Epilepsy is a common, sudden, complex and severe series of symptoms of the nervous system, which is part of the manifestation of brain dysfunction, with complex causes, sudden seizures, serious hazards and far-reaching effects. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of epilepsy are very important issues, because the seizure mechanism is very complex, and the prevention and treatment of epilepsy are both very complicated and difficult tasks.
The human brain is complex and powerful, and is the most evolved organ in the human body. During the development of the human body from a mere fertilized egg to an adult, the development of the nervous system, especially the brain, is the most complex, mysterious and sensitive. Any adverse even insignificant impact on any part of the brain development process, especially during the early embryonic development, can cause brain development disorders, and many diseases in the later stages can cause brain dysfunction, and these problems are important factors causing seizures. Therefore, the prevention of epilepsy needs to be carried out scientifically from all aspects and aspects, not only involving the medical field but also related to the whole society.
The prevention of epilepsy should be carried out at three main levels.
1. prevention of etiology to prevent the occurrence of epilepsy.
2. prevention of causative factors to prevent seizures.
3. prevention of hazards to reduce the adverse physical, psychological and social effects of epilepsy on patients.
I. Preventing the causes
1, prevention of hereditary diseases.
Genetic factors make some children have a susceptibility to convulsions and produce seizures prompted by various environmental factors. In this regard, special emphasis should be placed on the importance of genetic counseling and eugenics, avoiding marriage between close relatives, conducting detailed family surveys to find out whether there are seizures and their characteristics in both parents, siblings and close relatives, and conducting prenatal diagnosis or neonatal screening for some serious hereditary diseases that can cause mental retardation and epilepsy, in order to decide to terminate the pregnancy or to treat it early. However, it should be noted that only a small percentage of epilepsy is hereditary, not all epilepsy is inherited, and many epilepsy caused by acquired factors are not inherited to the offspring.
2. Maternal health care during pregnancy.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have a good idea of what you are doing. The mother should maintain an adequate and balanced diet and nutrition, an oxygen-rich environment with fresh air, a cheerful and pleasant mental state, and a relaxed and comfortable working environment. To try to avoid working and living in an oxygen-deficient environment, try to eat green food without pollution and chemical additives, avoid contact with or intake of various harmful chemicals, and avoid environmental pollution such as radioactive or electromagnetic radiation. To draw attention to some home decoration with marble, marble is radioactive, especially the beautiful marble, the more beautiful the more radioactive. x-ray, CT and other examinations, will receive a certain amount of radiation to pay attention to maternal health, to avoid infection, nutritional deficiencies and diseases of various systems. The fetal period is affected by a series of diseases that can easily cause fetal brain development disorders: limited or extensive cortical dysplasia, cerebral gray matter ectopia, cerebral white matter dysplasia, giant gyrus malformation, anencephaly, cerebellar gyrus-multiple cerebellar gyrus malformation, cerebellar microcephaly, forebrain anencephaly, one-eyed malformation, cerebral penetration malformation and brain conjoined structure developmental malformation and other brain developmental disorders, which are causes of epilepsy The most common cause of seizures is maternal health care during pregnancy.
The mother’s health care during pregnancy is essential to prevent accidents in childbirth.
The newborn’s brain may be deprived of oxygen, causing brain developmental disorders, or even cerebral palsy in severe cases, which are important causes of seizures due to brain development or brain dysfunction. Neonatal birth injury is also an important cause of epilepsy, and avoiding birth injury is important to prevent epilepsy. If you can regularly check pregnant women, implement new methods of delivery, and handle difficult deliveries in a timely manner, you can avoid or reduce difficult deliveries and neonatal injuries.
4. Prevention of neonatal and infant diseases.
Infants and young children’s brain structures such as some cells of the hippocampus, very sensitive to temperature, high fever can cause serious damage to these cells, so we should pay sufficient attention to the high fever in infancy and early childhood, to try to take care of meticulous, fever as soon as possible to treat, timely fever, to avoid high fever. In case of febrile convulsions, it is more important to pay close attention to prevent convulsive seizures, which should be immediately controlled with medication and the high fever should be promptly diagnosed and treated. Vitamin K deficiency can easily cause brain hemorrhage and cause epilepsy. Severe colds, rhinosinusitis or other systemic infections, or even vaccinations, may cause encephalitis causing epilepsy. Various diseases of the pediatric central nervous system should be actively prevented and treated in a timely manner to prevent causing brain development or brain dysfunction, which is an important period in the prevention of epilepsy.
5. Prevention of encephalopathic epilepsy.
In various periods from childhood and later to old age, encephalitis, cerebral hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, cerebral infarction, brain tumor, cerebrovascular malformation and other diseases that cause seizures are common primary causes and should be treated correctly and timely to prevent seizures. In the juvenile to youth and even adult period, a significant proportion of seizures are related to early brain development disorders or brain damage, and it is important to prevent seizures.
Second, prevention of triggers
1, avoid stimulation.
Mental stimulation is a common cause of induced seizures, because some patients have been affected in the early brain, there is an underlying brain developmental disorder, severe mental stimulation directly induces seizures and causes subsequent recurrent seizures. Mental overexertion and stimulation are also common triggers for seizures in patients with chronic recurrent seizures. Television and computer screens are fast-flashing images that are very stimulating to the eyes and brain and should be avoided for long periods of time. The majority of seizures caused by stimulation of other parts of the body are reflex epilepsy, irritating food, dry sound, bright light, hot and cold, lightning and even special music, hairdryer even cover quilts can induce seizures, to try to avoid the corresponding stimulation of patients.
2. Avoid excitement.
Excessive excitement and agitation is a common cause of induced seizures. Quarrels, emotional excitement, over-excited sex, stimulating games such as amusement parks, video games, mahjong and other entertainment items can cause overexcitement in the brain and trigger seizures. Some excitatory drugs and foods, such as ginseng, heroin, caffeine, strong tea, tobacco, alcohol, cola and other items, as well as some neurotropic drugs, can cause overexcitation of the brain triggering epilepsy and should be absolutely avoided.
3, avoid lack of oxygen.
The highlands, confined rooms, places with serious air circulation, crowded and noisy places, easily cause brain hypoxia and cause seizures. Weather changes low pressure state, low partial pressure of oxygen, will also cause the brain hypoxia. Lung diseases, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and other lung diseases are also causes of cerebral hypoxia and should be treated promptly. Diseases such as cerebral vascular sclerosis, hypotension, cervical spondylosis, etc., may also cause insufficient blood and oxygen supply to the brain.
4. Avoid inducing seizures in special states.
Epilepsy patients are prone to seizures in special states, such as strenuous exercise, overexertion, hunger, dehydration, heat stroke, serious illness, fever, systemic infection, surgery, high mental stress, overexertion, food poisoning, drug poisoning, pregnancy, childbirth, menstrual cycle, water-electrolyte disorders, metabolic abnormalities and other states prone to seizures.
5. Drug control.
Formal and systematic drug treatment requires regular medication and follow-up under the guidance of a regular epilepsy physician in order to maximize and obtain the best effect of drug treatment and prevent seizures. Patients with epilepsy should be diagnosed promptly and treated early. The earlier the treatment, the smaller the brain damage, the less recurrence and the better the prognosis. The patient should be treated properly and reasonably, with timely dose adjustment, attention to individual treatment, a long course of treatment, and a slow discontinuation process, and should adhere to regular medication, and if necessary, evaluate the efficacy of the drugs used and blood concentration monitoring. Do not throw drugs indiscriminately and do not regulate the use of drugs.
6. Surgical treatment.
Patients with secondary epilepsy and some drug-refractory epilepsy with clear lesions need professional epilepsy surgical treatment to control seizures.
Third, prevention of social impact
In ancient times, people believed that epilepsy was an evil disease and a ghost possession, and now there is also discrimination against epilepsy in society, so many epilepsy patients and their families are reluctant to mention it to the public, which affects the timely diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. The duration of epilepsy is often long, and thus can have serious effects on the patient’s body, mind, marriage, socioeconomic status, as well as the patient’s family and society. In particular, deep-rooted social prejudice and discriminatory attitudes of the public, misfortune and frustration in family relationships, schooling and employment, and restrictions on cultural and physical activities can not only cause stigma and pessimism in patients and seriously affect their physical and mental development, but can also plague their families, teachers, doctors and nurses, and even society itself. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that the prevention of social sequelae of epilepsy is as important as the prevention of the disease itself. The sequelae of epilepsy are both for the patient’s organism and for the whole society, which requires the community to understand and support epilepsy patients to minimize the social sequelae of epilepsy.