Advice about epilepsy please?

Question

I've been offered the opportunity for a desk job with a society who focus on the needs of teenagers with epilepsy. I'd like to go for this as it would be really good to actually work for a company that gives a damn about the people it works for. The position is going to be quite hands-on, but my experience with epilepsy is limited and I'm trying to educate myself as best I can on the subject prior to the final interview, but there is so much information and opinion out there and I desperately need to focus on what is important to the sufferers and carers so that I can gear my approach to their best benefit.

Any snippets or pearls of wisdom or decent links would be appreciated

Thanks

Answer 1

Epilepsy is a general term used for a group of disorders that cause disturbances in electrical signaling in the brain. Like an office building or a computer, the brain is a highly complex electrical system, powered by roughly 80 pulses of energy per second. These pulses move back and forth between nerve cells to produce thoughts, feelings, and memories.

An epileptic seizure occurs when these energy pulses come much more rapidly-as many as 500 per second for a short time-due to an electrical abnormality in the brain. This brief electrical surge can happen in just a small area of the brain, or it can affect the whole brain. Depending on the part of the brain that is affected, the surge of electrical energy can cause:

Changes in a person's sensations or state of consciousness.

Uncontrolled movements of certain parts of the body or of the whole body.


These changes are known as an epileptic seizure.

Epilepsy is also known as a seizure disorder because the tendency is to have recurrent seizures.

Epileptic seizures vary in severity and frequency, and even in the time of day they occur.

While some people may experience no more than two or three seizures during their entire lifetime, others will have several seizures in one day.

Some things to remember about Epilepsy:
Epilepsy is not a form of mental illness and it does not cause mental illness.

Epilepsy is not an indicator of intelligence

More than a few people known for their intelligence have had epilepsy, most notably Julius Caesar and Napoleon, Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Socrates and Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and creator of the Nobel Prize.
Seizures can be sparked by a variety of stimuli, including:

Lights that flash at a certain speed

The flicker of a television screen or TV monitor

A sudden loud noise or repetitive sounds

Alcohol consumption

Cigarette smoking

Stress

Headache

Menstruation

Lack of sleep

Having a bad day

Some people with epilepsy have seizures only during their sleep.

Sexual activity does not trigger seizures.

Epilepsy can be dangerous, particularly if a condition called status epilepticus occurs. This is a serious situation in which a person has prolonged seizures or does not fully regain consciousness between seizures.

Some doctors define status epilepticus as a seizure that lasts for more than five minutes. More conservative doctors define the condition as a seizure lasting 10 or even 30 minutes. Without emergency attention, this condition can cause permanent brain damage or be fatal.

Epilepsy was first mentioned more than 3,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. It was thought to be an attack by demons or gods.
The Greek physician Hippocrates first suggested, about 400 BCE, that epilepsy was a disorder of the brain.
Some researchers have estimated that as many as 500 different genes could be linked to epilepsy.
Corpus callosotomy is a surgical procedure that cuts the connection between the left and right sides, or hemispheres, of the brain. This procedure is most often used to treat children with severe seizures that start on one side of the brain and spread to the other. This procedure can end atonic seizures (drop attacks) and other generalized seizures. Partial seizures will still occur on one side of the brain. ( I have a cousin that had this surgery and he has not had seizures since. He still experiences migraine-like headaches from time to time.)

Answer 2

The big thing to remember is that epilepsy affects people differently. Some people have epilepsy but see little day-to-day effects while on their medication. Other people suffer from daily seizures despite medication and see their licenses taken away and their chance for a stable job at risk.

The mechanics of epilepsy are relatively simple. People can suffer from grand mal seizures, which is the classic epilepsy: falling to the ground, grunting, and thrashing. However people can also suffer from petit mal or absence seizures, which simply look like the person is dazed or zoning out. Some seizures can be well controlled with medication, others cannot.

What you need to focus on is the person. Don't be afraid to ask them:
- How are you doing?
- How are your medications working?
- Do you feel in control of your epilepsy? Are you comfortable going through the day?
- Or are you worried that you are not in control, that you may have a seizure at work, in the car, in front of your friends?

In short, you want to see where they need help.

Answer 3

The most important thing for you (and everybody else) to know about epilepsy is, that there are so many different forms. You can never say "I know". Myself I've had many different ways this illness has shown during my lifetime.

When you are dealing with teenagers who have this disease, you should try to find out for each of them how the epilepsy becomes normally manifest and how good it is controlled by medication. Be careful when you talk to them about it. I never liked to talk about my illness. I knew it's nothing to be ashamed of, but I was, especially after those grand mal seizures when I did wet myself. That happened only during some years, but it was during my early teenage years. Who wants at that age to show this weakness in front of the other sex?

Most forms of epilepsy are NOT hereditary, but I didn't know better and had great fear of that.

Medication can as a side effect slow down people, especially in speech. This can influence their chances getting a job, even if the epilepsy is fully controlled.

Answer 4

If its epilepsy then giving her something sweet won't make much difference - that works for diabetic seizures. Its quite normal for her to be weak and disorientated after the seizure. Keep her in a warm, quiet and reasonably dark room until she recovers. Offer water but no food in case she has another seizure. If she is still really disorientated after an hour or two, call your vet. Stay with her if you can to make sure that she doesn't come to any harm. During the seizure itself, stay with her and clear the area around her so she doesn't hit herself on anything. If she is right against a wall, then maybe a blanket between her head and the wall to cusion it a bit. Don't try to move her or anything and keep the area quiet and dark if you can - this is to prevent a sensation overload. You say that the medication made her worse - do you mean the seizures or just that it made her really dopey and sleepy? If you are concerned about her medication, then take her to the vet and discuss it with the vet. Don't just stop the medication as that could cause more fits. If she is on medication and still having seizures, even if the dose is quite high, then ask the vet if it could be anything else. I doubt it is the same, but my last dog was misdiagnosed with epilepsy, the medication didn't stop them at all despite large doses; we eventually found she had a brain tumour after a second opinion. I doubt its the same, but if the mediaction has little or no effect on the seizures, then ask the vet if it could be anything else, or if you are unhappy about the treatment, get a second opinion. I hope this helps, but don't let my experiance scare you, but if you are concerned about the seizures and the medication she is on, then go and see your vet and discuss everything with him - they will be more than happy to talk to you.

Answer 5

Hello.
It is very good that you are showing interest about epilepsy. Maybe other person in your place would just refuse the job. A+ for you just for that :) You don't need to know everything about it for your interview.To be honest we are always learning.

I have read other answers and all of them are very good. They complete each others so i wont repeat what has been said. Just will add few things.

People who suffers from that are normal people like me and like you. Do not treat them differently, specialy been teenagers. That age is already "complicated" as it is. They are in growing process,get to know themself and other relations and having this disorders makes their life more complicated. They need extra attention and understand them.

It is important for you to know the first aid. What would you do if somebody has a seizure? If they are alone they can hurt themselfs ie sharp object,table conner,glass,etc.....after the fit they need to recover.To be in recovering position:Lay down on a side and put on hand under the head to give support.

I would also suggest you to be aware of side affects of all drugs. Some leads to paranoia,depression,tiredness,etc,etc.

All these aspects are to take into consideration as dealing with teenagers.

I also want to suggest you to have a look on this website:

http://www.epilepsynse.org.uk/pages/index/home/

http://www.epilepsyforum.org.uk/

If you get the job i hope you enjoy it and be helpfull.

Answer 6

my mum has epilepsy and shes just turned 50, she just wants to be treated like a normal person (which she is) but there are people out there who treat people with epilepsy like lepers or idiots just because they have this illness, with epilepsy u need to be carful not to drink too much as it can cause seizures, strobe lighting is one of the worst things for bringing a seizure on and so is too much stress. i hope u get this job as u seem to want to help these young people, good luck xx

Answer 7

i have grand mal your best bet is look on the net type in epilepsy i dont really know much about it an i have it it depends on what youu want to know like when you go on in a fit i drop down shake an foam at the mouth i would come round and not know anything about what happenedi had a few occassions where i stopped breathing nearly ended up in a coma

Answer 8

my son has epilepsy he is 20 but only ever had seizures at night in his sleep he didnt have photo sensitive type most important is during a seizure cover the person as they can lose control of their bladder and be embarrassed by this just dont stick anything in their mouth and just turn them on their side until seizure ends best of luck with the interview

Answer 9

First of all don't call it epilepsy, that term is rarely used today, instead call it seizure disorders and there are many things that can cause seizures. I wouldn't hesitate to let them know that you haven't had much reason to learn much about this up to this point but you are looking forward to learning.

Answer 10

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/About-Epilepsy.cfm
this seems like a pretty good website to learn more about epilepsy.