Epilepsy: overview and clinical management

Epilepsy

In spite of the impressive advances done by the medicine world up to the present, there are still several maladies which still give doctors a hard time in finding a cure or treatment. Epilepsy is one of the diseases responsible for making life a living nightmare for millions of people worldwide. It can virtually affect anyone at any given moment in their lives, as the disease does not need a specific pattern to manifest.

The disease can be caused by a head injury, by genes, or by other incidents such as poisoning. Even if epilepsy can appear at any age, there is a bigger probability that it would appear during childhood.

During the ancient times there have already been reports of people being affected by a disease which had all the symptoms known today as being those of epilepsy. At that time, people regarded the malady as having supernatural causes with demons possessing the sick persons. In times when people paid more attention to assumptions than to logical explanations, Greek philosopher Hippocrates came forth and claimed that the disease is actually similar to other maladies. Moreover, he stated that the reason for people having epileptic attacks is that the brain isn't operating normally.

In spite of their advancement as a civilization and as philosophers, Romans did not know much when regarding Epilepsy. In Roman times, people suffering from the disease had been considered to be possessed by demons. Also, the disease was thought to be contagious and those suffering from it were isolated by the rest of society.

There have been several accounts relating to the disease throughout history, and even the Bible mentions a person having symptoms similar to those that Epilepsy has. Those unfortunate enough to have the illness have not only suffered from its effects, but also from the fact that they were believed to having been associated with the devil. During the time when people had been obsessed with witches, those suffering from Epilepsy were frequently considered to be witches worshiping demons.

In the recent centuries, people started to abandon the belief that Epilepsy was caused by supernatural forces. Until the early twentieth century Epilepsy was believed to be contagious, but matters gradually calmed down and it became clear that it had been a disease just like any other.

The medication that doctors prescribe to a person that has Epilepsy cannot cure the disease, as they only control it and lessen the number of seizures that the respective person has. Seizures are attacks experienced by someone having neurological disorders caused by several factors which weaken the body. Epileptic seizures are far worse and only a slight impulse is enough for an epileptic to experience them again. The number of epileptic seizures experienced by a person with Epilepsy can vary from just a few attacks per year to several hundred attacks per day. There is more than one type of seizure and while some are somewhat mild, others are extremely violent and can become even deadly.