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Epilepsy - Medical Negligence Compensation
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Epilepsy is a brain condition in which the patient has intermittent seizures that interfere with the quality of life. Some patients with epilepsy have staring spells and others have full blown convulsions. Seizures happen in one out of a hundred people but not all develop epilepsy. You need at least two unprovoked seizures to make the diagnosis of epilepsy. Seizures can be dangerous if they happen when you are swimming or driving. Fortunately, medications are available that can control most of the seizure activity.
Seizure symptoms include having temporary confusion, spells of staring, jerking motions of the legs and arms and loss of consciousness. Seizures are of different types so that the symptoms of a seizure depend on the type of seizure involved.
There are partial seizures in which only part of the brain is involved in the seizure. There are two types of partial seizures. These include simple partial seizures that don't cause a loss of consciousness. The body may jerk in only one part of the body and there may be dizziness, the sensation of flashing lights or tingling sensations. Complex partial seizures affect the degree of consciousness. There can be staring spells and involuntary movement of the body such as twitching, chewing behaviors, involuntary swallowing or walking in a circle.
Generalized seizures affect the entire brain. They include petit mal seizures, also called absence seizures. This is when the person stares into space and has some loss of consciousness. Myoclonic seizures are sudden jerks or twitches of the legs or of the arms. Atonic seizures happen when you suddenly fall to the ground with no abnormal movements. There is a loss of consciousness. Tonic-clonic seizures are also called grand mal seizures. These involve loss of consciousness, body shaking and stiffening with loss of bladder control.
In half of all cases, there is no cause of epilepsy. Others can be related to genetics, in which epilepsy seems to run in families. A history of head trauma, such as a car accident, can lead to epilepsy. Strokes and heart attacks can contribute to the onset of epilepsy. Older adults with dementia can develop epilepsy. Viral encephalitis, HIV and meningitis can lead to epilepsy. Injury in the womb such as with infections or poor nutrition can cause cerebral palsy which leads to seizures. About twenty percent of childhood seizures are directly related to neurological problems like cerebral palsy. Disorders like autism or Down syndrome can cause epileptic conditions.
Risk factors for epilepsy include being of a male gender, being in childhood or older than age 65, having a family history of the disease, having a head injury, having brain infections or a history of stroke. If you had a lot of febrile seizures as a young child, you are at greater risk of developing a seizure disorder.
Doctors test for epilepsy by doing a complete neurological exam and blood tests, which check for lead in the system, infections, diabetes or anemia. Some neuropsychological tests can be done, such as an IQ test, tests of memory and speech evaluations. An EEG or electroencephalogram is a test of the electrical activity within the brain. Electrodes are attached to the scalp and the electrical activity within the brain is picked up from the electrodes. Abnormalities may or may not be seen in those with epilepsy unless they are having a seizure at the time. A CT scan of the head may show structural causes of epilepsy and, in some cases, an MRI exam is done. PET scans use radioactivity to find areas of the brain that are very active and areas of the brain that aren't very active. A SPECT scan uses radioactivity to determine the level of blood flow in the various parts of the brain.
Medications are the mainstay of treatment of epilepsy. The drugs reduce the incidence and intensity of the seizures. More than 50 percent of children treated with anti-seizure medication have no more seizures. Most adults can stop taking medications after about two or more years of seizure free life. Seizure medications have several side effects. These include tiredness, weight gain, dizziness, rashes, osteopenia (bone loss), coordination difficulties and speech problems. Depression is possible as is suicidality, and problems with organ inflammation.
Surgery is done when no other treatments are available. If the tests show the seizure comes from a part of the brain that is small and not associated with an important function, doctors can ablate the part of the brain involved in starting the seizure. A drastic surgery includes separating the two halves of the brain by cutting through the connection to the two halves of the brain-the corpus collosum.