What causes epilepsy or what causes an epileptic seizure. What can trigger an epilepsy attack and how to provide first aid? What triggers epilepsy attacks

An epileptic attack in a person is a sudden, rare, spontaneous seizures. Epilepsy is a brain pathology, the main symptom of which is convulsions. The described disease is considered a very common disorder that affects not only human subjects, but also animals. According to statistical monitoring, every twentieth person suffers a single epileptic attack. Five percent of the total population experienced a first seizure of epilepsy, followed by no further seizures. A seizure may be caused various factors such as intoxication, high temperature, stress, alcohol, sleep deprivation, metabolic disorders, overwork, long-term computer games, prolonged viewing of TV shows.

Causes of epilepsy attacks

Until now, experts are struggling to find out the exact reasons that provoke the occurrence of epileptic seizures.

Epilepsy attacks can periodically occur in people who do not suffer from the disease in question. According to the evidence of most scientists, epileptic signs in humans appear only if a certain area of the brain is damaged. Affected, but retaining some vitality, brain structures turn into sources of pathological discharges, which cause epileptic illness. Sometimes the consequence of an epileptic attack can be new brain damage, leading to the development of new foci of the pathology in question.

Scientists to this day do not know with absolute certainty what it is, why some patients suffer from its attacks, while others have no manifestations at all. They also cannot find an explanation for why seizures are an isolated event in some subjects, while in others they are a recurring symptom.

Some experts are convinced that the occurrence of epilepsy attacks is genetic. However, the development of the disease in question may be of a hereditary nature, as well as be a consequence of a number of diseases suffered by the epileptic, exposure to aggressive environmental factors and injuries.

Thus, among the reasons causing the occurrence of epilepsy attacks, the following diseases can be distinguished: tumor processes in the brain, meningococcal infection and brain abscess, encephalitis, vascular disorders and inflammatory granulomas.

The causes of the occurrence of the pathology in question in early age or puberty are either impossible to establish, or they are genetically determined.

The older the patient, the more likely it is that epilepsy attacks develop against the background of severe brain damage. Often, convulsions can be caused by a feverish state. Approximately four percent of those who experience a severe febrile condition subsequently develop epilepsy.

The true cause of the development of this pathology is electrical impulses arising in the neurons of the brain, which cause conditions, the appearance of convulsions, and the individual performing actions that are unusual for him. The main cerebral areas of the brain do not have time to process electrical impulses sent in large quantities, especially those responsible for cognitive functions, as a result of which epilepsy arises.

The following are typical risk factors for epileptic seizures:

- birth injuries (for example, hypoxia) or premature birth and associated low birth weight of the newborn;

- thromboembolism;

- abnormalities of brain structures or cerebral vessels at birth;

- brain bleeding;

- cerebral paralysis;

- presence of epilepsy in family members;

- abuse of alcoholic beverages or use of narcotic substances;

Symptoms of epilepsy attacks

The appearance of epileptic seizures depends on a combination of two factors: the activity of the epileptic (convulsive) focus and the general convulsive readiness of the brain.

An attack of epilepsy can often be preceded by an aura (“breeze” or “breath” in translation from Greek language). Its manifestations are quite varied and are determined by the localization of the brain area whose functioning is impaired. In other words, the manifestations of the aura depend on the location of the epileptic focus.

In addition, some conditions of the body can become “provocateurs” that cause an epileptic seizure. For example, an attack may occur due to the onset of menstruation. There are also seizures that occur only during dreams.

In addition to physiological conditions, epileptic seizures can be triggered by a number of external factors (for example, flickering light).

Seizures in epilepsy are characterized by a variety of manifestations, which depend on the location of the lesion, etiology (causes of occurrence), electroencephalographic indicators of the degree of maturity of the patient’s nervous system at the time of the attack.

There are many various classifications epileptic seizures, which are based on the above and other characteristics. There are about thirty types of seizures. International classification epileptic seizures are divided into two groups: partial seizures of epilepsy (focal convulsions) and generalized convulsions (spread to all areas of the brain).

A generalized seizure of epilepsy is characterized by bilateral symmetry. At the time of occurrence, no focal manifestations are observed. This category of seizures includes: major and minor tonic-clonic seizures, absence seizures (short-term periods of loss), vegetative-visceral seizures and status epilepticus.

Tonic-clonic convulsions are accompanied by tension in the limbs and torso (tonic convulsions) and twitching (clonic convulsions). In this case, consciousness is lost. It is often possible to hold your breath for a short time without causing suffocation. Usually the seizure lasts no more than five minutes.

After an attack of epilepsy, the patient may fall asleep for a while, feel stunned, lethargic, and, less often, pain in the head.

A grand mal tonic-clonic seizure begins with a sudden loss of consciousness and is characterized by a short tonic phase with muscle tension in the trunk, face, and limbs. The epileptic falls as if knocked down; due to contraction of the muscles of the diaphragm and spasm of the glottis, a groan or cry occurs. The patient's face first becomes deathly pale, and then acquires a bluish tint, the jaws are tightly clenched, the head is thrown back, there is no breathing, the pupils are dilated, there is no reaction to light, the eyeballs are either turned up or to the side. The duration of this phase is usually no more than thirty seconds.

When the symptoms of a full-blown grand mal tonic-clonic seizure escalate, the tonic phase is followed by a clonic phase, lasting from one to three minutes. It begins with a convulsive sigh, followed by clonic convulsions that appear and gradually intensify. In this case, breathing is rapid, hyperemia replaces cyanosis of the facial skin, and there is no consciousness. During this phase, the patient may bite the tongue, involuntary urination and defecation.

An epileptic attack ends with muscle relaxation and deep sleep. In almost all cases, such attacks are noted.

After convulsions, weakness, headaches, decreased performance, muscle aches, and disturbances in mood and speech may occur for several hours. In some cases, confusion of consciousness, a state of stunned state, or, less often, twilight remains for a short time.

A grand mal seizure may have warning signs that herald the onset of a seizure. These include:

- malaise;

- change in mood;

- headache;

— somatovegetative disorders.

Usually, the precursors are characterized by stereotypicality and individuality, that is, each epileptic has his own precursors. In some cases, the type of attack in question may begin with an aura. It happens:

- auditory, for example, pseudohallucinations;

— vegetative, for example, vasomotor disorders;

- taste;

- visceral, for example, discomfort inside the body;

- visual (either in the form of simple visual sensations, or in the form of complex hallucinatory pictures);

- olfactory;

- psychosensory, for example, sensations of changes in the shape of one’s own body;

- mental, manifested in changes in mood, inexplicable;

- motor, characterized by convulsive oscillatory contractions of individual muscles.

Absences are short-term periods of loss of consciousness (lasting from one to thirty seconds). With minor absence seizures, the convulsive component is absent or weakly expressed. At the same time, they, as well as other epileptic paroxysms, are characterized by a sudden onset, a short duration of the attack (limited in time), a disorder of consciousness, and amnesia.

Absence seizures are considered the first sign of the development of epilepsy in children. Such short-term periods of loss of consciousness can occur several times a day, often reaching up to three hundred seizures. At the same time, they are practically invisible to others, since people often attribute such manifestations to a pensive state. This type of attack is not preceded by an aura. During a seizure, the patient’s movement stops abruptly, the gaze becomes lifeless and empty (as if freezing), and there is no response to the outside world. Sometimes there may be rolling of the eyes and a change in the color of the skin on the face. Following this kind of “pause”, the person continues moving as if nothing had happened.

Simple absence is characterized by a sudden loss of consciousness lasting a few seconds. At the same time, the person seems to freeze in one position with a frozen gaze. Sometimes rhythmic contractions of the eyeballs or twitching of the eyelids, vegetative-vascular dysfunction (dilated pupils, increased heart rate and breathing, pale skin) may be noted. At the end of the attack, the person continues the interrupted work or speech.

Complex absence seizure is characterized by changes in muscle tone, movement disorders with elements of automatism, and autonomic disorders (pallor or flushing of the face, urination, coughing).

Vegetative-visceral attacks are characterized by various vegetative-visceral disorders and vegetative-vascular dysfunction: nausea, pain in the peritoneum, heart, polyuria, changes blood pressure, increased heart rate, vasovegetative disorders, hyperhidrosis. The end of the attack is as sudden as its debut. Malaise or stupor does not accompany an epileptic attack. Status epilepticus manifests itself as epileptic seizures following each other continuously and is characterized by a rapidly increasing coma with vital dysfunctions. Status epilepticus occurs as a result of irregular or inadequate treatment, abrupt withdrawal of long-term medications, intoxication, and acute somatic diseases. It can be focal (unilateral convulsions, often tonic-clonic) or generalized.

Focal or partial seizures of epilepsy are considered the most common manifestations of the pathology in question. They are caused by damage to neurons in a specific area of one of the cerebral hemispheres. These seizures are divided into simple and complex partial convulsions, as well as secondary generalized seizures. During simple seizures, consciousness is not impaired. They manifest themselves as discomfort or twitching in certain areas of the body. Often simple partial convulsions are similar to an aura. Complex attacks are characterized by disturbance or alteration of consciousness, as well as severe motor disorders. They are caused by areas of overexcitation that are diverse in location. Often complex partial seizures can transform into generalized ones. This type of convulsions occurs in approximately sixty percent of people suffering from epilepsy.

A secondary generalized attack of epilepsy initially has the form of a convulsive or non-convulsive partial seizure or absence seizure, then a bilateral spread of convulsive motor activity develops.

First aid for an epileptic attack

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases today. It has been known since the time of Hippocrates. As we studied the symptoms, signs and manifestations of this “epileptic” disease, epilepsy became surrounded by many myths, prejudices and secrets. For example, until the seventies of the last century, British laws prevented people with epilepsy from getting married. Even today, many countries do not allow people with well-controlled epilepsy to choose certain professions or drive a car. Although there is no reason for such prohibitions.

Since epileptic seizures are not uncommon, every person needs to know what can help an epileptic during a sudden attack, and what will harm.

So, if a colleague or passerby has an epileptic attack, what to do in this case, how to help avoid it severe consequences? First of all, you need to stop panicking. It is necessary to understand that the health and further life of another person depends on the calmness and clarity of mind. In addition, it is necessary to note the time of the onset of the seizure.

First aid for an epilepsy attack includes the following actions. You should look around. If there are objects that can injure an epileptic during an attack, they should be removed at a sufficient distance. If possible, it is better not to move the person himself. It is recommended to put something soft under his head, for example, a cushion of clothing. You should also turn your head to the side. It is impossible to keep the patient motionless. The muscles of an epileptic are tense during a seizure, so holding the person’s body motionless by force can lead to injury. The patient's neck should be freed from items of clothing that may impede breathing.

Contrary to previously accepted recommendations and popular opinions on the topic “epilepsy attack, what to do,” you should not try to forcefully open a person’s jaws if they are clenched, since there is a risk of injury. Also, you should not try to insert hard objects into the patient’s mouth, as there is a possibility of causing harm by such actions, including breaking teeth. There is no need to try to force someone to drink. If an epileptic has fallen asleep after a seizure, then you should not wake him up.

During convulsions, it is necessary to constantly monitor the time, since if the seizure lasts more than five minutes, then it is necessary to call ambulance, since prolonged attacks can lead to irreversible consequences.

The person should not be left alone until his condition improves to normal.

All actions aimed at providing assistance during epileptic seizures must be quick, clear, without unnecessary fuss and sudden movements. It is necessary to be nearby throughout the entire epilepsy attack.

After an attack of epilepsy, you should try to turn the patient on his side to avoid the weakened tongue from sinking. For the psychological comfort of a person who has suffered a seizure, it is recommended to clear the room of outside observers and “onlookers.” Only those persons who are able to provide real assistance to the victim should remain in the room. After an attack of epilepsy, minor twitching of the torso or limbs may be observed, so if a person tries to stand up, he needs to be helped and held while walking. If a seizure occurs in an epileptic area of increased danger, for example, on a steep river bank, then it is better to convince the patient to maintain a supine position until the twitching completely stops and consciousness returns.

To achieve normalization of consciousness, it usually takes no more than fifteen minutes. Upon returning consciousness, the epileptic can decide for himself whether he needs to be hospitalized. Most patients have thoroughly studied the features of their condition and disease and know what they need to do. You should not try to feed a person medicinal drugs. If this is the first attack of epilepsy, then a thorough diagnosis is necessary, laboratory research and a medical opinion, and if repeated, then the person himself is well aware of what medications to take.

There are a number of precursors that signal the imminent onset of an attack:

- increased human;

- change in habitual behavior, for example, excessive activity or excessive sleepiness;

- dilated pupils;

- short-term, self-limiting muscle twitches;

- lack of response to others;

- tearfulness and anxiety are rarely possible.

Providing incorrect or untimely assistance during a seizure is quite dangerous for an epileptic. The following dangerous consequences are possible: entry of food, blood, saliva into the respiratory canals, due to difficulty breathing - hypoxia, impaired brain function, with prolonged epilepsy - coma, and death is also possible.

Treatment of epilepsy attacks

A lasting therapeutic effect in the treatment of the pathology in question is achieved mainly through medication. The following basic principles of adequate treatment of epileptic seizures can be distinguished: an individual approach, differentiated selection of pharmacopoeial agents and their doses, duration and continuity of therapy, complexity and continuity.

Treatment of this disease is carried out for at least four years; discontinuation of medications is practiced only when the electroencephalogram parameters are normalized.

For the treatment of epilepsy, it is recommended to prescribe medicines different spectrum of action. In this case, it is necessary to take into account certain etiological factors, pathogenetic data and clinical indicators. It is mainly practiced to prescribe such groups of drugs as corticosteroids, neuroleptics, antiepileptic drugs, antibiotics, substances with dehydrating, anti-inflammatory and absorbable effects.

Among anticonvulsants, derivatives of barbituric acid (for example, Phenobarbital), valproic acid (Depakine), and hydantoic acid (Difenin) are successfully used.

Treatment of epilepsy attacks must begin with the selection of the most effective and well-tolerated drug. The construction of a treatment regimen should be based on the character clinical symptoms and manifestations of the disease. For example, for generalized tonic-clonic convulsions, the use of Phenobarbital, Hexamidine, Diphenin, Clonazepam is indicated, and for myoclonic convulsions - Hexamidine, valproic acid preparations.

Treatment of an epileptic attack should be carried out in three stages. In this case, the first stage involves the selection of drugs that will meet the required therapeutic effectiveness and will be well tolerated by the patient.

At the beginning of treatment, it is necessary to adhere to the principles of monotherapy. In other words, you should assign minimum dosage one drug. As the pathology develops, combinations of drugs are prescribed. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the mutually potentiating effect of the prescribed drugs. The result of the first stage is the achievement of remission.

At the next stage, therapeutic remission must be deepened through the systematic use of one or a combination of drugs. The duration of this stage is at least three years under the control of electroencephalography indicators.

The third stage is to reduce the doses of drugs, subject to normalization of electroencephalography data and the presence of stable remission. The drugs are gradually withdrawn over ten to twelve years.

If negative dynamics appear on the electroencephalogram, the dosage should be increased.

The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and cannot replace professional advice and qualified medical care. If you have the slightest suspicion that you have this disease, be sure to consult your doctor!

There are many factors that provoke epileptic attacks, and they are different for everyone. For some it is a loud sound, bright light or a stressful situation, but for others it is impossible not to get enough sleep. However, in clinical practice, the most common triggers of attacks are identified.

Epilepsy is a complex neurological disease. Seizures are triggered by abnormal neuronal activity in specific areas or throughout the cerebral cortex. It is impossible to say exactly what most often provokes epileptic attacks in adults and children without researching a particular patient. Some people inherit it, others get it as a consequence of a head injury or alcoholism.

To understand what can cause epilepsy, you first need to talk to your relatives. Because the disease is often inherited.

Transmission directly from parents is possible in a small percentage of cases. If only the mother or father is sick, then the child’s chance of getting sick is 4%, and if both parents are sick, then 10%.

From relatives of the older generation, the likelihood of getting the disease is higher. Typically, a predisposition to epileptic seizures is transmitted through generations, linked to gender. That is, from grandmother to granddaughter, from grandfather to grandson.

It is important to realize that it is not seizures that are inherited, but the tendency to their occurrence, that is, the readiness of some neurons to be in pathological conditions. excited state.

In this case, the disease does not always manifest itself. What happens is that 2-3 generations of a family are asymptomatic carriers of the gene and have never suffered from attacks in their lives.

And after 3-5 generations, the baby develops active convulsive pathology.

As a rule, when epilepsy is inherited, the disease manifests itself earlier than in the previous carrier. Sometimes, from the first months of life, the baby experiences convulsions.

A genetic abnormality is not a death sentence. As a rule, by the time of puberty, with proper treatment, the attacks disappear forever.

Why do children get sick?

Children are the most common patients diagnosed with epilepsy. Symptoms may appear immediately after birth, during primary school or adolescence.

Moreover, the sudden onset of an illness in a child with absolutely healthy parents causes bewilderment among the latter: what can provoke an attack of epilepsy in a child?

Neurologists believe that in early attacks, in addition to heredity, the following are to blame:

pathologies of brain development;
injuries early childhood;
complications during childbirth;
infectious diseases affecting the brain;
vascular diseases leading to changes in the blood circulation of the brain.

Oxygen starvation of the brain is severely reflected due to compression of the umbilical cord vessels and the consequences of the head passing through the too narrow pelvis of the woman in labor.

The same reasons often provoke epileptic attacks in adults, but this does not mean that this is the only thing to be wary of.

Dream

Sleep period is another factor that causes epilepsy in humans. Quite a few people, usually in childhood, experience nocturnal or sleepy epilepsy attacks. But in the waking state they do not occur. They occur in the REM sleep phase and are expressed in convulsions, twitching, eye rolling, and involuntary urination.

Quite a few people, often in childhood, are observed. But in the waking state they never occur. They occur in the REM sleep phase and are expressed in convulsions, twitching, eye rolling, and involuntary urination.

Scientists are still trying to figure out what triggers the nocturnal version of the disease. It was also not possible to establish the dependence of regression or progression of the syndrome on external factors.

Even with treatment, some people’s symptoms disappear irrevocably at a certain age, and in 1/3 of patients, after some time, daytime attacks begin.

Regular lack of sleep also has a detrimental effect on brain function. This is what can cause an epileptic attack in students and young people who prefer a nocturnal lifestyle.

After some time, against the background of a disturbed sleep pattern, the body, and primarily the brain, becomes so exhausted that the predisposition that had been dormant until that time wakes up.

As a rule, with this cause of the disease, symptoms go away soon after normalization of sleep patterns.

Alcohol

Alcohol is what statistically most often causes acquired epilepsy in humans.

If a person has had an epileptic seizure at least once in his life or a genetic predisposition to it has been established, then doctors advise excluding any alcohol-containing drinks for life, since even a glass of red wine, if the circumstances are unfortunate, can provoke the onset of an epileptic attack.

Alcohol abuse is also becoming the main cause of acquired epilepsy.

First, the addiction begins to negatively affect brain cells, destroying them. And only later they degenerate and begin to react pathologically to excitement.

This option is more dangerous, because alcoholics refuse to admit their addiction, and therefore refuse to be treated for it. And without complete abstinence from alcohol, recovery cannot occur.

Moreover, over time, seizures will become more frequent and intensified.

According to statistics, alcoholic epilepsy gives a significant percentage of mortality during an attack.

In alcoholic epilepsy, seizures occur not only during the consumption of alcoholic beverages, but also during the hangover period, when the body experiences stress from intoxication.

Menstruation

During puberty, with the appearance of menstruation, some girls with a genetic predisposition experience focal or generalized epileptic seizures.

As a rule, they stalk women from early adolescence until puberty. That is, while their menstrual cycle is not yet established and often gets confused for various reasons.

The causes of epilepsy are a combination of factors that served or could serve as the causes of the development of the first epileptic seizures and the subsequent development of symptoms of the disease. The disease itself is a chronic pathology that arises from the pathological activity of neurons in the human brain. Nerve cells must transmit signals to each other in the brain using electrical impulses, but in the event of epilepsy, the strength of such impulses is exceeded and the processes of their normal transmission are disrupted. This leads to the appearance of a strong electrical discharge in the human cerebral cortex, similar in principle to a short circuit in electrical wires. Sometimes such a discharge affects only a selected area of the brain, then the epileptic attack will not spread to the entire body. When impulses spread throughout the cerebral cortex, a generalized attack occurs with widespread distribution in the body.

Etiology of the disease

Finding out the specific cause of epilepsy is very difficult in everyone individual case diseases. In 60% of cases, there are simply no such reasons, and this gives rise to idiopathic epilepsy of unknown origin. Most often, experts assume that idiopathic epilepsy occurs due to a genetic predisposition.

When the causes that cause epileptic seizures are established, the disease is called symptomatic. However, almost any effect on the human brain can be considered a cause of epilepsy if it causes destruction of nerve cells. Sometimes intrauterine brain injuries can cause this pathology. Also, birth injuries (lack of oxygen during the passage of the birth canal, for example) can provoke the development of attacks in the future.

The most common known reasons, causing epilepsy are head injuries of absolutely any origin, received at any age. Also, tumors in the brain and strokes can often trigger the disease. In old people, epileptic seizures can occur against the background of other pathologies in which there is a progression in damage to brain activity.

Various infectious processes in the human body can also cause epilepsy. The most popular diseases that cause epilepsy include encephalitis, or viral infections. When such diseases develop, it is worth taking timely measures to treat them in the early stages. If severe forms of infections and their complications are prevented, epilepsy after infectious process will not arise. Also a very common and obvious cause of epilepsy is long-term and incurable alcoholism.

Why do children get epilepsy?

The main cause of epileptic seizures in children is perinatal complications. Birth and prenatal injuries associated with the occurrence of hypoxia of the human brain (oxygen starvation) lead to the development of attacks. I'm glad that it's modern obstetric practice allows you to minimize the possibility of such injuries, which reduces the number of cases of perinatal epilepsy. However, statistics show that up to 20% of all identified cases of the disease can be attributed specifically to this category of causes.

In 5-10% of cases of epilepsy in children, all kinds of head injuries are to blame. Sometimes post-traumatic symptoms begin to appear immediately after the injury, sometimes they can develop some time after that. Children can receive head injuries due to negligence, abuse, firearms, or as a result of an accident. Doctors believe that if a child has suffered a brain injury that has left him in a prolonged state of unconsciousness, his risk of developing epilepsy will increase sharply.

Epilepsy rarely occurs after minor injuries, so standard childhood falls and bruises are not a reason to worry too much and constantly protect the child from normal life activities and development. However, sometimes even very active rocking of a baby can harm his physical and mental development, cause the development of epilepsy in the future.

If a child experiences seizures immediately after a traumatic brain injury, you should not worry too much - such conditions rarely recur.

But if the seizures began months after the injury, this is a reason to consult a doctor and examine the baby, because post-traumatic seizures can occur for the first time even 25 years after the accident. This will already be evidence of epilepsy.

Repeated epileptic seizures can occur due to various infectious pathologies, cerebral palsy, brain cancer. Vascular diseases are also a common cause of childhood epilepsy. And in 15% of patients, epileptic symptoms occur as a sign of the development of systemic lupus erythematosus.

It is customary to talk about idiopathic epilepsy if no one can guess the primary pathology that provoked the attack. This group includes generalized seizures, myoclonic seizures of the juvenile period, generalized nocturnal seizures, and some forms of myoclonic-astatic focal epileptic seizures. This phenomenon is evidenced by cases of the disease that could not be detected using modern diagnostic procedures– , computed tomography. Scientists suggest that in in this case We are talking about yet unexplored chemical changes in the human brain.

Is it inherited?

When one of the parents is diagnosed with epilepsy, the probability of the child becoming ill is 6%. If both parents have epilepsy, then the baby’s risk of morbidity is already from 10 to 12%.

Most often, epilepsy is transmitted hereditarily with the generalized nature of the pathology in the parents. It is important to understand that it is not epilepsy as a disease that is inherited, but the brain’s tendency to excitation, inhibition, and paroxysmal reactions to external and internal factors.

Most often, with a hereditary type of transmission of pathology, epilepsy in a child will manifest itself earlier than it developed in his parents. If seizures are detected in a mother at the age of fifteen, it is worth waiting for the occurrence of seizures in her child at the age of 5 years. However, you should not treat this problem as a death sentence, since with proper therapy you can stop the development of attacks and prevent their further occurrence.

The mechanism of occurrence of an epilepsy attack

Night cramps

Some forms of epilepsy are more likely to occur at night during sleep. Although, theoretically, all types of this pathology can occur at night. Some patients experience a series of nocturnal epileptic seizures, and some may have seizures at any time of the day.

Epileptic seizures behave differently at different stages of sleep. Most seizures occur during shallow sleep, immediately after falling asleep, or just before waking up in the morning or at night. Night attacks most often occur when the epileptogenic focus is located in the temporal part of the human brain.

Nocturnal cases of seizures have not yet been fully studied, but it has already been proven that brain activity at night provokes the activation of epileptic seizures. Certain nighttime attacks will always occur during the same periods of the sleep phase.

While you are awake, your brain wave activity is usually constant, but it can change when you fall asleep. When trying to fall asleep, brain activity migrates from the waking state to the sleepy state, first to the stage of light sleep, and then to deep sleep, in which physical activity eyeball. This cycle usually repeats up to 4 times at night.

Cramps can occur at any stage of sleep, but, as a rule, they are more likely to occur during the first two shallow stages.

This means that there are periods with more frequent paroxysmal nocturnal states:

the first hour or two after falling asleep;
when waking up an hour or two earlier than usual;
an hour after waking up;
the entire period of night and nap after eating.

A nocturnal attack begins with the patient awakening from a feeling of discomfort. This may manifest itself as chills, trembling, nausea, and headache. Sometimes spasms of the laryngeal and facial muscles occur, which will lead to impaired speech function. Some patients will take a certain position during this (for example, knee-elbow). Such paroxysmal phenomena usually last from 10 seconds to 7 minutes. Long-term muscle hypertonicity can be replaced by short cramps. After experiencing nocturnal paroxysms, many patients do not remember them. Evidence of a night attack can include traces of dried saliva in the mouth and the smell of urine from the bed.

Sometimes nocturnal paroxysms occur without convulsions. The patient wakes up suddenly excitedly, he is tormented by fear, his pupils dilate, and the person begins to look at one point. In addition to seizures, a patient with nocturnal epilepsy may experience sleepwalking, which he will not remember in the morning. In childhood, such sleepwalking is often accompanied by nightmares and enuresis.

Science cannot name the causes of epileptoid nocturnal paroxysms. As a rule, they are not observed during the daytime. Sometimes experts suggest that this phenomenon is caused by the patient’s inadequate sleep, sudden awakenings from loud noise, frequent lack of sleep, and interrupted sleep at night. All this can provoke an increase in the frequency of attacks.

Experts consider alcoholism, drug addiction, mental and physical overload of the body to be the second cause of nocturnal epilepsy.

Seizures after alcohol

Alcoholic epilepsy is a symptomatic type of this disease that occurs due to frequent and excessive abuse of alcoholic beverages. Typically, this form of the disease is characteristic of stages 2-3 of alcoholism, but sometimes it can occur with occasional consumption of large amounts of alcohol.

Seizures after alcohol can include several different pathological conditions, which are accompanied by convulsive and non-convulsive course. More often this form epilepsy occurs in men aged 30-40 years and is characterized by a direct relationship between drinking and seizures with a high frequency of non-convulsive seizures and absent epileptic indicators when performing electroencephalography.

The main cause of alcoholic epilepsy is cellular damage to the human brain due to the toxic influence of alcohol. The likelihood of seizures increases with frequent, long-term drinking bouts and the use of low-quality alcohol. In the modern International Classification of Diseases (ICD) there is no concept of “alcoholic epilepsy”; it more often refers to intoxication processes accompanied by convulsive attacks or withdrawal accompanied by seizures. However, in medical literature the concept of alcohol withdrawal can combine several pathological conditions at once - an epileptic reaction, epileptic syndrome and alcoholic epilepsy itself.

An epileptic reaction is understood as the occurrence of single or periodic attacks due to occasional one-time alcohol abuse in people who, in principle, do not suffer from alcoholism. This reaction usually occurs the next day after taking large doses of alcohol and lasts until the hangover goes away.

Epileptic syndrome suffers much more often than alcoholic epilepsy itself. This is a specific condition in the case of chronic alcoholics of a repeated nature, accompanied by somatic and mental disorders. Sometimes during such attacks an aura appears in the form or illusions. Alcoholic epilepsy itself is a rare phenomenon. Usually this condition is provoked by very long-term alcoholism (more than 10 years). It is diagnosed in 10% of all patients with epileptiform seizures due to alcoholism. The attacks begin during abstinence and often end in alcoholic psychosis.

With true alcoholic epilepsy, an attack of the disease and alcohol intake are very tightly linked and are as natural as alcohol with subsequent hangover.

An attack occurs not during active use, but after a short period of time. More often, convulsions occur 2-4 days after the cessation of alcohol intake. human body, which corresponds to the peak of abstinence.

Alcoholics have non-convulsive and convulsive seizures. The severity and nature of such seizures can be variable and range between transient disturbances of consciousness and serial tonic-clonic seizures or seizures leading to status epilepticus. In this case, non-convulsive seizures can occur more often, accompanied by disturbances in consciousness, motor automatisms, and episodes of severe dysphoria. In this case, polymorphism will not be observed; the clinical picture with each new seizure will correspond to that which arose for the first time.

At the time of convulsions, the patient lasts longer in the tonic phase. Absence, psychosensory and psychomotor seizures occur very rarely. Before a generalized seizure begins, the patient's upper body turns blue (pale). When an attack develops, a person falls, throws his head back, clenches his jaw very tightly, may groan, and bend his limbs. He may also experience difficulty breathing and involuntary urination.

Sometimes others cannot recognize an epileptic seizure because its symptoms do not seem familiar to people in such a situation. For example, this often occurs when speech suddenly stops, or phrases are spoken that are not related to the topic of the conversation, which the patient subsequently does not remember. Sometimes attacks can occur against the background of precursors (a sharp increase in anxiety, dysphoria, growing irritability), which many may mistake for the onset of alcohol withdrawal.

The behavior of patients in the period after a seizure is also very different. So, with the idiopathic form of epilepsy after an attack, the patient is lethargic, broken, tired. Less often he experiences psychomotor agitation or his consciousness becomes gloomy.

With alcoholic epilepsy in the post-convulsive state, insomnia and emotional dreams occur. At the same time, half of the patients develop delirium from insomnia, which is accompanied by visual hallucinations of devils, aliens, and other things. Over time, alcoholic seizures do not become more severe, unlike idiopathic ones. In this case, personality changes occur due to alcohol degradation that are not associated with epilepsy.

Psychosomatics of the disease

From a medical point of view, during epileptic seizures, the nerve cells of individual brain zones are simultaneously overexcited. In this case, the body stops obeying the person, it is twisted by convulsions. From a psychosomatic point of view, all this indicates a huge internal conflict that is literally tearing the patient apart.

Psychosomatics explains the occurrence of epilepsy by constant violence against one’s own “I”, a feeling of incessant struggle with the outside world, a feeling of persecution, denial of one’s own right to live in one’s own way. The patient constantly confronts the world and this is so strongly expressed in his subconscious that it begins to manifest itself externally.

Such self-perceptions do not arise spontaneously; they take a very long time to form when a person oversteps his own pride when communicating with others, which provokes discomfort, despair, and anger in him.

It is also important to remember that the causes of many diseases can be identified in childhood. With epilepsy, it was possible that they wanted to break the child in the family, to crush him as an individual, they constantly limited him and did not allow him to express his “I”.

To overcome the disease in question, you need to do a lot of work on yourself, aimed at restructuring your worldview and cultivating a respectful attitude towards yourself.

Provoking factors

Spontaneous attacks of epilepsy cannot be predicted. Their repetition and intensity are always impossible to explain. However, in medicine there is such a type of disease known as reflex epilepsy, which can be provoked by certain stimuli, for example, bright light, light music, photo flash, the frequency of picture changes in a video sequence, etc.

Less commonly, a trigger for a seizure may be emotional stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, taking certain medications, alcohol, drugs, or certain sounds. Reflex epilepsy is always treated with the mandatory exclusion of possible provoking factors from life.

Life with such a diagnosis requires composure and self-control, first of all, from the patient himself. Most external irritants can be controlled, limited and eliminated forever so as not to provoke an exacerbation.

Whatever the cause of epilepsy, most people with epilepsy analyze their lives day by day in an attempt to identify the factors that contribute to the occurrence of seizures.

Some people tend to attribute almost any obvious event to a connection with epilepsy and become literally obsessed with avoiding what they believe are important risk factors for the disease. For example, each of two seizures someone had occurred on a railroad train. This man firmly believes that trains somehow give him seizures. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but we cannot be absolutely sure that he is wrong.

But there are a number of factors that may actually contribute to seizures, at least in some people with epilepsy.

Sleep and lack of sleep

The electroencephalography (EEG) method is discussed in detail on the website. In this section, we only note that it registers changes in electrical voltage as a result of the activity of cerebral nerve cells. The EEG of people without epilepsy changes during the transition from wakefulness (through drowsiness) to sleep. Judging by body movements and EEG patterns, sleep does not remain constant throughout the night. At different intervals, one type of brain wave occurs, associated with rapid eye movements ( REM sleep). By waking up a person at this time, you can be sure that it was at this stage of sleep that he had dreams.

Changing electrical activity of the brain during a person's state of drowsiness and sleep can cause a “leakage” of convulsive discharges. Indeed, EEG performers hope that their patients will fall asleep during the procedure, since this greatly increases the chance of detecting abnormalities.

Some people have all or most of their attacks during sleep, but they can never be absolutely sure that an attack will not occur during the daytime. Observation of a group of people suffering from “nocturnal” epilepsy showed that over the next 5 years, 1/3 of them had seizures during the day. The effects of sleep abstinence were also studied. The volunteers included in the study were constantly awake or were awakened every time the EEG showed a pattern consistent with REM sleep. On subsequent nights when the people were not awakened, the EEG showed in each case that they seemed to be trying to catch up on the REM sleep they had lost. Thus, as it turns out, sleep deprivation leads to changes in electrical activity brain, so it is not surprising that this is another factor contributing to the occurrence of seizures, i.e. From a purely practical point of view, if young adults habitually go to bed late, they may experience epileptic seizures.

Alcohol

One of the most common reasons why people stay up later than usual is drinking parties. The social use of alcohol depends largely on its ability to remove inhibitory factors in people's personality and conversation, thereby making us perhaps more interesting and attractive. A similar elimination of inhibition of the epileptic focus can provoke the appearance of a seizure. However, in many cases, seizures occur during a “hangover,” when blood alcohol levels drop or are close to zero. It is likely that other changes in the body's chemistry, such as the distribution of water inside and outside cells, also play a role in the occurrence of seizures. Overhydration in experimental animals with epilepsy may precipitate the onset of seizures, so there is some evidence to suggest that drinking large amounts of beer containing both alcohol and significant amounts of water may be more likely to precipitate a seizure than moderate consumption of wine or spirits.

Menstruation

A few days before the start of menstruation, some women increase their weight by 1 - 2 kg. Such an increase. occurs mainly due to fluid, and a feeling of “bloating”, swelling and soreness of the mammary glands appears. Some women with epilepsy, especially those who have partial seizures, may notice an increase in their frequency around this time. Whether this is due to water retention in the body or some more complex hormonal factor is unknown. To avoid frequent seizures that occur in connection with menstruation, diuretics are used, but the effect of this measure is very small.

Weight gain associated with oral contraceptive use does not appear to influence the occurrence of seizures. The oral concentration for women with epilepsy is quite acceptable, but they should be aware of the interactions between the pills they take and anti-epileptic drugs, which are explained on the website.

Stress and anxiety provoke an epileptic attack

Quantifying stress and anxiety is impossible. Problems that seem trivial to some people may seem huge to others. An increase in the number of seizures is often associated with a period of hard work at school or institution, as well as emotional distress in the family. May form vicious circle, in which successive stress and a state of anxiety will contribute to the appearance of seizures, and these in turn will give rise to an even greater feeling of anxiety and, alas, new seizures. In some cases, due to the increased frequency of attacks, great difficulties may arise in finding employment, and the associated state of concern leads to a further deterioration of both the disease picture and the prospects for getting a job.

Mood

Mothers of young children with epilepsy can sometimes tell by their child's mood and behavior that an attack is approaching. In adults, on days when seizures occur, a specific feeling of emotional heaviness or a depressive state may appear in the morning. Sometimes, instead of depression, there is euphoria. It seems impossible to ascertain whether the seizures are the consequence of such emotional changes, whether such moods and seizures are caused by some common factor, or whether the change in mood is in some way due to a limited convulsive discharge, which ultimately develops into an obvious seizure.

Other diseases - provoke an epileptic attack

Any epileptic may have a seizure due to one or another serious illness, for example pneumonia. In children with epilepsy, fever may precipitate a seizure, but it is important to distinguish between such seizures and febrile seizures.

Medicines

Some chemical compounds have this strong effect, which can cause seizures in most people. The site provides an example regarding the use of gases in war. Such gases are used in some medical settings as an alternative to electric shock to induce seizures in people with severe depression. In this case, the seizure has the required effect, while in all other circumstances the attacks complicating drug therapy, are highly undesirable.

Tricyclic antidepressants, including amitriptyline (eg, Tryptizol, Saroten, Domical) and nortriptyline (eg, Allegron, Aventyl), are among the drugs that appear to lower the seizure threshold and precipitate the onset of seizures. Phenothiazines, isoniazid and high doses of penicillin have the same effect. Excessive doses of insulin lead to seizures due to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Any of these drugs can contribute to the onset of the first attack or aggravate an existing disease.

Other drugs can trigger seizures in epileptics taking antiepileptic drugs by affecting the metabolism of the latter.

Finally, it should be kept in mind that the onset of attacks may be precipitated by the withdrawal state of certain drugs, in particular barbiturates.

Other contributing factors and reflex epilepsy - provoke the appearance of an epileptic attack

More specific than any of the factors discussed above are the irritants that lead to the development of so-called reflex epilepsy. Some young people experience seizures when they see flashing lights, such as in a discotheque, and in this case it is possible to study seizures using EEG. When a light flashes in front of the eyes, most people can see a clear wave on the EEG taken from the back of the head (occipital zone). With repeated flashes, such waves follow with a frequency equal to the frequency of the flashes. When the critical frequency is reached, young people with photogenic epilepsy experience a completely different reaction in the form of multiple peaks and waves on the EEG - a photoconvulsive reaction - and a seizure may follow. In this case, we are dealing with a laboratory situation, but in children suffering from photogenic epilepsy, the appearance of a seizure may be triggered by flickering light reflected from water or the disappearance of steady light visible through trees while driving a car.

The most common type of photosensitivity condition today is television epilepsy. Experiments have shown that it is based on the movement of spots that form the picture from side to side and down along the surface of the television tube, and not at all on interference in the vertical or horizontal image. Sensitive children are at greatest risk when the screen takes up a significant portion of the visual field (which happens when the screen is large) and the child sits next to it or moves closer to change the program. You are less likely to have a seizure if you sit far away from the screen. Sometimes it helps to reduce the contrast between the illumination of surrounding objects on the screens, for which you should place a lamp next to the TV. It has also been shown that a photoconvulsive reaction is not possible if a flickering light is viewed with only one eye. Therefore, it is advisable for sensitive children to cover one eye with something when they approach the TV. These children benefit from using a remote program switch with infrared control. Seizures can be triggered by either color or black-and-white television images. Such seizures are always generalized, although sometimes they can be very short-lived and consist of only a few myoclonic movements of the arms and trunk muscles. Video games can also speed up the onset of seizures. However, although such seizures are sometimes associated with the image of text on a computer screen, the danger in this case is much less: reports of such seizures are very rare.

One more type of visual reflex epilepsy should be mentioned. Seizures in such epilepsy occur if a person examines any patterns, for example, squares on a linoleum floor. This type of pathology can be regarded as typical of highly specific reflex epilepsy, observed in those few people in whom seizures can be caused, for example, by reading, listening to music (sometimes only one specific phrase) or arithmetic in the head. When such external stimuli are perceived, a special type of nerve cell activity should occur, presumably related to some extent to the recognition of melodies and words. One can only theoretically imagine that this special type of activity in susceptible people serves as a specific model that (like a key in a lock) gives release to the impulse leading to an attack.

Nonspecific stimuli such as a loud noise or startle, regardless of their source, can cause myoclonic jerking movements and sometimes generalized tonic-clonic seizures. This type of epilepsy is regarded as an inherited trait in some strains of mice and serves as a model for studying the physiology of such seizures and testing the potential effectiveness of new antiepileptic drugs.

Although in some cases doctors still cannot find what causes epilepsy, most of the causes that provoke this disease are already known to us. In addition, epileptic seizures are much better studied than the disease itself, so in some cases it is possible to prevent an impending seizure. Therefore, it is so important to know what triggers an epileptic attack.

Causes of occurrence in children

According to research, the first manifestations of epilepsy occur in childhood and adolescence. In Russia, many parents are afraid to discover this disease in their child because of possible censure from society. However, every parent whose child is at risk needs to know what causes epilepsy:

The most common cause of epilepsy in childhood is numerous complications during pregnancy. The most dangerous among them are hypoxia and hypoglycemia. This should also include birth injuries and subsequent oxygen deprivation of the brain - this is one of the most common causes of childhood seizures.
Symptomatic epilepsy occurs when children have various tumors, brain cysts, and also due to hemorrhage. In some cases, epilepsy can be caused by head trauma and severe bruises.
Past infectious diseases can also provoke the occurrence of epilepsy. So, epilepsy is a common complication encephalitis or meningitis suffered in childhood. Constant colds accompanied by high fever can also cause epilepsy.
Heredity is one of the most common causes of this disease. Scientists have proven that the disease can be transmitted even through several generations. Therefore, if a child’s family has ever had epilepsy or one of the parents suffers from this disease, then there is a high probability that this disease will also affect the child, read more here.
Epileptic seizures can occur for no apparent reason. This pathology is called cryptogenic. Most likely, the causes of such epilepsy have not yet been identified by science.

According to statistics, the exact cause of epilepsy can only be determined in half of those affected. The remaining patients are classified as cryptogenic or mixed forms of the disease.

Causes of occurrence in adults

In most cases, the causes of epilepsy in adults are similar to those in children. However, there are several reasons that can only occur in an adult:

Alcoholic epilepsy. It is the result of advanced alcoholism. Long-term alcohol consumption causes irreversible changes in the brain, which can cause epilepsy. In this case, seizures are particularly unpredictable and do not stop if the patient decides to stop drinking.
A side effect of taking medications can also cause epileptic seizures. This is often associated with taking medications that affect the human brain. These include antidepressants and antipsychotics. As a rule, epilepsy does not occur from a single dose of medication. The reason can only be long-term use of a particular drug.
Multiple sclerosis. The peak of this disease occurs in plaque, so it can be classified as an “adult” cause of epilepsy.

However, it is not at all necessary that people with the ailments listed above will develop this disease. What can trigger epilepsy in such people? In this case, even simple stress, overwork or climate change can cause the development of this serious disease.

Provoking factors

Epilepsy is a disease that manifests itself in the form of seizures. Therefore, it is equally important to know what triggers an epileptic attack. As a rule, a seizure occurs due to foci of pathological activity, which at a certain moment are excited, spreading throughout the brain. Because of this, a seizure occurs. However, this usually does not happen without any reason. External factors are what actually provoke an epilepsy attack.

Severe stress and overwork are the most common causes of an attack. The brain needs rest, so severe excitement, anxiety and lack of sleep can be the culprits of a seizure.
Reduce the dose level or stop taking anticonvulsants completely. Patients who have not had a seizure for a long time may voluntarily stop taking their medications, which can trigger an epilepsy attack that is more severe than they were before. Only your doctor can decide to stop taking the medicine or change its dosage.

Self-provocation of attacks

Many patients know how to induce an epileptic attack. Therefore, to make them feel better, some epileptics spontaneously provoke an attack.

Other reasons. Some people believe that things that can trigger an epileptic attack include overeating, reading, loud noises, or exposure to sunlight. However, there are no scientific studies proving the dependence of the occurrence of seizures on these causes.

All kinds of flickering, blinking, flashing and other light stimuli can also cause an attack of epilepsy. Watching TV, working at the computer - this is what provokes an epileptic attack. In this case, patients are recommended to interact with equipment in dim lighting or use special darkened glasses.

It is not difficult for an ordinary person to remember what provokes an epileptic attack in a patient. However, in some cases, this knowledge can help prevent its occurrence. For parents, knowing the reasons why the disease may appear can help to suspect the disease at the initial stage, when it is best treated.

Factors contributing to seizures

Whatever the cause of epilepsy, most people with epilepsy analyze their lives day by day in an attempt to identify the factors that contribute to the occurrence of seizures.

But there are a number of factors that may actually contribute to seizures, at least in some people with epilepsy.

Sleep and lack of sleep

The electroencephalography (EEG) method is discussed in detail on the website. In this section, we only note that it registers changes in electrical voltage as a result of the activity of cerebral nerve cells. The EEG of people without epilepsy changes during the transition from wakefulness (through drowsiness) to sleep. Judging by body movements and EEG patterns, sleep does not remain constant throughout the night. One type of brain wave associated with rapid eye movements (REM sleep) occurs at different intervals. By waking up a person at this time, you can be sure that it was at this stage of sleep that he had dreams.

Some people have all or most of their attacks during sleep, but they can never be absolutely sure that an attack will not occur during the daytime. Observation of a group of people suffering from “nocturnal” epilepsy showed that over the next 5 years, 1/3 of them had seizures during the day. The effects of sleep abstinence were also studied. The volunteers included in the study were constantly awake or were awakened every time the EEG showed a pattern consistent with REM sleep. On subsequent nights when the people were not awakened, the EEG showed in each case that they seemed to be trying to catch up on the REM sleep they had lost. Thus, it turns out that sleep deprivation leads to changes in the electrical activity of the brain, so it is not surprising that this is another factor that contributes to the occurrence of seizures, i.e. From a purely practical point of view, if young adults habitually go to bed late, they may experience epileptic seizures.

Alcohol

Menstruation

Stress and anxiety - provoke an epileptic attack

Quantifying stress and anxiety is impossible. Problems that seem trivial to some people may seem huge to others. An increase in the number of seizures is often associated with a period of hard work at school or institution, as well as emotional distress in the family. A vicious circle can form in which successive stress and anxiety will contribute to the appearance of seizures, which in turn will generate even greater feelings of anxiety and, alas, new seizures. In some cases, due to the increased frequency of attacks, great difficulties may arise in finding employment, and the associated state of concern leads to a further deterioration of both the disease picture and the prospects for getting a job.

Mood

Other diseases - provoke the appearance of an epileptic attack

Any epileptic may have a seizure in connection with one or another serious illness, such as pneumonia. In children with epilepsy, fever may precipitate a seizure, but it is important to distinguish between such seizures and febrile seizures.

Medicines

Some chemicals are so strong that they can cause seizures in most people. The site provides an example regarding the use of gases in war. Such gases are used in some medical settings as an alternative to electric shock to induce seizures in people with severe depression. In this case the seizure has the desired effect, whereas in all other circumstances seizures complicating drug therapy are highly undesirable.

Other drugs can trigger seizures in epileptics taking antiepileptic drugs by affecting the metabolism of the latter.

Finally, it should be kept in mind that the onset of attacks may be precipitated by the withdrawal state of certain drugs, in particular barbiturates.

Other contributing factors and reflex epilepsy - provoke the appearance of an epileptic attack

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a chronic disease of the nervous system. Distinctive feature The diseases are so-called epileptic seizures - sudden body convulsions. The prevalence of epilepsy today reaches 1% among the population, both children and adults; Many historical figures suffered from epilepsy.

Modern methods of treating epilepsy make it possible to achieve stable remission during the course of the disease - the absence of seizures for more than 5 years, including without the use of medications. Approximately 15% of all cases are severe forms of epilepsy and are difficult to treat.

Causes of epilepsy

The main morphological cause of epilepsy is damage to some neurons in the brain. As a result of injury, stroke, disorder cerebral circulation, temporary hypoxia, exposure to toxic substances, nerve cells are destroyed and, as is widely known, are not restored in full, which leads to improper conduction in one or another part of the brain.

The impulses arising in the damaged area “go astray” and transmit additional excitation to various areas - which causes an epileptic attack.

It is worth noting that neuronal damage is only one of the causes of epilepsy. Another factor may be a violation of the anticonvulsant system of the brain - then they speak of increased convulsive readiness.

Normally, impulses passing through nerve fibers and their residual energy do not provoke seizures, but with increased sensitivity of brain tissue, even a small signal is enough for an epileptic attack.

A common cause of epilepsy is pregnancy pathologies. Wrong lifestyle expectant mother, the impact of terratogenic factors on the fetus - some poisons, drugs, radiation - provoke developmental disorders of the fetal nervous system. Birth injuries also play a role - too long a birth, premature rupture of the placenta, entanglement in the umbilical cord cause hypoxia of the child’s brain, and therefore damage to some neurons.

Among the causes of epilepsy, heredity is also called - although according to modern ideas it does not play a big role in comparison with other factors.

What triggers an epileptic seizure?

In the vast majority of cases, epilepsy attacks occur suddenly, without visible reasons– and this is their main danger. The patient may involuntarily harm himself and find himself in a dangerous position. The exception is special types of epilepsy, for example, photoepilepsy, the attacks of which are a reaction to flickering light. It has been noted that seizures more often occur in a relaxed state, so lack of sleep can be considered a risk factor.

What happens with epilepsy

As we have already noted, the main symptom of epilepsy is an epileptic seizure. The frequency of seizures can vary among different patients, as well as during different periods of the life of one patient - from once a year to several times a month. The duration is also variable - from seconds to several minutes.

In some cases, an attack is preceded by an aura - a complex of preceding symptoms:

Numbness of the limbs
Irritability, depressive or, conversely, hyperactive reactions from the psyche
Impaired consciousness

Attacks with an aura are considered less dangerous because they are not sudden and a person can prepare for them. However, the final severity of the attack does not depend on the presence of previous symptoms of epilepsy.

In total, more than 40 different forms of seizures are known, among which are non-convulsive (absence seizures, common in children, manifested by sudden freezing), myoclonic, atonic seizures and others.

Epilepsy is a group of diseases in which the fact of an attack is common, but the specific symptoms may differ. There are two types of them:

Generalized epileptic seizures

The most common type of epilepsy attack that occurs when there is extensive damage to the brain. Accompanied by sudden loss of consciousness, skeletal muscle spasms - classic symptoms of epilepsy.

Partial epileptic seizures (focal)

They occur when a small area of the brain is affected. Such attacks of epilepsy can occur in consciousness and even unnoticed by others - for example, the patient may feel numbness of the whole body or only the face, arms, legs; Confusion of thoughts and hallucinations occur. Each patient has its own characteristics of an epileptic attack.

Diagnosis of epilepsy

In most cases, diagnosing epilepsy is not difficult, since the attack is clearly observed. In others, an electroencephalogram is required, which is especially important for non-convulsive seizures and childhood epilepsy.

In the process of diagnosing epilepsy, they not only confirm the disease, but also try to establish the extent of damage and their nature, for which computed tomography is used.

Treatment of epilepsy

Despite the fact that in many cases it is possible to stop attacks with long years, there is no absolute treatment for epilepsy today - since the damaged areas of the brain are not fully restored. The main directions of therapy are reducing seizure sensitivity, for which the following are used:

Medications – anticonvulsants, neurotropic and sedatives
An individually tailored diet with plenty of calcium and fat – so-called ketone therapy
Physiotherapy

Today doctors try to prescribe medications only in severe cases epilepsy; The diet gives excellent results. Massage and osteopathy must be treated very carefully - there are a number of contraindications for epilepsy.

Even with long-term remission, patients with epilepsy will have restrictions in their lifestyle and choice of profession. For example, epileptic seizures while swimming, driving, working with sharp objects or toxic substances are a serious threat to life. In addition, you should avoid situations that potentially provoke an attack - stress, flashing lights, sharp sounds, hypothermia, and so on. It is worth noting that mental activity does not worsen the course of epilepsy - on the contrary, there is evidence of its positive effect on the frequency and duration of attacks.

the child has epilepsy since 7 months, 9 years 1.5 ago, surgery done in Astana frontal lobes epileptic eye on the left right a little left after the operation ischemia was in the hospital for a long time now convulsions after 10 days of change a little more paresis in the right leg and in the arm can’t walk further looking for what wakes you up or how it should wake you up time I don’t know what to do tell me what you know about epilepsy diagnosis medial temporal lobe epilepsy with hypocampal sclerosis

We find out the cause of epilepsy and stop its attack

Epilepsy - chronic illness, which is characterized by neurological disorders. Patients suffer from seizures. For some they occur more often, for others less often.

What triggers an epileptic attack? It is not always possible to understand what caused them to occur, but in some cases it is possible.

This information is important for specialists who select medications for their patients.

What causes and why do seizures occur?

What can cause an epilepsy attack? In 70% of cases, it is not possible to identify what exactly triggered the development of the disease.

The causes of an epilepsy attack include the following factors:

traumatic brain injury;
degenerative changes after acute disorder blood circulation;
vertebrobasilar insufficiency, causing difficulty blood supply to the brain;
stroke;
malignant brain tumor, pathological changes in the structure of this organ;
meningitis;
viral diseases;
brain abscess;
hereditary predisposition;
alcohol abuse, drug use.

What can trigger an epileptic stroke?

What most often provokes epileptic attacks?

Typically an epilepsy attack is caused by:

flickering light (for example, when watching TV, working at a computer);
lack of sleep;
stress;
intense anger or fear;
taking certain medications;
drinking alcohol;
deep, too rapid breathing;
electrotherapy, acupuncture, electrophoresis, active massage.

In women during menstruation, the frequency of attacks may increase.

First aid and treatment of disease in adults

During an attack, people near the epileptic should:

Place a pillow under his head and something soft under his body.
Unbutton all the buttons on your clothes, remove your tie, belt, and belt.
Turn his head to the side, and during convulsions try to hold his legs and arms to avoid injury.
Place a towel folded in several layers between your teeth; use of hard objects is prohibited.

The therapy is selected by an epileptologist after a thorough examination of the patient. If he is unable to control his behavior, treatment is carried out forcibly. Most often, patients take special medications to cope with seizures.

Surgery is required to remove the part of the brain in which the epileptogenic focus is located.

It is necessary when seizures occur frequently and do not respond to drug therapy.

If pills and surgery do not help, electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve is performed.

In many cases, attacks can be stopped completely. It is important not to delay treatment; when the first signs of illness appear, consult a doctor.

Epilepsy is an incurable disease, but there is no need to despair. If the doctor correctly determines the type of seizure, he will be able to make the correct diagnosis and advise the epileptic on the appropriate medication.

Drugs are selected for each patient individually. This allows you to completely relieve them from the manifestations of the disease in most cases.

If the seizures have stopped and do not bother the patient for a long time, the doctor may consider stopping the seizures. drug treatment. You are not allowed to cancel it yourself.

Identifying the causes of epilepsy attacks allows specialists to understand what exactly can trigger the development of the disease.

Such information helps them select truly effective treatment for each of their clients.

Causes, symptoms and treatment of epilepsy, first aid for an attack:

What causes epilepsy or what causes an epileptic seizure

What causes epilepsy, or what causes an epileptic seizure

In this article we will talk about the provoking factors for the occurrence of seizures in epilepsy.

The attacks have a sudden onset and often end spontaneously.

Typically, attacks occur without provocation (spontaneously) and are therefore completely unpredictable.

But there are forms of epilepsy in which attacks can be triggered by certain situations.

What causes an epileptic seizure

Provoking factors for epilepsy include:

strong emotions of fear or anger,

taking certain medications

hyperventilation (deep and rapid breathing),

some physical therapy - electrotherapy.

We use knowledge about the likely effect of these factors to provoke an attack when conducting an electroencephalogram. The information content of the EEG increases when carrying out stress tests with photostimulation (light flashing at different frequencies), with sound stimuli, with hyperventilation tests (we ask the subject to breathe frequently and deeply for 5 minutes, inflate a balloon). Particularly indicative is sleep deprivation before the study. This helps to identify hidden disorders - when conducting these functional tests, epileptic activity is detected on the EEG. Accurate diagnosis allows you to prescribe effective antiepileptic therapy.

Women may experience an increase in the frequency of attacks during menstruation (in intervals from 2-4 days before the start or after 2-4 days of its end). This is due to monthly hormonal changes in the body of women.

Active stimulation of the cerebral cortex during certain types of treatment can provoke the onset of epilepsy or cause a breakdown in remission of epileptic seizures. These types of treatment include physiotherapy (electrical procedures: electrophoresis, amplipulse), acupuncture, active massage, intensive drug therapy (for example, with the simultaneous administration of drugs such as Cortexin, Cerebralysin, Phenotropil, Gliatilin). Psychostimulants activate the brain and epileptic activity, and this is dangerous in case of epilepsy, it causes an epileptic attack.

If factors are identified that provoke attacks, then you should beware of them. This will lead to a reduction in seizures, and there will be no need to significantly increase the dose of antiepileptic drugs.

So, we have established what causes epilepsy, or what causes an epileptic attack - these are provoking factors that should be avoided: flickering light, sleep restriction, stressful situations, strong emotions, taking certain medications and alcohol, hyperventilation, electrotherapy.

Causes of epilepsy

The causes of epilepsy in children and adults are different. But epilepsy that occurs in childhood often continues into adulthood. At least some forms of epilepsy stop during adolescence. It is believed that epilepsy can occur in any person with strong impact on the brain (fall, blow to the head, traffic accident). The causes of epilepsy have not been fully elucidated, although epileptic attacks were known by ancient healers, and scientists have been studying this problem for a long time. We will focus on the most obvious development factors and causes of epilepsy.

What are the main causes of epilepsy?

1. Heredity (most often a combination of genetic and acquired factors). If one parent has epilepsy, the chance of the child developing it will be approximately 6%; if both the father and mother have epilepsy, the risk increases to 12%. Moreover, epilepsy manifests itself at an earlier age than it appeared in the parents.

2. One of the causes of epilepsy is brain abnormalities (intrauterine development defects), the occurrence of which largely depends on the course of pregnancy.

3. Intrauterine infection can cause epilepsy if the mother suffered an infectious disease during pregnancy or had unsanitized foci of chronic infection.

4. Brain damage during childbirth (traumatic brain injury) is one of the early causes of epilepsy.

5. Brain tumors often provoke seizures and cause epilepsy.

6. Strokes in older people can cause epilepsy in the post-rehabilitation period in 10% of cases. Early cases of epilepsy may occur within the first week after a stroke.

7. Head injury as a result of a bruise or a traffic accident. Severe head trauma with loss of consciousness can provoke epilepsy even after several years.

8. Somatic diseases of various origins - cerebral palsy, vascular diseases

9. Infectious diseases. The most common infections that cause epilepsy are measles, whooping cough, meningitis, encephalitis, scarlet fever, and pneumonia.

10. Metabolic disorders (increased amount of sugar, consumption of high-calorie foods). With such disorders, epilepsy responds to treatment with diet and certain supplements. But it is impossible to cure this epilepsy with diet alone.

11. Taking certain medications (especially antidepressants, bronchodilators) provokes epilepsy. Sudden cessation of the use of barbiturates, Valium, and Dalman can also cause the development of epilepsy.

12. Epilepsy can be caused by insecticide poisoning or drug use (especially seizures are possible during withdrawal).

13. Alcoholic epilepsy is a complication of epilepsy. Unfortunately, the percentage of patients with alcoholic epilepsy is growing. If alcoholic epilepsy becomes chronic, then seizures may recur regardless of whether the patient has taken alcohol or not.

14. Multiple sclerosis. Epileptic activity begins to appear against the background of the appearance of plaques. And if from the very beginning, during the growth and formation of plaques, the attacks are periodic, then after their growth stops, the attacks become constant.

Factors that provoke an epileptic attack

1. Active rocking of children before bedtime.

2. It happens that an attack is provoked by the interaction of antiepileptic drugs with other drugs or by an independent sharp reduction in the dose of drugs when the condition improves.

3. Alcohol. Attacks usually appear the next day after intoxication, since alcohol intoxication reduces the compensatory capabilities of the brain.

4. Sleep disturbances, insufficient or excessive sleep. It is necessary to go to bed and wake up at the same time. Patients with epilepsy should not be woken up suddenly.

5. Stress and acute emotional experiences, as a rule, provoke an attack of convulsions.

6. Sound stimulus. It is rare, but it happens that an attack of convulsions can occur in response to the sound of a motor, a drill, or an unusual sound, for example, the croaking of frogs or a sudden, unexpected sound stimulus.

7. Light stimulus. The attack is provoked by a combination of light and shadow (flashing leaves before the eyes, walking along an alley when the sun's rays illuminate it from the side, flashing lights at a disco, color music, the glare of the sun in the water). A faulty TV can cause seizures. It is advisable to turn on a floor lamp or dim local light when watching TV, then the strain on the eyes is reduced.

8. Working at a computer or reading for a long time provokes a headache, the appearance of spots before the eyes, and, therefore, can cause an epileptic attack.

First aid for an epileptic attack

Emergency care for an epileptic attack is as follows:

1. If a person feels the warning signs of epilepsy, it is necessary to place him on his back on the floor or sofa bed and unbutton his collar (free him from tight and constricting clothing)

2. Don't panic.

3. Isolate the patient from damaging and life-threatening objects (sharp edges of furniture, scissors, pins, water, glasses, glass)

4. As quickly as possible, approach the patient and turn his entire shoulder girdle to one side so that there is no aspiration of saliva, vomit and blood (sometimes flowing out profusely when biting the tongue), to prevent tongue retraction. You cannot turn only your head to the side and press it to the floor. You can press your head to the floor only by pressing down on the shoulder girdle (even leaning on it; it is advisable to place a pillow or blanket (clothing) rolled up under your head.

5. In order to unclench the jaws (prevent tongue bite), spoons, spatulas or other metal objects should not be used as a mouth dilator. Remember that one wrong action can harm the patient. A broken tooth is a foreign body in the larynx; moreover, blood may bleed from the hole of the torn tooth. Wooden chopsticks and plastic spoons and forks break and can become murder weapons. IN as a last resort, you can fold a cloth handkerchief several times and push it into the corner of your mouth between your teeth. In this way, tongue biting can be prevented.

6. During an attack, behave quietly, observe the course of the attack, record the duration of the attack by the second hand.

7. During an attack, do not try to give the patient medicine or water.

8. If the attack is prolonged, you can administer the medicine prescribed by your doctor rectally. Typically, the anticonvulsant effect appears within 4-5 minutes.

Helping a patient after an epileptic attack

After an attack, it is necessary for the patient to fall asleep. Help him move onto the bed, make him comfortable. Monitor the patient while sleeping. Only if sleep lasts more than 2-3 hours can we assume that the attack has stopped and the patient is safe. If you witness the first case of seizures, you need to call an ambulance.

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Is it possible to prevent an epilepsy attack?

Epilepsy is a disease characterized by seizures that are caused by increased activity in a certain area of the brain. The manifestation of the disease is observed as short-term attacks lasting 5 minutes.

The disease occurs not only in humans, but also in cats and dogs.

Manifestation of the disease

Seizures manifest themselves in the form of exacerbation, characterized by loss of consciousness or convulsions.
Some people experience minor outbursts. They experience a blackout, they do not delve into what is happening, they do not faint. A person does not remain in this state for long; as a rule, there are no consequences.
Minor seizures can last a long time: the patient does not fall into fainting, for several minutes he may unconsciously walk around the room, perform meaningless actions, unconsciously tug and wrinkle his clothes. Upon regaining consciousness, severe dizziness is observed.

The examinations carried out showed that the occurrence of an exacerbation occurs from a surge of nerve cells located in the brain, which, with increased excitability, cause epileptic seizures.

This can happen for many reasons:

Lack of sleep – a sick person needs more sleep. If there are problems associated with insomnia, then evening walks and taking sedatives: valerian, valocordin, peony tincture are recommended.
Dietary restrictions - it is necessary to reduce fluid intake, because... it provokes a surge in the disease; refusal of salty foods, which subsequently causes the consumption of large amounts of drink. In such cases, fluid is retained in the body and causes swelling, including swelling of the brain tissue. This makes me rise intracranial pressure and another attack occurs.
Overheating in the sun can cause another surge, so it is better not to risk it and not sunbathe.
Visiting discos with bright lights and music, loud sounds will also provoke a surge in the attack. Light reflections, car headlights, and flickering lights are also contraindicated.
Drinking alcohol is strictly prohibited for sick people. For this reason, doctors advise taking herbal infusions, and dilute alcohol tinctures with water.

An attack can occur from overexcitation, nervousness, overwork, or stress.

Anyone can become an accidental witness to an attack. This can happen on the street, in a store, or at home. Everyone should know what kind of help to provide to a patient.

If a person is unconscious, place a soft object under the head and remove dangerous objects to prevent injury.
Do not forcefully hold the cramp and monitor your breathing.
To prevent the patient from having a bite or recessed tongue, place a handkerchief in the mouth.
Turn him on his side to prevent him from choking on saliva or vomit.
During an attack, the patient may stop breathing or involuntarily urinate. In this case, you need to treat this problem with understanding.

You need to know in what cases it is necessary to call emergency doctors:

The unconscious state lasts more than 5 minutes.
The seizures do not end, but follow each other.
The patient has injuries.
The occurrence of seizures in pregnant women.
After the end of the attack, the patient does not come to his senses. The seizure is observed for the first time.

How to prevent

Bursts of attacks can occur from lack of sleep or being in a stressful situation.

For these reasons, patients should follow a regimen, get more rest and engage in simple exercises to relieve tension.
Always take prescribed medications, do not skip doses or change the dose at will.
Categorically refuse to drink alcohol, because it may disrupt sleep and change the effects of medications.

The majority of patients have signs that precede the onset of an attack. This is indicated by the area of the brain where the seizure focus has formed.

Increased body temperature.
Audibility of various sounds.
Dizziness.
Sensation of foreign smell or taste.
Changes in visual perception.

You can change the attack that occurs by doing the opposite. For example, if an unfamiliar taste appears in your mouth, you can smell ammonia. This will sharply interrupt the sense of taste and bring the patient to his senses. If involuntary movements of the patient’s limbs occur, take the opposite action.

Change the emerging attack by creating a sensation of pain or another action that is stronger than the original sensation. This can be pinching, patting, fast walking, etc. If a patient has a seizure in a state of sadness or blues, it is necessary to use all possible efforts to bring him out of this.

It is necessary to treat patients suffering from this disease with deep understanding and help them in every possible way. It is necessary to find out from him how to behave when an attack occurs, how to help, and, if possible, carry out his instructions and requests.

What is epilepsy? Her reasons.
How to prevent an epileptic seizure.
Sedatives during an attack.
Epilepsy treatment strategy.
Treatment of epilepsy in children.
REVIEWS

From a conversation with Doctor of Medical Sciences V. A. Karlov.

What is epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a brain disease accompanied by epileptic seizures, which many consider incurable. However, this statement is refuted in this article by DMN Vladimir Alekseevich Karlov.

How to avoid epileptic seizures - how to prevent an epileptic seizure.

Epilepsy attacks are often provoked by its “companions”. If brain cells are highly excited, then excessive bioelectrical activity begins in them, which causes epileptic seizures. Convulsive seizures are considered the most severe - depending on which area of the brain the bioelectric discharge occurs, muscle tension is replaced by convulsions, the patient’s face turns pale and acquires a bluish tint.

Excitation of brain cells, and, consequently, an attack of epilepsy, can be caused by the following reasons:

To avoid an epileptic attack, you need to follow a few simple rules.

For someone with epilepsy, getting a good night's sleep is essential medicine. Lack of sleep can trigger epilepsy attacks. Therefore, if a patient has problems sleeping, he needs walks in the fresh air before bedtime. If they do not help, then take sedatives at night: valerian, valocordin, peony tincture.
Discotheques with loud music, flickering lights and crowds are contraindicated for patients.

In some forms of epilepsy, light glare is also contraindicated: glare on waves, flashes, headlights, flashing lights outside a car or train window. Special glasses can protect against these causes of epileptic seizures to some extent.

Overheating in the sun is also undesirable; to prevent an attack of epilepsy, it is better to refuse the temptation to sunbathe.

Sitting in front of a monitor or TV for many hours should also be avoided.

There are restrictions on physical education. Contraindicated: boxing, mountaineering, swimming. Shown: walking, gymnastics, weightlifting.

Dietary restrictions: To avoid an epileptic seizure, you should reduce your fluid intake. Consumption of spicy and salty foods increases the need for fluid, fluid retention occurs in the body, and swelling of the brain tissue also develops, causing intracranial pressure to increase and another seizure to occur.

Alcohol is the most big enemy patient with epilepsy. Therefore, doctors recommend using herbal decoctions for treatment, and alcohol tinctures must be diluted with water.

Herbs for epilepsy - sedatives during an attack.

The sedative drug Novo-passit, made from plant materials: extracts of lemon balm, hawthorn, valerian, elderberry, passionflower, hops + auxiliary substance guaifenesin, which relieves feelings of tension and fear, works very well. This drug is taken 3 times a day, 1 tablet.
Extract from passionflower shoots can be taken separately, drops 3 times a day. Course – days. This extract has a calming effect on the central nervous system in epilepsy. nervous system.
Collections of medicinal herbs provide a mild and multifaceted effect on the patient’s body. They are usually made up of 6-8 plants, which include: calamus, yarrow, tansy, viburnum, St. John's wort, elecampane, licorice, mint, cyanosis, plantain, lemon balm. All these herbs are crushed and mixed. To prepare the infusion, 1-2 tbsp. l. collection, pour 1 glass of water, keep in a water bath for 15 minutes, take 1/3 glass 3 times a day. Course – 4-6 months.
An infusion of valerian roots has a sedative effect. 1 tbsp. l. crushed roots, pour 1 glass of cold boiled water, leave for 6-8 hours. Drink 1 tbsp. l. 3 times a day (children 1 tsp). The course of treatment with valerian is 1.5-2 months. In addition, take baths with a decoction of valerian roots before bed.
Motherwort helps prevent epilepsy attacks: 2 tsp. herbs are poured into 500 ml of boiling water and left for 2 hours. Drink 1-2 tbsp. l. before meals 4 times a day.
An infusion of the roots of peony evasive (Maryin root) will help relieve excessive nervous excitability in patients with epilepsy and improve sleep. 1 tsp. roots, pour 1 cup of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes in a sealed container. Take 1 tbsp. l. 3 times a day 20 minutes before meals. If you cannot get this plant, you can use a pharmacy peony tincture (30 drops 3 times a day, course – 1 month), diluting it with water. As a last resort, you can make a tincture of decorative peony: take fresh leaves and petals - 100 g and pour 200 ml of alcohol, leave for 2 weeks, take 15 drops three times a day half an hour before meals.
The rhizomes of Scutellaria baicalensis (black crowberry) are used in Siberia and the Far East in powder form as an anticonvulsant against epileptic attacks. A single dose is 3-10 g. The ground part of the skullcap is also used. 20 g of twigs collected during flowering are infused in a glass of boiling water for 1 hour, drink 1/3 glass 3 times a day before meals.
Chernobyl roots collected during flowering also have an anticonvulsant effect. 30 g is poured into 500 ml of beer, boiled for 5 minutes. Drink until the sweat stops.
Collection of herbs for epilepsy.

This herbal infusion reduces the severity of epileptic seizures and convulsive readiness. To prepare a medicinal mixture, take 5-6 names of the following antiepileptic herbs: dream, valerian, oregano, lemon balm, cyanosis, hawthorn, hops, sage, calendula and add 10-20% nettle to this mixture. For the treatment of epilepsy in adults, take 1 tbsp. l. collection and pour 400 ml of boiling water, simmer over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Infuse for 1 hour and filter. Add 1-2 tbsp to the decoction. l. motherwort juice, mistletoe, celandine, rapeseed, calendula - to choose from.

Take poml 3-4 times a day. The course of treatment is 2-3 or more months. Antiepileptic drugs are not canceled until the doctor allows it. (recipe from Healthy Lifestyle 2007, No. 8, p. 29).

Epilepsy treatment strategy.

Treatment of epilepsy with herbs can achieve improvement. For most patients, epilepsy does not interfere with normal life and work. But it is possible to say that epilepsy has been completely cured only in cases where there have been no epileptic attacks for 3-4 years, and whose electroencephalogram confirms the absence of epileptoid brain activity.
Successful treatment of epilepsy is possible only if the efforts of the doctor, the patient and his relatives are combined in a friendly manner. Everyone has their own role. The doctor determines the selection of medications. A universal cure for epileptic seizures has not yet been found. Effective drug combinations are real. But it requires careful selection.
Modern medicine can greatly reduce and even completely stop epilepsy attacks. Currently, about 20 types of drugs against epilepsy are used. But first, the doctor prescribes one of the basic ones (finlepsin, valproate, tegritol, depakine).
Anticonvulsants often have side effects: drowsiness, rash. But the patient should not cancel his treatment on this basis; he must strictly follow all the doctor’s instructions. Treatment should be continuous and long-term. Otherwise, exacerbations of the disease are possible; attacks may begin to repeat one after another, or be very protracted, sometimes with a fatal outcome.

Help from the patient’s loved ones is also an important component of successful treatment. They must show complicity so that the patient with epilepsy does not feel isolated and inferior.

Help with an epileptic attack.

In everyday life, you need to know how to provide first aid during an epileptic attack. If the patient has lost consciousness during an epileptic seizure, there is no need to restrain him or transfer him to another place. To avoid injury, simply place something soft under his head and unbutton his clothes if they restrict breathing. Do not try to open your jaws to pour water or put a pill into your mouth.

What to do after an epileptic seizure

Often, after an attack of epilepsy, the patient is in a vague state, trying to go somewhere, do something, this state lasts for minutes. We need to help the patient move onto the bed and wait until he calms down. Sit next to him without trying to talk to the patient.

If an epileptic attack lasts more than 5 minutes, or is repeated over and over again, then medical help is required.

(recipe from the newspaper “Vestnik ZOZH” 2008, No. 12 p. 28,).

At the age of 23, the woman began having epileptic seizures. This continued for 7 years until she was advised to limit her fluid intake. The patient sharply reduced the amount of fluid she drank, and the epileptic seizures disappeared.

At the age of 33 she gave birth, and in order to improve lactation, she began to drink a lot of milk. The attacks returned. She again switched to water restrictions, and there were no more attacks. She is now 69 years old. (recipe from Healthy Lifestyle 2000, No. 5 p. 13).

How to treat epilepsy in children?

How to treat this disease in adults is described in detail in the article: “TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY IN ADULTS”

Folk remedies for epilepsy:

Give your child as many raw onions as possible. Drink onion juice before each meal - 1 tsp.
Drink valerian tincture with water 3 times a day. When treating epilepsy in children, give as many drops of valerian as the child is old.
Infusion from the roots of valerian, chicory, cyanosis, angelica, Chernobyl, peony: take 1 type of crushed root, 1 tsp, pour 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 1 hour in a tightly sealed container. Drink 3-5 times a day, 1 tbsp. l. before meals.
For epilepsy in children, bathe them in a decoction of forest hay.
Infusion from a collection of herbs. In the form of a decoction you can use: motherwort, wormwood, thyme, cucumber, jasmine, lemon balm, woodruff, wild rosemary, oregano, violet, tansy, dill, cinquefoil, knotweed, horsetail, linden blossom, mistletoe, arnica, beech. Make a collection of 7-10 herbs and make decoctions according to the following scheme: 2 tbsp. l. pour 2 cups of boiling water over the collection, insulate, and let it brew. Drink half a glass 3 times a day, one minute before meals. The course of treatment is from one month to three, depending on the severity of the condition. (HLS 2001, No. 8, p. 16).

Epilepsy in a child - a simple folk method.

A very strange method of treating epilepsy in children, but it has helped many. The easy way and will not do any harm.

The hair on the child’s head must be cut in four places crosswise, and the child’s nails on all fingers and toes must be trimmed. Wrap everything in a piece of bandage. Place the child near the door frame and note his growth. At the location of this mark, drill a hole and put a bandage with hair and nails into it, and putty on the jamb. When the patient outgrows this mark, the child’s epilepsy attacks will go away. (HLS 2000, No. 14, p. 13).

Let's look at the best folk recipes treatment of epilepsy in a child based on materials from the newspaper “Vestnik “ZOZH””...

Apricot grains for epilepsy.

Cleaned kernels from apricot kernels eat as many pieces every morning as the patient is old. For example, 8 years - 8 cores in the morning on an empty stomach every day for a month. Then a break for 1 month. Repeat the course until you are cured, it depends on the degree of the disease. The reader managed to cure her granddaughter of epilepsy with apricot kernels in six months, that is, she took 3 courses of 1 month each. Then she was 8 years old, now she is 23 years old - there have been no attacks during this time. (recipe from Healthy Lifestyle 2010, No. 21, p. 33).

Treatment of epilepsy in a child with golden root at home.

A woman cured her granddaughter with Rhodiola rosea tincture and soothing herbs.

25 g of dry root should be poured with 500 ml of vodka, left for 2-3 weeks in a dark place, shaking.

Add as many drops into 1/3 glass of water as the child is old. Adults – no more than 25 drops (starting from ten, adding a drop every day). Drink 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals. The last dose of the tincture is no later than 18 hours.

The course of treatment with this folk remedy is 10 days. The break is also 10 days, during these ten days of the break take soothing herbs: oregano, mint, lemon balm, valerian root, sweet clover. 1 tbsp. l. pour 1 cup of boiling water over the herbal collection, leave, drink 1/3 cup 3 times. Conduct 4 such courses (i.e. 40 days), then a month break

During treatment, the infusion of golden root was not used to prevent an overdose. Within a year, the child’s epilepsy was completely cured. (Healthy Lifestyle 2007, No. 4, p. 10, 2006 No. 18.), (recipe from the newspaper Bulletin of Healthy Lifestyle 2006, No. 17, p. 29).

How to treat epilepsy in a child by collecting herbs.

The girl fell ill at the age of 3. Relatives could not cope with this disease for four years, until one woman suggested to her parents a herbal recipe that helped her herself cure epilepsy, which she had suffered from for 22 years.

Blue cyanosis herb, herb comb grass (another name is Ivan-da marya), St. John's wort, oregano, hawthorn bark, Bogorodskaya grass - take all the herbs equally and mix thoroughly. 1 tbsp. l. Brew the mixture with 200 ml of boiling water, let it brew in a thermos and drink according to? glasses 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals. The treatment is long-term. The girl drank this infusion for a whole year, although her attacks stopped after a month.

The reader gave this recipe to her friend for her adult son. He had attacks every hour, day and night. After treatment, their number decreased significantly. (HLS 2007, No. 14, p. 8).

Treatment of epilepsy in children with marina root (wild peony) at home.

Dig up the marina root, rinse, but do not scrape. Cut 50 g of root into thin slices, pour in 0.5 liters of vodka, let stand for 21 days, do not strain. Take with water (50 ml). Children under 15 years of age take as many drops as they are old; adults take 25 drops 3 times a day. Taking the tincture does not depend on food intake. (recipe from Healthy Lifestyle 2004, No. 2, p. 27).

Belarusian folk remedy.

A pig has two small bones in its head (one on each side), they look like a human skull. When you cook jellied meat, these bones do not boil or even soften. They must be crushed into powder, wrapped in cloth and smashed with a hammer. This powder is 1/4 tsp. should be added to food 1-2 times a day. Epilepsy attacks in children stop. (recipe from the newspaper Vestnik ZOZH 2001, No. 5 p. 19)

Descriptions of epilepsy or “falling” disease are found in works dating back to BC. The nature of the pathology was poorly understood then, but today, thanks to modern research methods, experts know: the disease causes increased activity neurons.

It is formed in the epileptic focus, from which the discharge can spread to both hemispheres of the brain. Male epileptics do not serve in the army, receiving a “white ticket” at the military registration and enlistment office.

Stress, drinking alcohol in any quantity, lack of sleep, and much more can provoke a sharp increase in the activity of nerve cells and cause a seizure. The patient needs to learn how to prevent steam crises, and his family needs to understand the algorithm of actions during a crisis.

Manifestation of the disease

“Epileptic” disease manifests itself in specific seizures. How and what can cause an attack of epilepsy is completely unknown to modern science. Some of them last no more than a few seconds, others last for minutes. A person does not always fall and convulse.

At mild form the patient makes incomprehensible, repetitive movements - automatisms: fiddling with objects, walking, maybe even driving a car. But after that, as a rule, he doesn’t remember anything.

The description of an epileptic attack begins with an aura. These are the emotional and physical sensations that a patient experiences before a seizure. This condition lasts from several hours to one or two days:

drowsiness or increased activity;
headache;
tingling in various parts of the body;
with some types of parocrisis, auditory or visual hallucinations;
irritability, tearfulness;
short-term muscle contractions.
The man then slumps to the floor, letting out a soft cry. At this moment, the epileptic is unconscious and does not understand what is happening to him and around him.

The tonic phase begins:

muscles are very tense;
breathing is labored and labored, causing the lips to turn blue;
the patient may bite his cheek or tongue;
sometimes urination or bowel movements occur;
increased salivation (foaming at the mouth), and in rare cases, vomiting.

The seizure ends with the clonic phase. Here the limbs seem to twitch: the muscles either tense or relax.

What can cause seizures?

Since we have found out that parocrisis is a manifestation of an illness, it is worth deciding: what can cause epilepsy? There are several main reasons that in medicine are considered to be provoking circumstances for the development of a deviation:

hereditary predisposition - this form is called idiopathic (congenital). Due to pathology in genes, a person is actually born with epilepsy acquired from close relatives;
due to the influence of external factors: head injury, neoplasms, cerebrovascular diseases, neuroinfections - here we talk about the symptomatic type;
for unknown reasons - this species is called cryptogenic.

Modern medicine does not know the answer to the question: how to prevent epilepsy. Often, increased activity of neurons in the cerebral cortex begins without apparent reason. In this case, doctors no longer have to fight the disease itself, but try to minimize the negative consequences for the nervous system from constant seizures.

What can trigger an epileptic attack? Doctors cannot yet determine exactly what exactly causes the seizure. But there are the most common factors:

abrupt, violent awakening;
stress, for example, quarrels with a loved one or troubles at work;
bright light. Of course, this does not mean that you should avoid the sun and not go outside during daylight hours. It is enough to wear dark glasses;
the child has a high temperature. Parents should monitor the baby’s condition and prevent hyperemia;
alcoholic binge, hangover;

Another condition that provokes frequent seizures is the patient’s diet. The diet must be correct. The basis of the diet is plant and dairy products. It is not recommended to completely exclude fish and meat dishes, although in order to prevent a new attack, it is better to significantly reduce their quantity and volume. You definitely need to give up pickles and smoked foods. Such simple restrictions will help avoid steam crises.

Providing first emergency aid

Due to the fact that, according to statistics, epilepsy is the most common neurological disease, the ordinary and healthy man may well accidentally encounter its manifestations, namely an epileptic seizure. Even if there are no people in the family suffering from epilepsy, it is better to have an idea of what to do in such cases:

Don't panic or get nervous. There is no need to be afraid of a seizure in order to really help the epileptic and not harm him.
Note the time of the onset of the steam crisis. There is no way to try to stop the attack. If the convulsions continue for more than five minutes, then you need to call an ambulance. medical care. The caller must explain to the operator how long the seizure is and describe the symptoms.
If possible, do not move the patient. Remove objects that could cause harm from him. Move the furniture.
If a person falls and has convulsions, then you need to put something soft under his head, for example, clothes. At the same time, turn your head to the side so that the epileptic does not choke on saliva. Attempting to insert a hard object into the patient's mouth between the jaws can lead to broken teeth.
Remove the patient's neck from clothing.
You should not hold a person’s legs or arms, as this increases the risk of injury. After all, during a seizure, the muscles are under severe tension. For the same reason, there is no need to unclench the jaws of an epileptic with all your might.
You can't try to force someone to drink.
Often after the seizure ends, the patient falls asleep. In this case, there is no need to wake him up.

The main thing is not to leave the epileptic alone throughout the parocrisis and for some time after. It is better to try to “remove” overly curious “onlookers” from the room. Their presence usually greatly confuses those suffering from epilepsy. People who have little idea what epilepsy is can only do harm with their curiosity.

How to prevent

How to avoid an epilepsy attack? Perhaps this is the main question for epileptics. After all, it is seizures that do not allow them to live a full life. The goal of drug therapy is to prevent new parocrises. Often, drugs can achieve stable remission, which lasts for several years.

In addition to taking anticonvulsants - medications aimed at treating epilepsy, the patient is able to help himself:

To prevent the onset of steam crisis, it is recommended to have lavender oil on hand. Inhale its aroma when a person feels the warning signs of an attack (aura). This method is suitable only for an adult, since a child, due to his age, is unable to rationally assess his illness;
relax more, don’t be nervous;
find something you like that will distract and occupy you;
get enough sleep: healthy and good sleep very important;
do not drink alcohol: alcohol affects the effect of anticonvulsants and disrupts the functioning of the nervous system, thereby causing new seizures;
light physical activity relieves stress;
take medications regularly and according to the schedule prescribed by your doctor;
It is recommended to use folk remedies: drink decoctions of motherwort or valerian.

What to do after an attack

We have already found out how to prevent an epileptic attack. Now you need to understand what happens after it ends. When the steam crisis is over, a person cannot be left alone. He needs to be helped to stand up and sit down.

Patients experience weakness and drowsiness. Consciousness returns after fifteen minutes. Until this moment, there is no need to try to force the patient to take the medicine, it is dangerous. Often the epileptic himself understands: what exactly needs to be done and whether there is a need for medical help.

Contrary to the established stereotype: epilepsy is not a death sentence. There is an exit. Many people who suffer from it, thanks to proper treatment, get rid of parocrises for many years. Anyone who has been diagnosed with this disease knows what can cause an epileptic attack and takes the necessary measures to prevent it.

Among diseases of the nervous system, epilepsy is considered the most unpleasant, as a person loses consciousness and has convulsions. In such a situation, it is advisable for relatives to be nearby, because the patient can choke on his tongue or hit himself painfully when falling to the floor. The disease manifests itself at any age, for example, in children due to hypoxia ( oxygen starvation) or infection, and in older age due to head injury. In people over 50, this problem arises due to pathologies of cardio-vascular system or degenerative diseases of the central nervous system such as Parkinson's disease.

It is difficult to predict how long an epileptic attack will last, but usually its duration varies from 5-10 seconds to 10 minutes. After it, the patient experiences a memory loss and is unable to remember recent events. After 1-2 hours, the epileptic’s condition stabilizes, and he does not understand what kind of seizure he is talking about. According to doctors, it is easier to prevent an epileptic attack, since it cannot be stopped and close people can only help the epileptic so that he does not injure himself.

Methods to prevent an epileptic attack

An overexcited central nervous system (CNS) against the background of concomitant diseases provokes epileptic seizures, which can be prevented by knowing their causes, such as:

Mental and physical overload;
Stressful situations;
Insomnia;
Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages;
Overexcitation of the central nervous system.

Healthy and sound sleep is needed by all people, and especially by epileptics, since for them it is as important as insulin injections and diet for diabetics. Doctors have long proven that insomnia causes epileptic seizures to occur more often. This is why lack of sleep is considered the main cause of the problem. You can understand how many hours of sleep the norm is based on these data:

School-age children 8-10 hours;
Adults 8 hours;
For older people 6-7 hours.

In case of epilepsy, another 1-2 hours are added to this time so that the nervous system can rest for a sufficient amount of time.

If you can’t fall asleep, then experts advise taking a walk outside for a few minutes before going to bed, as fresh air has a beneficial effect on this process.

Sometimes this method does not work, especially against the backdrop of internal experiences. In this case, doctors prescribe sedative (calming) drugs, for example, tincture of valerian, hawthorn or peony.

Young people suffering from this disease should remember that glare in front of the eyes can cause a seizure. It is possible to avoid an attack of epilepsy in such a situation, but you must avoid discos and other places where the lights flicker. Sometimes even headlights provoke the development of the disease. Thick curtains in the room and special anti-glare glasses can cope with this.

Loud music is prohibited, as it provokes an attack of epilepsy and can be avoided by completely abandoning it. Instead, epileptics are recommended to listen to relaxing melodies that help calm the nervous system. You can add nature sounds and classical music to this list.

Epileptics should make sure that the sun does not heat their heads, especially in summer, when the intensity of the sun's rays is highest. To do this, wear hats, which are sold in all clothing stores. You also need to sunbathe in moderation, that is, either very early in the morning or in the evening, when the sun is not so hot, or it is better to avoid it altogether.

Stressing your eyes and head while sitting at a computer is also prohibited for sick people. It is recommended to take breaks every hour for 5-10 minutes. At this time, you can walk down the street or do light exercises.

Sports have their limitations, as wrestling, swimming, and mountaineering are prohibited. Because of them, an epileptic can suffer a head injury or overstrain the central nervous system. Doctors advise turning your attention to other sports such as weightlifting, walking and gymnastics.

You can prevent an epileptic attack by combining all these tips with proper nutrition. First, you need to reduce the volume of liquid you consume (no more than 1.5-2 liters), since its excess can cause a seizure. Food should be healthy and nutritious, and most importantly, you need to reduce the amount of salty and spicy foods, as water retention occurs in the body. Because of this, the brain tissue swells, the pressure rises sharply and an attack begins.

Experts strongly recommend completely eliminating alcoholic drinks from your life. They are considered the main provocateur of epileptic attacks, and by removing alcohol they can be prevented, since the main irritating factor will be eliminated. If tinctures made with alcohol are taken for treatment, they must be well diluted with ordinary boiled water.

Herbs for epileptic seizures

Doctors advise epileptics to drink herbal decoctions with a diuretic effect to get rid of excess fluid, and plants with a calming effect on the nervous system will also help. Herbal medicine and traditional methods of treatment are a salvation for many older people and thanks to them, attacks occur much less frequently.

According to epileptics, the drug Novo-Passit is good at preventing seizures. It is created from natural ingredients:

Separately, you can highlight an auxiliary component called guaifenesin. It serves to remove anxious feelings. You must take the drug at least 3 times a day.

Other plants, such as passionflower, can also calm the central nervous system. Preparations created on the basis of its shoots must be taken at least 3 times a day, 30 drops each. The duration of the course is usually not particularly limited, but after a month of taking it, it is recommended to take a break for 2-3 weeks, and then it can be repeated.

Many pharmacies sell special herbal medicines. Their effect is quite mild and seizures occur much less frequently after taking this drug. The collection includes the following herbs:

Each of the listed herbs provides its own unique effect, and their combination brings many benefits in the treatment of pathological processes in the central nervous system. To prepare it you need to take 1 tbsp. l. collection and pour it into a glass of boiling water, then close it with a lid and let it brew until it cools completely. It should be consumed one ml at a time 3 times a day. The duration of treatment is six months.

The calming effect of valerian has long been known and it is perfect for preventing epileptic seizures. To do this, you need to take the dry roots of this plant and grind them well. The resulting mixture should be poured into a container with plain water in a ratio of 1 tbsp. l. per 250 ml of liquid, and then the broth should be allowed to brew for 10 hours. The finished drink should be consumed 1 tbsp. l. at least 3 times a day. For children under 18 years of age, it is better to reduce the dose to 1 tsp. The duration of taking this drug is 2 months.

Motherwort will be no less useful in order to avoid an attack and it does this due to its sedative properties. To prepare, you need to take 1 tbsp. l. dried and ground plant and pour it into a half-liter container with boiling water. Then the broth should be allowed to brew for 2-3 hours. Use ready-made product maybe 2 tbsp. l. before each meal for 2 months.

Maryin root (evasive peony) helps relieve symptoms of nervousness in epileptics and improve sleep. Preparing the decoction is quite simple and for this you need to take 1 tsp. ground and dried plant roots and pour 250 ml of boiling water over them. The container with the broth should be closed and allowed to brew for an hour. It is allowed to consume the finished product before meals, 1 tbsp. l, and the course duration is 30 days. Sometimes difficulties arise in getting this plant and in such a situation you can buy ready-made tincture at the pharmacy.

Due to the fact that epileptics are prohibited from drinking alcohol, it will need to be diluted with water in a ratio of 30 drops to 1/3 glass of water (50-70 ml). You will also need to drink it, namely before meals for 30 days. If there is no way to buy a ready-made product, then you can make a tincture from decorative peony. To do this you need to pick 100 grams. leaves and petals, and then pour 250 ml of alcohol into them. You will have to infuse this remedy for days and preferably in a dark place. You can use the finished tincture in the same way as one purchased at a pharmacy.

Doctors also advise using anticonvulsants, for example, the rhizomes of Scutellaria Baikal. This remedy is very popular in Siberia, since epilepsy attacks actually do not occur due to it. The upper part of the plant is used for decoction during flowering. Anyone can prepare it, but to do this you need to pick 20 grams. Scutellaria shoots, and then they need to be poured into a glass of boiling water. In an hour, the product will be ready and you need to drink it before meals. If you don’t want or have the opportunity to cook, you can buy a pharmaceutical version in powder form and usually single dose before meals from 5 to 10 g.

You can reduce the frequency of seizures and, accordingly, epileptic seizures with the help of Chernobyl roots (artemisia vulgare). To prepare, you need to mix half a liter of beer and 30 g of crushed plant, and then the resulting mixture must be boiled for 5 minutes. You need to drink it before meals, 50 ml.

Treatment of epilepsy with the help of a doctor

Epilepsy attacks can only be overcome through the joint efforts of the epileptic’s loved ones, the attending physician and the patient himself. The role of the physician in this triangle is to monitor the development of the disease and competently select a course of therapy. Despite the lack of a panacea for epilepsy, you can completely get rid of its seizures and maintain the resulting stability thanks to healthy image life and following expert advice.

Today, there are more drugs to treat this pathology. Initially, the doctor will choose a basic drug like Depakine or Finlepsin. After the appointment, the specialist will need to monitor the results of the treatment in order to change the dosage or change the drug if necessary.

A person suffering from epilepsy should watch for side effects such as rashes or stomach upset, and if they occur, tell their doctor immediately. It is prohibited to overrule a specialist’s decisions or change the dosage of an epileptic on your own, as the treatment regimen may be disrupted.

People close to the epileptic should know all the features of the disease, for example, how long it lasts and what to do during an attack. Indeed, in the absence of help, a person may hit something or choke on his tongue. Their support is especially important, since people suffering from epilepsy must feel it in order not to become depressed.

Anyone can prevent an epileptic attack if they follow simple rules and follow the doctor’s recommendations. The main thing is that the course of treatment lasts a long time and without interruptions. In this case, the effect will be lasting and all that remains is to maintain it.