Ignorance of epilepsy

Press, 15 June 1979, Page 13

Ignorance of epilepsy

About 24,000 New Zealanders have to live with the fear of epileptic seizures. Some show minor effects. Many are unable to cope with normal living. All suffer from public ignorance at the condition. When the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand Epilepsy Association appeals for public help with its annual budget today, it does so in the belief that only by removing pubWc ignorance of epilepsy can those directly affected by it, and the many thousands who support them, he helped. Epilepsy is not a disease: therefore it is not infectious or contagious. It is not a mental illness nor does it cause mental retardation. The condition has been known since Biblical times, when much of the irrational fear of the epileptic person was started.

It can be caused by damage at birth, head injuries received in car accidents and in sport, and by the effects on the brain of tumours and stroke!-. Epilepsy costs the New Zealand economy more than S6OM each year. This figure is based on search carried out by L.e United States Institute of Neurological Disease and covers the costs of the condition to individuals, families and the nation.

Epileptic seizures are of three distinct types. The most severe and often the most perplexing for those who do not understand the condition is the grand mal seizure, which can affect children, teenagers and adults. It results in a loss of consciousness with convulsive movements, including rapid jerking and falling. A grand mal seizure usually lasts from two to five minutes and can occur one or more times a day, weekly, monthly or annually. Children and teenagers are those most affected by the petit mal seizt're. This causes a brief loss of consciousness, staring and blinking. The eyes may appear to roil upwards and there may be a loss of some muscular control. Children can have as

many as 120 of these slight seizures a day. The effects of these brief losses of consciousness on a child’s learning patterns are marked. For example a child may be learning a particular method of arithmetic. The interruption to. his learning patterns from a brief seizure will mean that the child will simply not “register” any brain intake for a short spell. The knowledge given in that time is lost to him, as the seizure lasts about five to 15 seconds. The most common seizure in adults is the psychomotor one, w-hich also occasionally affects children and teenagers. It causes a period of amnesia often accompanied by inappropriate actions such as chewing, facial distortions or other body movements. The seizure lasts about two to five minutes but sometimes longer. It can occur one or two times weekly, monthly or annually. To understand the nature of epilepsy it is necessary to understand something of the structure and working of the brain. The normal function of the brain is dependent on small electrical charges in the nerve cells and nerve fibres following a very orderly pattern. If this

pattern is disturbed an epileptic seizure may occur. Everything we do, everything we think and everything we see, smell, hear, taste or feel depends on these minute electrical currents running along the nerve fibres from one nerve cell to another. Temporary disruption of this process causes a seizure.

By

JOHN BROWN

More than 80 per cent of people forced to live with epilepsy can lead useful and near normal lives. To achieve this they need the support of an informed understanding public, backed by proper medical treatment. Unlike most other neurological conditions the epileptic is “lucky,” as many drugs have been proved effective in keeping major problems at

bay. Most of them do not produce unpleasant side effects, and they are effective in preventing abnormal electrical discharges in the brain. Treatment of epilepsy does not, however, begin and end with the use of drugs. People with the condition must learn to understand the nature of their problem and the factors which are known to increase the likelihood of seizures. The most important of these are lack of sleep, over-indulgence in alcoholic drinks, and emotional tension. In an attempt to help epileptics and their supporters to live more easily with the condition the Canterbury branch of the Epilepsy Association has made a breakthrough in pubf education. First, it has given priority to working with school children and to running a monthly clinic in rooms lent by the Diabetes Society at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The determined commitment of the local association to public education about epilepsy is the single most important contribution that it can make to helping epileptics lead normal lives. It helps to break down fear and with it the horror of loneliness and isolation. Groups dealing with other neurological conditions

could learn a lot from the Epilepsy Association about how to break down public ignorance.

The association has been offered financial help from a major service club to prepare a film about epilepsy, to be shot in Christchurch. It will present new material for use with school children.

Experts say that epileptic children should be taught at ordinary -schools. Every precaution must be taken to prevent a child from feeling that he is in any way an outcast or an invalid. The co-operation and understanding of teachers is essential and it may be necessary for some explanation and reassurance to be given on the matter to other children.

Parents, too, need help in learning to accept the nature of epilepsy in their children. They need feel no sense of blame or recrimination for producing epileptic children. There is, for example, no shred of evidence to suggest that any form of “bad living,” drunkeness or misconduct is in any way responsible for the appearance of epilepsy in children.

For an adult, the’ most worrying problem is work. If an epileptic is prone to severe seizures, then work which brings close contact with machinery' is out. He must not drive a motor vehicle.

Many occupations, however, are open to epilentics so long as the employers are aware or the condition and are given support to understand it.

For most, epilepsy is just a word. The Epilepsy Association wants as many as possible to learn about the condition and how people with it are forced to cope with often frightening and complex problems. The association’s attack on public ignorance on the subject will help many thousands of New Zealanders to have the courage necessary to say: “I am an epileptic,” — safe in the knowledge that they will be properly understood.