How Epilepsy Changed My Life

I will be talking about a time in my life that was not easy that i had to go through. When I was around age 5 my mom noticed a lot of twitching and blinking of my eyes she was worried and had no idea what it was, so she took me to the doctor. They said I had focal seizures, as a little kid you don’t really understand or know how to feel. But I could just remember my mom constantly worried about me. The reason behind me having these seizures, was when I was born there was a part on my lower brain that didn’t form so it left scar tissue and was causing them. But at the time we were still living in Texas the doctors tried multiple surgeries, but none of them helped so we moved to Tennessee for better doctoring. That’s when I started going to Vanderbilt and ever since then it’s been a journey.

People uneducated about Epilepsy may have confused thoughts on what it really is. People have these "notions," which are partly or entirely not true. So, throughout this research paper, these notions will be proven untrue, mostly by factual information given by

Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which clusters of nerve cells also called neurons inside the brain signal unusually or in which case the brains neurological pattern also called the electrical pattern is disrupted. Neurons inside the brain usually generate electrochemical impulses that communicate with other neurons. In Epilepsy, the usual pattern of neurological activity becomes distorted, causing odd sensations such as behavioral and emotional, muscle spasms, sometimes convulsions and loss of consciousness can occur. Seizure disorders originate from a pathogenic process, head trauma, metabolic processes, exogenous or endogenous poisons, and a simple fever. Seizures may be a result from an exposure to many types of poisons such as lead and carbon monoxide but it can also

I awoke in terror. My sister was shaking uncontrollably. Screaming in fear, I jumped out of the bed we were sleeping in to go get my parents. The next thing I knew I was sitting bedside in my sister's hospital room. This is what I experienced when my sister had her first Epileptic Seizure. Although there were many questions and fears running through my mind, the skills and characteristics I possessed allowed me to live life unaffected.

There has always been one experience that made an impression on my life. It was in March of 2008. In order to understand my condition you must first know what seizures are. A seizure happens because of an abnormal electrical activity in the brain. I was first diagnosed with Absence seizures (petit mal) where you lose awareness briefly that soon developed into Tonic-clonic (grand mal) where your arms and legs get stiff. Some may go unnoticed or in other cases can be severe.

A seizure is a disruption of the electrical activity between neurons in the brain. The resulting chemical changes can lead to a surge of electrical activity causing a seizure. Aside from trauma to the brain due to injury, or

Seizures or epilepsy are brain disorders where the person has repeated convulsions over a period of time. They’re episodes of disturbed brain activity that cause changes in attention and behavior. Seizures are considered the most common observed neurological dysfunction in children. They are very sudden intermittent episodes of altered consciousness lasting seconds to minutes and include involuntary tonic (stiffening of muscles) and clonic (altering contraction and relaxation of muscles) movements.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which individuals have recurrent seizures. Seizures can occur in children and adults of any age. There are around 50 million people in the world who has the disorder. Individuals in developing countries are at a higher risk for developing the disorder. Seizures occur due to hyper-excitability and hyper-synchronization of neurons. Action potential transmits messages and it leads to depolarization. When neurons are uncontrollably depolarizes because of hyper-excitability due to too little inhibition, it cause a seizure. Seizures can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. As spontaneously they can develop is also as fast and spontaneous they can end.

My interviewee was born and raised in Lexington, Nebraska. She was born on July 22, 1944. She was the second youngest of four girls. Her mother had one miscarriage between the first and second child. She grew up close to her sisters and remained close to them until they died. She was closest to the second oldest sister. Her father owned two farms consisting of a total of 600 acres about four miles west of Lexington. Her dad worked the farm on which they grew corn, milo, hay and wheat. They also raised cattle, dairy cows, pigs and chickens. At various times they had one or two horses. Her mother was a full-time homemaker and a “city girl” so spent little time helping out with farm work.

Good morning/afternoon class and Mrs Carr today I’ll be talking to you about Epilepsy. Epilepsy is when a sequence of seizures (brain and nerve interruptions occur making senses and body movements impossible) occur. A seizure lasts for normally 1-3 minutes any longer are fatal. Not all seizures are from epilepsy, some are only once, or a sign of other health issues.

I sat there in my room with tears flowing down my blush pink cheeks. Wondering what was wrong with me, as a salty tear ran along my dried out chapped lips. I thought to myself,” Why am I so miserable? What did I do to deserve this? How am I going to escape this life?” I started to ponder that this was the end of my life, this is how I was going to be, sorrowful. At the lowest point of my life, mother came barging through the door with the look of cavernous concern on her face. She knew that it was time for something to be done, whether I agreed or not.

When I was eight years old I learned what epilepsy was. My family was in the car driving to get dinner, with my dad driving. We were stopped at a stop light, and when it turned green we never moved. My mother looked over at my dad and realized he was having a seizure. At the time I did not know what that was; all I remember is a blur of my sister calling 911, and us going to the hospital. It was one of the scariest moments of my life; I thought my dad was dying. Later that night my mom explained to us what a seizure was, and that he was going to be okay. This was the first time my dad had a seizure, and the doctors did not know why. He was sent home from the emergency room that night with no answers and a shaken up family.

Epilepsy, also called seizure disorder, chronic brain disorder that briefly interrupts the normal electrical activity of the brain to cause seizures, characterized by a variety of symptoms including uncontrolled movements of the body, disorientation or confusion, sudden fear, or loss of consciousness. Epilepsy may result from a head injury, stroke, brain tumor, lead poisoning, genetic conditions, or severe infections like meningitis or encephalitis. In over 70 percent of cases no cause for epilepsy were identified. About 1 percent of the world population, or over 2 million people, are diagnosed with epilepsy.

On May 9th, 2014, I had an unexpected seizure in the middle of the night. At the time my parents were asleep, and they were awoken in a state of shock. Seizures are really scary because they are unexpected. As a matter of fact, the people who go through them are totally unaware of their surroundings and are left vulnerable to the dangers around them. Because of this drastic event, I had to go through many time-consuming tests, one of which was the EEG, which took one whole day and night at the hospital. An EEG is a very complex, expensive and time-consuming system, also it is uncomfortable for patients, especially for young children.

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has two or more seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Epilepsy is one of the oldest conditions of the human race. Epilepsy Awareness is important because Epilepsy is a widely misunderstood disorder. The reason that Epilepsy has been misunderstood has been mainly due to research not being conducted until the middle of the nineteenth century. There are six main types of seizures and many treatments that can assist an epileptic patient. Many facts and myths exist about a person who has Epilepsy, which, is why it is an important disorder to understand. A person living with Epilepsy can typically have a normal life after seeking medical advice from doctors.