What the heck is Epilepsy?!

Epilepsy: The Facts

 

What:

 

Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. It’s also called a seizure disorder. When a person has two or more unprovoked seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy.

A seizure happens when a brief, strong surge of electrical activity affects part or all of the brain. One in 10 adults will have a seizure sometime during their life.

Source: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/whatisepilepsy/index.cfm?gclid=CNCumbH98bsCFclcMgodJDAAyg

 

Seizures are a symptom of something going on in the brain. The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family tendency, but most of the time the cause is unknown. The word "epilepsy" does not indicate anything about the cause of the person's seizures, what type they are, or how severe they are. There are many different types of seizures.

Source: http://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy

 

Types and Symptoms:

 

Seizures are divided into two broad categories: partial and generalized.

Partial seizures affect only a specific part of the brain and are further grouped into two types: In simple partial seizures, a person may have jerking movement and abnormal sensations, such as extreme emotion or changes in taste, depending on what part of the brain the seizure affects. In complex partial seizures, a person loses awareness and may have unconscious movements such as lip smacking and fidgeting. Partial seizures that spread and become generalized are called partial seizures secondarily generalized.

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Generalized seizures affect the entire brain from the beginning of the seizure and are broken down into several types: In generalized tonic-clonic seizures, the entire body stiffens and jerks and a person loses consciousness. This is also known as a grand mal seizure. Myoclonic seizures are lightning jerks of the muscle, usually on both sides of the body. In absence seizures, a person loses awareness and has a blank stare, as if he or she is looking through you. This is also known as a petit mal seizure. Atonic seizures cause the body to lose muscle tone with no warning and fall over.

Source: http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/features/epilepsy-101

 

(I was given the terms simple seizure, simple-complex seizure, and grand mal seizure from my doctors.  Ultimately they are all similar to the descriptions above and I have had the pleasure of experiencing every single described symptom and a few others at one time or another.) 

 

Overview:

 

Epilepsy is a (literal) pain in the head, body, mind, and soul.  It is a chaos happening inside the mind and shown (on occasion) and felt (horribly) through physical symptoms on the outside.  Seizures suck.  Plain and simple.  They cause a feeling of total loss incontrol.  You are no longer the one determining what your mind and body does or feels.  It’s as if a foreign invader, more precisely, a demon-like being, has entered the body andhas literally taken over.  Perhaps the worst part of the condition is that most seizures happen inside the head.  Words can never completely describe the experience accurately.  

Source: Me

 

As a silver lining, the day I was told I wasn't going to be the next girl to have a movie made about her exorcism was a relieved one, but more on all that later...