How can epilepsy be prevented?
Most epilepsy can be prevented if effective preventive measures are taken.
For epilepsy caused by hereditary diseases, prenatal diagnosis should be performed, and fetuses found to have certain hereditary diseases with epilepsy can be aborted so that the occurrence of such epilepsy can be reduced.
( 1 ) When choosing a marriage partner, epileptic patients should avoid marrying those with a family history of epilepsy. The fiancé (wife) of an epileptic patient should have an electroencephalogram (EEG) examination before marriage, and those with epileptic waves on the EEG should avoid marriage, as should those with a family history of epilepsy on both sides.
( 2 ) In order to prevent epilepsy caused by brain injury at birth, for senior primigravida, if the delivery process is not smooth, early caesarean section should be performed, so that the baby can avoid epilepsy later due to hypoxia, asphyxia, and birth injury.
( 3 ) For epilepsy caused by various intracranial infections, the occurrence of these infections should be prevented in the first place. Once intracranial infectious diseases have occurred, early diagnosis and correct treatment should be made to reduce the degree of brain tissue damage. In the acute phase of intracranial infections, some patients can develop seizures, at this time, antiepileptic drugs should be used in a timely and sufficient amount to reduce the damage caused by seizures in brain tissue, and also reduce the chance of seizures in the future.
( 4 ) Prevention of epilepsy caused by craniocerebral trauma, focusing on the prevention of traumatic brain injury and avoiding traumatic brain injury caused by work and traffic accidents.
( 5 ) About l5 % of patients with febrile convulsions may later turn into epilepsy. If preventive measures should be taken early for febrile convulsions with the possibility of recurrence, the brain injury caused by febrile convulsions can be greatly reduced, which also reduces the incidence of epilepsy.
( 6 ) Removal of seizure triggers is one of the important aspects to predict the recurrence of epilepsy, such as drinking, smoking, fatigue, mental depression, overeating, infectious diseases, frightening fever, sleep deprivation, consanguineous marriage and harmful sound and light stimulation.
( 7 ) drug treatment, the most important point is that once you start taking medication, you must adhere to it, never interrupt, only in this way can effectively control the seizures, if the seizures can be completely controlled, but also continue to take medication for 2 years, 2 years later according to the review of the EEG situation to decide whether to reduce the medication, reduce the amount of medication should be gradually, not suddenly stop. If there is a relapse during the discontinuation or reduction of medication, medication should be resumed immediately under medical supervision.
The causes of epilepsy are many and complex. Lack of certain vitamins may also be a cause of seizures, so doctors also try to treat epilepsy with food. Some studies have shown that in some rare cases, deficiencies of vitamin B6 and vitamin D can contribute to seizures. Vitamin B6 is found in meat, whole grains and legumes; vitamin D is found in oily fish and some animal products, especially cheese and nutrient-added milk. Patients should take vitamin supplements only under the supervision of a doctor. Certain minerals are helpful in some patients. Magnesium (found in large amounts in whole wheat flour, millet, figs, meat, fish, nuts and legumes); zinc (found in meat, livestock offal, malt, nuts, crab, oysters and lentils) and calcium (found mainly in milk and dairy products) may prevent convulsions. Congenital epilepsy may be associated with a lack of manganese in the mother’s diet during pregnancy, but this claim is still much debated. The main sources of manganese are rice, whole wheat bread, wheat, buckwheat, lima beans, nuts, mescaline, sardines, black per, figs and pineapples. In a few cases, nutritional deficiencies and low blood sugar have been associated with epilepsy. Patients should eat regularly and be aware of balanced nutrition to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Some physicians believe that mixed salads and raw fruits may reduce the number and extent of seizures. Excessive alcohol consumption can accelerate the onset of seizures in people who are susceptible to the disease. Evening primrose oil can also cause illness in some people. It is best to avoid its use.
How to take care of epilepsy patients at home?
1. Observation of the disease
Fully understand the seizure characteristics of the patient, such as the trigger, place, time and duration of seizure. Closely observe the characteristics of seizures:
Before the seizure, there is no automaticity such as smacking of mouth and involuntary movement of limbs; from which part of the body the seizure starts; to which side the head turns, to which side the eyes gaze; whether the seizure is dominated by convulsions or loss of consciousness; whether there is incontinence, biting of tongue and trauma, etc.
Observe the performance after the seizure, such as the presence of headache, weakness, nausea, vomiting, etc.
2., take medication care
( 1 ) Family members should supervise and check the patient to take medication on time and accurately according to the selection to prevent underdose, omission and overdose.
( 2 ) Family members should not casually change the medication and dose, whether to increase or decrease the medication and change the variety of medication, should be done under the guidance of the doctor.
( 3 ) The treatment should be maintained for a longer period of time. After complete control of epilepsy, generally need to continue to take medication for 2 years before you can consider gradually discontinuing the medication, the process of drug reduction also need more than 1 year, do not short-term or sudden discontinuation of medication, the longer the course of the disease, the larger the dose, the more slowly to stop medication, a few may need lifelong medication.
3.Life care
( 1 ) Patients should establish a good living system, life should be regular, appropriate to engage in some light physical labor, but avoid excessive tension, exertion, etc.
( 2 ) Diet should be rich in nutrition and easy to digest food, eat more light, high vitamin content vegetables and fruits, do not overeat.
( 3 ) Try to avoid dangerous places and dangerous goods, should not engage in high-altitude work and highly energetic work, such as mountain climbing, swimming, driving, bicycling, children should not be alone at the river, fireside, should not go out alone at night, especially do not do modern high-altitude games, such as bungee jumping, etc.
4.Psychological care
Epilepsy is a chronic disease, physical pain, family discrimination, social prejudice, serious impact on the physical and mental health of patients, patients often feel nervous, anxiety, fear, emotional instability, etc., always worried about the re-occurrence of the disease, family members should often give care, help, love, and timely guidance for the mind concerns, so that they have a good living environment, a happy mood, good mood.
5, seizure care
Once a seizure occurs, there is no need to panic, the patient should immediately lie flat, head to one side, quickly loosen the collar, stuff the towel between the upper and lower teeth to avoid biting the tongue, do not forcefully press the convulsing body to avoid fractures and dislocations. Terminate the seizure as soon as possible.
Can epilepsy be hereditary ?
In recent years, a large number of genetic studies have shown that epilepsy is indeed genetically related, including the main external causes of epileptogenesis.
Studies of contracted twins with epilepsy have shown that children with epilepsy are genetically susceptible and that the consistency of the disease is about 6 times greater in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins, with significant differences in the consistency of the disease and the type of seizures, suggesting that the consistency of epilepsy varies by genetic trait. This suggests that epilepsy is genetically related. Family analysis and epidemiological surveys of epilepsy patients have shown that the prevalence of epilepsy in relatives with idiopathic epilepsy is 3.8%-10.8%, with individual prevalence as high as 19.8%-35%, which is significantly higher than the 1%-4.6% for symptomatic epilepsy, which is much higher than the 0.3%-0.6% for the general population, and the closer the blood relationship to the patient, the higher the prevalence. It is well documented that no fewer than 10 human epilepsy genes have been localized and that approximately 150 genetic syndromes can be combined with epilepsy or myoclonus. Some of the secondary epilepsies (e.g., secondary to brain tumors, traumatic brain injury) also have genetic characteristics, and it is more common for relatives to have tumors complicated by epilepsy, even in the absence of seizures. The above information indicates that epilepsy has a certain genetic predisposition, but this only means that people with genetic qualities have a low seizure threshold and an increased susceptibility to seizures when they encounter certain environmental factors, while the onset of epilepsy is determined by both internal and external factors. The genetic factors that cause seizures are only a small percentage of all epilepsy, so patients should not worry too much about the genetic aspects of epilepsy.
What factors can lead to seizure recurrence?
There are many different reasons for seizures to recur. The following are the main causes of recurrence.
1. Incomplete treatment
The most important thing is that the patient’s condition can be treated with the same care and attention as the patient’s. Some patients often interrupt their treatment on their own after a period of Chinese and Western medical treatment and after the seizures are basically controlled. These patients and their families think that as long as the seizures no longer occur and they can take care of themselves, the disease will be cured, not knowing that the seizure control is the result of the action of drugs, which does not mean that the neuronal function of the brain is completely restored to normal. This leads to a vicious circle.
2. Difficulty in regulating the specific requirements of life
: Generally speaking, the mental capacity and physical quality of epilepsy patients are relatively poor. Certain adverse stimuli in life can easily lead to recurrence of the disease, such as problems in marriage, family and work, so it is important to pay attention to and deal with these problems. Family members should also provide guidance and relief to the problems faced by patients so that they can have a good psychological and living environment, which will reduce relapses. In addition, patients should pay attention to summarize the aura manifestations before their seizures and the triggers of seizures, such as colds, panic, improper diet, weather changes, strong stimuli, etc., and try to avoid these triggers, and if possible, they should also go to the hospital for regular review, or do relevant blood concentration tests. In order to adjust the dose and usage.
How to deal with generalized grand mal seizures?
1, found that there are seizure aura quickly let the patient lie flat on the bed, or lying near a flat place; found that the patient is going to fall, should quickly hold the patient, let it fall down, in order to prevent a sudden fall and fall head and body injuries.
2. Remove any hard or dangerous things from the body, put a soft thing under the head, untie the collar, cuffs, belt, and remove the dentures if there are any, so that the airway is clear. It is not necessary to call or press the patient desperately to keep him from twitching, because at this time you can not help, no matter how hard you use, and can not shorten the time of his convulsions.
3, seizures when more respiratory secretions, easy to cause respiratory obstruction or aspiration pneumonia, since the beginning of the grand mal seizure, the patient’s head, body side to side, so that secretions flow naturally, it is best to grab a gauze wrapped tongue depressor placed between the patient’s upper and lower molars before the appearance of aura symptoms, to prevent the clonic phase of the patient will bite their tongue. Once the seizure starts, do not put something between the upper and lower teeth, especially something hard, as it will break the teeth. Although sometimes the tongue may be bitten and blood may be spitted out of the mouth, it is usually milder and can heal spontaneously.