Epilepsy (seizures & fits) is one of the diseases that causes a lot of mental stress among the sufferers because of the various social stigma it creates. A statistics says that 4 in 10 people around the world will have seizures, while 139 among 1 lakh people in India suffer seizures annually. Although epilepsy is not curable permanently, treatment via medication can control most of the seizures, and some types of seizures need surgical aid to keep them under control.
But the awareness about epilepsy and its management is low among the public. PSG Hospitals, Coimbatore observed National Epilepsy Day on Tuesday and took couple of awareness initiatives to educate the public and patients about epilepsy.
A booklet bearing valuable information and awareness about Epilepsy was released by Dr.J.S.Bhuvaneswaran, Director, PSG Super Speciality Hospitals, and it was presented to patients and public visiting the Epilepsy Awareness section placed near the hospital’s A-Block.
After releasing the booklet, Dr.J.S.Bhuvaneswaran said “epilepsy is now a commonly occurring disease among people but it is sad to see that in many parts of our society, it is considered a taboo. We are trying to convey to the masses that seizures & fits can be diagnosed easily, and by taking timely treatment, epilepsy could be managed and controlled in a much better way.” He emphasized that Epilepsy is not a curse.
Dr.Karri Madhavi, who is a Neuro-physician at PSG Hospitals said “we term epilepsy as an excess of the normal brain activity which will manifest as uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs, biting of the tongue, loss of consciousness and becoming unresponsive for some time, etc.” She added that the causes of epileptic seizure are several and it may occur to people of all ages. In children, it may occur due to genetic reason, issues the kid faced during delivery and post-delivery, and also due to fever.
“In adults, seizures may occur due to underlying causes. Mostly it occurs secondary to stroke, tumour in brain and head-injuries caused by accidents”, she said. Dr.Madhavi pointed that 10-15% of patient will suffer epilepsy despite having no triggering causes.
Neurologists perform brain-scans on the epileptic patients to find the underlying causes among patients and suggest treatment options. “Despite providing proper medication, inadequate sleep, increased stress and skipping of medication will further create seizures”
Dr. Balakrishnan, Head, Department of Neurology conveyed that people with fits can lead a normal social life, if they take proper treatment. “80% of epilepsy patients can get seizures under control through medication and 20 % will need surgical help. Epileptic people think that they cannot get married, get conceived and deliver a child. That is not the case. They can do all that.” He underlined that only 2-3% of epileptic patients’ offspring will have high chances of suffering epilepsy.
Speaking further he said “They should not drive vehicles for 3 months after suffering seizures, and not work with heavy machineries.” When asked whether epilepsy can cause death, he said that only if the patient is inattentive towards the seizures for long it will happen.