Journey For Jess
Journey For Jess
jason
Awareness
What is Epilepsy?
“Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. It’s also called a seizure disorder. When a person has two or more seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy.
A seizure happens when a brief, strong surge of electrical activity affects part or all of the brain. One in 10 adults will have a seizure sometime during their life.
Seizures can last a few seconds to a few minutes. They can have many symptoms, from convulsions and loss of consciousness to some that are not always recognized as seizures by the person experiencing them or by health care professionals: blank staring, lip smacking, or jerking movements of arms and legs.” www.epilepsyfoundation.com
“Epilepsy is often described as an electrical storm in the brain – and the seizures can be unnerving at first. But with good medical treatment, and coping tips, epilepsy and seizures can be controlled. Living with epilepsy can still mean an active and normal life. We’ll help you start your journey.” www.webmd.com/epilepsy/
“Epilepsy is a neurological condition, which affects the nervous system. Epilepsy is also known as a seizure disorder. It is usually diagnosed after a person has had at least two seizures that were not caused by some known medical condition like alcohol withdrawal or extremely low blood sugar.
The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family tendency, but most of the time the cause is unknown. The word "epilepsy" does not indicate anything about the cause of the person's seizures, what type they are, or how severe they are.” www.epilepsy.com
To the left are some answers given by leading websites in answer to the question what is epilepsy? These are very good websites that have a wealth of information, but it is amazing how different our experience was from the overview given by these websites. It’s good information, but it’s not enough.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation’s website there are over 3 million Americans currently diagnosed with Seizure Disorders such as epilepsy with more than 200,000 new diagnoses each year. In 70% of the diagnoses, there is no known cause. 2.1 million people don’t know why they are having seizures. How little we know about a condition that Socrates, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Vincent Van Gogh and Alexander the Great were believed to have had.
Everything we learned about seizure disorders we learned the hard way. We learned in reaction to the events taking place in Jess' life. We learned by watching new friends struggle with their individual seizure disorder battles. We learned the hard way that seizure can last more than a few minutes, may not be able to be controlled, and in certain disastrous situations can lead to death.
My hope is that others can learn from our experiences. I believe there are little things that can be done, like using an O2 monitor at night that can prevent a seizure from becoming life threatening. It could mean the difference between life and death and I don't want anyone else to have to go through what we have gone through.
Journey For Jess
jason
