All about epilepsy
For a long time, epilepsy was associated with madness, with the medieval image of witchcraft and dementia. This is not a disease mental, the epileptic retains all his intellectual faculties and often his IQ is higher than normal, because of a cerebral overactivity ...
Epilepsy is a very complex disease, we can distinguish four forms of the disease :
1. the most common form is benign and disappears in adolescence (medical treatment for a few years is enough to eradicate it)
2. Pharmaco-sensitized epilepsy is also common Concerning 30 to 40% of the cases. Remission is permanent and leads to discontinuation of treatment;
3. Drug-dependent epilepsy which affects about 10% of cases: a withdrawal of treatment leads to a relapse;
4. Drug-resistant epilepsy: this is a serious form of the disease which affects 20% of cases and is resistant to all treatments. It cripples the social and professional life of patients. In this case, the surgery can help them to heal: the operation consists of a removal of the "epileptogenic" brain area that triggers the seizures.
In general, the disease starts during childhood, but epilepsy can occur at any age. The treatment stops the attacks or considerably reduces their intensity (need to follow it regularly).
Each patient has a treatment, the doctor will test several dosages and pharmaceuticals before proposing a prescription.
This disease severely affects the quality of life Patients: uncontrolled falls that may occur in public, rejection of others and sometimes isolation of the affected person. The close entourage suffers with the patient ...
Our advice
If you have an epileptic child, it is important for him and for his well-being that he shares fun activities with other children of his age. Register for sports and group activities, to prevent him from being excluded.
