. An Epileptic has many reoccurring seizures. There are many other ways to have seizure for example head injuries; other illnesses may also cause seizures like high fevers. These seizures normally will...