Seizures – A Common Symptoms of a Persons with Epileptic Conditions
Introduction and Definitions:
Seizure is defined as a burst of uncontrolled electrical activity between brain cells (also called neurons or nerve cells) that causes temporary abnormalities in muscle tone or movements (stiffness, twitching or limpness), behaviors, sensations or states of awareness.
Epileptic is defined as the tendency to have seizures that start in the brain. The brain uses electrical signals to pass messages between brain cells. If these signals are disrupted, this can lead to a seizure. Epilepsy is usually diagnosed when someone has had more than one seizure. It mostly the cause of frequent seizures for someone.
The Seizure (First and Hopefully the Last):
Seizure is how the doctor described it when that thing happened to my daughter way back 2011 and she was just 1 year old during that incident. It was still just my few months since I got hired by my company when my daughter’s first seizure occurred. I don’t really know what exactly happened back then since I was in the office when that incident happened. Nobody informed me in the office since they don’t want me to get panic and worried (I really felt bad about it somehow). I was just informed when I got home that my 1 year old daughter was rushed and admitted to the hospital and by that I have rushed immediately to the hospital to check on them. My wife was crying when I arrived at the hospital room. My wife said that my daughter was happy by that night prior to the incident - laughing all out loud every time someone approaches and tickles her. All of the sudden, my daughter suddenly feel stiffness and twitched for a long period of time. It looks like the extreme happiness triggers her seizure to occur. They were shock and confused of what had happened and immediately rushed her to the hospital. Several tests were conducted on her to know what triggers the seizure and also to know if she had any existing conditions aside from it. It was also a good thing that my wife was there to hold her up when that happened. The doctor sees us in the next morning and suggested us to see a “Neurologist Doctor” for further check-up on her and that she might undergo some laboratory to really confirm on her conditioned depending on the recommendation of the Neurologist Doctor. We got out of the hospital the next morning since there’s not much problems with her other laboratory results. As we are about to leave the hospital building through the exit door. We have noticed a huge bulletin board were several names of Doctors listed on it. We have tried checking for the names hoping that we know someone from that list but unfortunately, we don’t know anyone from those names. However, I managed to choose one who happens to be nice on her picture. It’s female doctor who specializes on the neurology for a child in which my child condition’s fit.
Image Source: Courtesy of Google
See the Neurologist Doctor:
We have called the clinic and scheduled an appointment with the “Neurologist Doctor” on the next day to meet her up in the clinic to consult about our little daughter’s condition. The “Neurologist Doctor” was seems nice and accommodating when we got there. She initially discussed to us about the condition that my daughter might have;
· How often seizure happens.
· What the cause of the condition.
· How a person get this condition.
How the family history background affects/contributes.
Having an epileptic family member.
· If this condition is curable and what will it lead to and others.
She have also laid out that she might still need to conduct and undergo some laboratory like EEG to check on the abnormalities of her brain waves while sleeping in order to confirm on her conditions. The laboratory test will last for 2-3 hours and the results will be generated on the next day as laid out by her and told us to return on the very next day as soon as the result is available. She had given us the request for laboratory and we had immediately gone back to the hospital and schedule our daughter for that. The laboratory takes place and I was the one to watch over her since only 1 person was allowed to accompany the patient inside. My wife remained outside of the laboratory department and waited for us in the waiting area until we completed the laboratory. The laboratory indeed lasted and completed in 2 hours due time and the results was indeed available on the next day and was already handed over to the doctor when we had gone back to the clinic. The doctor confirms on the abnormality of the brain waves based on the EEG results but could not confirm if it’s indeed an epileptic case or not until the next seizure will recur. She just considered it mild case for now as it was just still on her early age when it occurs. However, the doctor said that there’s still a huge possibilities that this seizure will recur as she gets older and that we need to observed her and prepare her for medication once done things happens. She had given us two options actually for my daughter’s treatment and these are;
· My daughter will undergo medication as early as possible to avoid seizure from recurring.
· Wait for another seizure attacks to confirm about the epileptic conditions and we will go ahead with the medications by then as that will needed badly by her .
We opted to choose the 2 option and waited for the seizure to recur. We actually have thought on the side effects of the medicines that she will be taking at her early age as that might damages some of her internal organs. We told the doctor that we will go ahead with the medications once her conditions recurs or gets worst, but so far (“thanks to the Lord”) her health condition remains fine and no longer shows any signs of it until this time. I’m really hoping that it was the first and last of it as I can’t afford to see her suffering because I know on hard it will be for her and how it will affects her future too. I can’t afford to see or even think that my daughter will be having that condition as she gets older.
Family Background and History:
I believed that family background really had something to do with some hereditary conditions or illnesses. This is also actually the conditions of my Aunt – my father’s younger sister who was also diagnosed of having this kind of condition since she was born. And my wife’s cousin who happens to have the same conditions with that of my Aunt as well. They were already undergoing medications and maintenance but I still have seen epileptic attacks on them every now and then and that I really feel pity each time the attacks happens. I really hope and pray to God that my little girl will be spared from this illnesses/condition and that she will just going to live a normal life until she grows up and will have her own life and family to take care with as she gets older. I will always remain on her side to watch over her even I get older just to ensure her safety.
Sample EEG Procedure and Results:
Image Source: Courtesy of Google (Similar result but not the actual result of my daughter's EEG).
Closing Thoughts:
It’s already been 10 years since that first incidents happened to our life. It’s a good thing and blessing from God above that she’s no longer experiencing that again. It was actually saddest thing and painful part for me and my wife to see and think that my daughter has this conditions. However, she grows a little older now and even taller and bigger than her mom. LOL. Hope that seizure attack will be the first and the last that she will experienced on her whole life. The picture below show’s how she had grown up and just living a normal life now.
Notes from the writer:
Thank you for reading the article, Guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Though, the article may not be that good enough but rest assured that I’m doing my best write to the best of my ability to relay things clearly to my readers. As you know, I have almost given up on writing here because of my account that was being tagged as spammer for some reason. I was actually feeling depressed and hopeless and feels like it’s so pointless to stay on the platform and write but @bmjc98 still encourages and inspired me to continue writing despite of anything that had happen. So there it goes.. and I will still continue writing and sharing my life stories here because I am enjoying it a lot and fulfilling on my part with or without the acknowledgement of the bot and admin.
See you on my next article, guys. Thank you again for reading.