Neurological Services
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a chronic noncommunicable disease of the brain that affects around 50 million people worldwide. It is characterized by recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement that may involve a part of the body (partial) or the entire body (generalized) and are sometimes accompanied by loss of consciousness and control of bowel or bladder function.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
What You Need To Know
Not at all. Patients can have seizures and not be epileptic but patients with recent unprovoked seizures have epilepsy. For example, a patient who has low blood sugar and has a seizure would not be considered to have epilepsy as the cause of their seizure was low blood sugar.
Seizures occur when there is an excess of neuronal activity in the brain. Put simply, there is excessive electricity which conducts in an irregular way within the brain.
Epilepsy affects people of all ages and is the fourth most common neurological disorder. While it is more commonly diagnosed in the Paediatric Age-Range, it can occur across all ages.
Usually further testing is done which would entail:
1) Neuroimaging : MRI brain;
2) Electrophysiology – Electroencephalogram (EEG).
Not all seizures require treatment. However if a patient is deemed to have high risk of recurrence, we discuss the potential antiepileptic medications and determine/recommend which is the best fit for you and your lifestyle.
In rare instances we may consider surgical treatments. Locally we have successfully done many different surgical treatments including implantation of devices such as the Vagal Nerve Stimulator (VNS).
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