Epilepsy :
- Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder and affects people of all ages
- Epilepsy means the same thing as "seizure disorders"
- Epilepsy is characterized by unpredictable seizures and can cause other health problems
- Epilepsy is a spectrum condition with a wide range of seizure types and control varying from person-to-person
Risk Factor Of Epilepsy
A risk factor is something that makes a person more likely to develop seizures and epilepsy. Sometimes a risk factor can cause scarring of the brain or lead to areas of the brain not developing or working right. Risk factors include:
- Babies who are born small for their age
- Babies who have seizures in the first month of life
- Babies who are born with abnormal areas in the brain
- Bleeding into the brain
- Abnormal blood vessels in the brain
- Serious brain injury or lack of oxygen to the brain
- Brain tumors
- Infections of the brain: abscess, meningitis, or encephalitis
- Stroke resulting from blockage of arteries
- Cerebral palsy
- Conditions with intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Seizures occurring within days after head injury ("early posttraumatic seizures")
- Family history of epilepsy or fever-related seizures
- Alzheimer's disease (late in the illness)
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Fever-related (febrile) seizures that are unusually long
- Long episodes of seizures or repeated seizures called status epilepticus
- Use of illegal drugs such as cocaine
- Mild head injuries, such as a concussion with just a very brief loss of consciousness, do not cause epilepsy. Yet the effects of repeated mild head injuries and epilepsy is unknown.
Stroke :
Stroke occurs when the supply of blood to the brain is either interrupted or reduced. When this happens, the brain does not get enough oxygen or nutrients which causes brain cells to die.
Strokes occur due to problems with the blood supply to the brain; either the blood supply is blocked or a blood vessel within the brain ruptures.
There are three main kinds of stroke; ischemic, hemorrhagic and TIA. This article will focus on ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, as there is a separate Knowledge Center article for TIAs, which goes into specific detail about them.
In the US, approximately 40% of stroke deaths are in males, with 60% in females. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), compared to white people, black people have nearly twice the risk of a first-ever stroke and a much higher death rate from stroke.
Preventing a stroke :
The best way to prevent a stroke is to address the underlying causes. This is best done by living healthily, which means:
- Eating a healthy diet
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Exercise regularly
- Not smoking
- Avoiding alcohol or moderating consumption.
Eating a healthy diet means getting plenty of fruits, vegetables and healthy whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes; eating little or no red or processed meat; limiting intake of cholesterol and saturated fat (typically found in foods of animal origin); and minimizing salt intake so as to support healthy blood pressure.
Other measures taken to help reduce the risk of stroke include:
- Keeping blood pressure under control
- Managing diabetes well
- Treating obstructive sleep apnea (if present).
As well as these lifestyle changes, a health care provider can help to reduce the risk of future strokes through prescribing anti-coagulant and anti-platelet medication. In addition to this, the arterial surgery previously mentioned can also be used to lower the risk of repeat strokes.
Dementia :
Dementia is not a single disease in itself, but a general term to describe symptoms such as impairments to memory, communication and thinking.
While the likelihood of having dementia increases with age, it is not a normal part of aging. Before we had today's understanding of specific disorders, "going senile" used to be a common phrase for dementia ("senility"), which misunderstood it as a standard part of getting old.
Light cognitive impairments, by contrast, such as poorer short-term memory, can happen as a normal part of aging (we slowly start to lose brain cells as we age beyond our 20s3). This is known as age-related cognitive decline, not dementia, because it does not cause the person or the people around them any problems.Dementia describes two or more types of symptom that are severe enough to affect daily activities.
Symptoms that are classed as "mild cognitive impairment" - which, unlike cognitive decline, are not a normal part of aging - do not qualify as dementia either, since these symptoms are not severe enough. For some people though, this milder disease leads to dementia later on.
Treatment :
Brain cell death cannot be reversed so there is no known treatment to cure a degenerative cause of dementia symptoms or fully halt its progress. Management of disorders such as Alzheimer's disease is instead focused on providing care and treating symptoms rather than their underlying cause.
If dementia symptoms are due to a reversible, non-degenerative cause, however, treatment may be possible, to prevent or halt further brain tissue damage.
Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced by drugs to help improve an individual's quality of life - there are four drugs in a class called cholinesterase inhibitor approved for this in the US
- Donepezil (brand name Aricept)
- Alantamine (Reminyl)
- Rivastigmine (Exelon)
- Tacrine (Cognex).
A different kind of drug, memantine (Namenda), an "NMDA receptor antagonist", may also be used, alone or in combination with a cholinesterase inhibitor.
A cholinesterase inhibitor such as donepezil can also help with the behavioral elements of Parkinson's disease.
Headache and Migraine :
A migraine is a severe, painful headache that is often preceded or accompanied by sensory warning signs such as flashes of light, blind spots, tingling in the arms and legs, nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivity to light and sound. The excruciating pain that migraines bring can last for hours or even days.
Symptoms of migraines
Symptoms of migraine can occur a while before the headache, immediately before the headache, during the headache and after the headache. Although not all migraines are the same, typical symptoms include:
- Moderate to severe pain, usually confined to one side of the head during an attack, but can occur on either side of the head
- The pain is usually a severe, throbbing, pulsing pain
- Increasing pain during physical activity
- Inability to perform regular activities due to pain
- Feeling sick and physically being sick
- Increased sensitivity to light and sound, relieved by lying quietly in a darkened room
Treatments for migraines :
There is currently no cure for migraine, so treatment is aimed at preventing a full-blown attack, and alleviating symptoms if they come.
Different people respond to different treatments.
Some lifestyle alterations might help reduce migraine frequency, says Mayo Clinic doctor, Robert Sheeler MD. These include:
- Getting enough sleep
- Reducing stress
- Drinking plenty of water
- Avoiding certain foods
- Regular physical exercise.
Migraine treatment (abortive therapies) and prevention (prophylactic therapies) focus on avoiding triggers, controlling symptoms and taking medicines.
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