1. How is epilepsy caused?
The brain is like a computer connected by an electric circuit. Brain cells are connected and communicate with each other through electrical impulses, and when the circuit is abnormal, or when there is abnormal discharge in the brain, it will lead to seizures.
2. What are the manifestations of epilepsy?
Generalized seizure: It is manifested by the patient suddenly shouting and falling to the ground, followed by generalized muscle convulsions, which last for 1 minute to several minutes and stop on their own. Thereafter, the patient turns into drowsiness or restlessness. Some of them wake up immediately, while others wake up after about 20-60 minutes.
Loss of consciousness: There is only a brief loss of consciousness, which is manifested by dull eyes, interruption of speech or movement, standing or sitting still, dropping objects from hands, and calling out. After waking up, some of them can recall what happened during the seizure, and some cannot.
Partial seizure: It is manifested by twitching or abnormal sensation of the face or one of the limbs, and the patient is conscious during the seizure.
Aura.
①Somatosensory, commonly numbness and other abnormal sensations;
②Visual, usually flashing light, colored highlights or black haze;
③Auditory, often tinnitus, etc;
④ olfactory, including the smell of burnt rubber, etc;
⑤ Taste, a special unpleasant taste in the mouth;
(6) Emotional, including anxiety, restlessness, depression, etc., with fear being the most common type;
(7) Mental, including illusions, hallucinations and other scenes, commonly including déjà vu and familiarity;
(8) Other sensations such as vertigo and epigastric discomfort.
3.Is there any damage to human body when doing EEG?
EEG, as a non-invasive examination method, has a history of more than 80 years since its introduction. The human body produces different bioelectricity in normal or diseased state. We place electrodes on the human scalp, not to energize the head, but to direct the spontaneous and rhythmic weak electrical signals of brain cell groups through electrodes and wires, and then reflect them on the computer screen through amplification, filtering and signal processing by the EEG machine to get different graphics of EEG activities, so as to make a judgment on the patient’s brain condition.
4.Why do I need to do video electroencephalography (V-EEG) monitoring after I have already done CT or MRI?
CT or MRI is an imaging test, which can only distinguish whether there are abnormalities in the brain structure. Video electroencephalography (V-EEG) monitoring can identify functional abnormalities in the brain and can directly detect epileptic foci. Epileptic foci detected by EEG sometimes need to be confirmed by CT or MRI for accurate localization. Therefore, for the localization of epileptic foci, one of the two tests is indispensable.
5. Study, employment and marriage of epileptic patients
Patients with well-controlled epilepsy can participate in normal study and work, but they should strengthen self-protection during study and work. The epileptic patients can also fall in love and get married like normal people.
6. What are the dangers of recurrent seizures?
The loss of consciousness during a seizure can cause bodily injury, and the convulsions of the limbs can lead to bruises and bruises.
7. Can epilepsy be cured?
The rapid development of modern medicine proves that epilepsy is completely curable. Drug therapy is currently the first and main measure for epilepsy control. About 80% of patients can have their seizures controlled by regular and reasonable anti-epileptic drugs, and a significant proportion of them can be completely cured. In addition, 20-30% of patients with epilepsy are “refractory epilepsy”, which can be controlled and cured by ketogenic diet therapy, surgery and vagus nerve stimulation.