International Epilepsy Day (IED) is a global healthcare event celebrated on second Monday of February every year since 2015 (February 10 in 2025). It intends to bring together patients suffering from epilepsy and create public awareness.

COMMON CAUSES

• The cause may be eating habits or poor hand hygiene.
• The overuse of computer or smartphone or electrical gadgets can definitely increase the risk of seizure recurrence due to their electromagnetic fields.
• The stimuli sensitive epilepsy definitely increase with the overuse of all these technologies.
• The flickering light can increase the seizure sensitivity.
• Poor sleep hygiene and sleep deprivation can also precipitate seizures.

Types of seizures

Generalised tonic clonic: Person has convulsions muscle

rigidity and jerking.

Absence seizures: Blank stare lasting for few seconds.

Complex partial: Person is out of touch with surroundings.

Atonic- Sudden collapse: Simple partial- Jerking or sensory distortion in one or the more body parts.

Myodonic: Sudden, brief, massive jerking involving all or part of body.

The prevalence of epilepsy in India is about 1 per cent of the population and the prevalence in Punjab is about 3 to 11 patients (approximately 7.6) per 1,000 patients. We see an average out patient duty (OPD) of about two to three patients with seizure or epilepsy daily. Epilepsy is most commonly seen in children and persons above 65 years. The causes are birth trauma or genetic factors in children, besides neuro infections, neuro trauma in elderly. The commonest infection is neurocysticercosis NCC as the secondary cause of epilepsy. There is difference in prevalence in urban and rural areas.

It is more common in rural areas. The cause may be eating habits or poor hand hygiene. The overuse of computer or smartphone or electrical gadgets can definitely increase the risk of seizure recurrence due to their electromagnetic fields. The stimuli sensitive epilepsy definitely increase with the overuse of all these technologies. The flickering light can increase the seizure sensitivity. Poor sleep hygiene and sleep deprivation can also precipitate seizures.

What is epilepsy, myths?

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes people to have recurrent seizures. A seizure is a brief disruption of electrical activity in the brain. But prevalent myths regarding epilepsy, which need to be dealt with are: It is not contagious, not a mental illness, not mental retardation. More than half the time, the causes of epilepsy are unknown. Where a cause can be determined, it is most often one of these: head injury, infections that affect the brain, stroke, brain tumour, Alzeihmer’s disease, genetic factors.

Who has epilepsy?

One in 10 people will have a seizure at some point in their lives. Epilepsy doesn’t discriminate. It affects children and adults, men and women and people of all races, religion, ethnic backgrounds and social classes. While epilepsy is most commonly diagnosed either in childhood or after the age of 65, it can occur at any age.

How is it diagnosed?

Patient’s history, neurological examination, blood work and other clinical tests are all important in diagnosing epilepsy. Eyewitness account of the patient’s seizure is important to help determine the type of seizure. The electroencephalograph (EEG) is the most commonly used test in diagnosing epilepsy. In some situations CT scans, MRI’S and PET scans (to look at internal structure of brain) may be required.

Treatment

Medication: Most people achieve good seizure control on one or more variety of medications. Sometimes if none of the medicines work, a special diet can be tried instead (Ketogenic diet).

In case of any adverse drug reaction, do not stop the medication on your own, this can lead to continuous seizures, which can be of risk to life.

Surgery: Several types of surgery may be used for patients whose seizures do not respond to medication. The commonest are lobectomy and cortical resection. These may be used when a seizure focus can be determined and removal of all or part of the affected lobe can be performed without damage to vital functions.

Vagus nerve stimulation: A small pacemaker like device is implanted in the left chest wall with lead attached to vagus nerve. The device is programmed to deliver electrical stimulation to the brain at regular intervals. Up to two thirds of patients who do not respond to medication, see improvement with this method.

Ketogenic diet: Used primarily in children. The medically supervised high-fat, low carbohydrate, low protein diet has been shown to benefit two-third of children who can maintain it.

Epilepsy First Aid:

do’s & don’ts

Do’s – During the seizure protect the person, pay attention to what happens to patients during seizure, note the time for which seizure persists, take care of airway, don’t foricbly hold the patient, maintain calm, call for help.

Don’ts – Don’t restrain patient, don’t offer any food/drink, don’t put anything in person’s mouth; don’t perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) unless the person is not breathing when seizure stops.

Post seizure: Move things out of the way. Remove individual’s eyeglasses, tie or scarf. Loosen tight clothing from the neck. Place something soft and flat under the head. Turn person to one side, clear the airway, let the person rest in safe place till he awakens. Look for breathing, if there is any trouble seek medical help immediately. Check for person’s medical identification, what medication they take, and drug allergies.

When to seek immediate medical attention?

If seizure lasts for more than five minutes. The person is not conscious or has breathing difficulty. A second seizure follows immediately. A woman is pregnant, has diabetes or high fever. A person has injured himself during seizure.

(As told to Aparna Banerjee)