Here’s a look at how epilepsy can affect your pocketbook. And why it’s called an “orphan disease”.
How many of you have had a car accident…an abrupt fall…a physical assault? If you are one of those people and you have suffered a head injury, the probability of seizure activity increases dramatically…
Seizures may develop immediately after an injury to the brain or may develop in delayed fashion, showing up months or years after the initial trauma.
Imagine an inflammation so powerful that it can play havoc with your brainstem, cerebrum, cerebellum, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.
That’s the neurological damage that can happen as a result of encephalitis.
The good news is that it’s rare.
The bad news is that it causes the brain tissue to swell (cerebral edema), which may destroy nerve cells, cause bleeding in the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage), and brain damage.
The question of whether a person has epilepsy or Alzheimer’s can be a tough one.
Take those “senior moments” — memory lapses, zoning out and other temporary confusion. These seemingly harmless incidents may actually be a sign of epilepsy. Roughly 1-2 percent of seniors develop epilepsy — and that rate is rising.
But experts at the U.S. National Council on Aging warn that often epilepsy goes undetected in seniors.
How many of you have had a car accident…an abrupt fall…a physical assault? If you are one of those people and you have suffered a head injury, the probability of seizure activity increases dramatically…
Seizures may develop immediately after an injury to the brain or may develop in delayed fashion, showing up months or years after the initial trauma.
Generally speaking, the risk of post traumatic seizures is related to the severity of the injury — the greater the injury, the higher the risk of developing seizures. Even mild to moderate injuries can result in seizures.
If I was asked to take part in a clinical trial, I’m not sure what I’d say…
First there is the fear factor. Would I be a guinea pig for something dangerous? Would they take away my medicines? Would it hurt me? Would it change something in me?
I asked those very questions to Patient Advocate David Albaugh at Team Epilepsy. http://www.teamepilepsy.org/
Here’s what he had to say…