What is the impact of epilepsy on the patient?
The impact of epilepsy on patients' lives The impact of epilepsy is multifaceted and extensive on its effects. The occurrence of seizures is unpredictable and often dangerous, increasing the risk of injury, hospitalization and mortality, and adversely affecting a patient's mental health, often resulting in anxiety, depression or cognitive i …
What programs are available for adults with epilepsy?
Health providers can become trained to deliver these programs or learn more about programs available locally. PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives) is an evidence-based self-management program designed to reduce depression and improve quality of life in adults with epilepsy.
How do I make decisions about epilepsy clinical trials?
Find epilepsy clinical trials that may be beneficial to your patients. The Agency for Health care Research and Quality (AHRQ) SHARE Approach is a five-step process for shared decision making that includes exploring and comparing the benefits, harms, and risks of each option through meaningful dialogue about what matters most to the patient.
What is epilepsy and how is it treated?
Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain. It is a neurological condition that can lead to different kinds of seizures. In a person with epilepsy, a seizure happens when certain brain nerves fire abnormally. This dysfunction can cause effects over which the person has no control.
How does epilepsy impact learning?
Children with epilepsy are at risk for having attention problems, learning disabilities, and other cognitive weaknesses, such as difficulty with memory or problem-solving skills. Often, seizures and cognitive difficulties can be caused by the same underlying problem in the brain.
How does epilepsy affect people with autism?
Having epilepsy may mean that an autistic person needs more support. In fact, a 2013 study found that autistic children with epilepsy tend to have more severe symptoms of ASD and are more hyperactive. Autistic adults with epilepsy also have higher support needs.
How can epilepsy affect a child development?
Even when seizures are well controlled, epilepsy may present a host of other issues that can impact a child's development and ability to function normally. Cognitive impairments that affect language, memory, attention, and other abilities critical to normal development are common among people with epilepsy.
How does epilepsy affect behavior?
The types of behavioral problems associated with epilepsy include attention deficit, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, aggression, and autism spectrum disorder. Early identification and treatment of behavioral problems provides the best possible outcome.
What causes epilepsy in autism?
The factor most associated with the co-occurrence of autism and epilepsy is the presence of learning differences or intellectual disability. Scientists believe that variations in certain genes along with other factors, such as chemical processes in the body and the environment, lead to the brain being 'overactive'.
Can epilepsy medication cause autism?
They identified 29 studies, which together included 5,100 children, that assessed autism features or developmental delays after exposure to the medications. They found that the odds of autism are 17 times higher in children exposed to valproate than in those not exposed to any epilepsy medications.
How does epilepsy affect intellectually?
Epilepsy and Cognitive Disorders The most frequent cognitive complaints in adults are feeling slowed down mentally, memory impairment, and attention problems. Memory problems are an important feature of seizures arising from one part of the brain called the temporal lobe. Short-term memory problems are seen most often.
Does epilepsy affect cognitive function?
Among the co-morbidities associated with epilepsy, cognitive abnormalities are among the most common and troublesome. In people with epilepsy there is an associated high rate of cognitive difficulties that compromise educational progress and achievement throughout life (Berg et al., 2008).
What challenges might a student with epilepsy face in the school setting?
Classroom Problems and Solutions - EpilepsyMissed instruction.Poor work completion.Interpersonal and emotional problems.Cognitive and academic impairment.
How does epilepsy affect social development?
In summary, epilepsy is a complex disorder that has an impact on many aspects of a child's development and functioning. As a result, many of these children are at increased risk for unsuccessful school experiences; difficulties in social engagement with peers; inadequate social-skills; and poor self-esteem.
What is Behavioural epilepsy?
Behavioural epileptic seizures (BES) consisted of various clinical signs comprising mood change, sudden agitation, unexpected quietness, and subtle change of awareness or awakening. In 2 patients, seizures consisted in repetitive movements that we referred to as epileptic stereotypes.
Does epilepsy cause violent behavior?
Aggressive and violent behaviors have also been associated with epilepsy, especially temporal or frontal lobe seizures. However, this behavior is rare in the ictal state. Aggressive ictal behavior is generally believed to not be goal directed.
When is epilepsy most likely to appear in autistic people?
Age: Epilepsy appears to be most likely to appear in autistic people during early childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood
Why do autistic people discharge more often than people without epilepsy?
Various factors may explain this phenomenon. For instance, some research has found that electrical activity in the brains of autistic people displays epilepsy-type discharges more often than in people without the condition.
How many autistic children have seizures?
By looking at EEG results, researchers showed that at least 23% of autistic children have seizures compared with 0.5–1.0% of neurotypical children. However, they could not draw solid conclusions, and there is still no clear proof of a link. One possibility is that ASD and epilepsy have overlapping genetic factors.
What is the condition that causes seizures?
Epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain. It is a neurological condition that can lead to different kinds of seizures. In a person with epilepsy, a seizure happens when certain brain nerves fire abnormally. This dysfunction can cause effects over which the person has no control.
What happens when you have a focal seizure?
During a focal seizure, a person may experience: sensory changes that cause a feeling or sense of something that is not real.
What are the symptoms of a generalized seizure?
The specific type of seizure will determine the symptoms: Absence seizures: The person appears to stare at nothing and has slight muscle twitches.
Can an EEG be used to diagnose ASD?
One possible link between epilepsy and ASD is the brain’s electrical activity. Doctors often use an electroencephalogram (EEG) to diagnose epilepsy, as it can record seizures. However, it can also detect epileptiform activity, which is an electrical brain activity related to epilepsy.
What are benign epilepsy with cento temporal spikes?
Considered “benign” because of easy to control seizures and absence of cognitive or neurologic impairment, Benign Epilepsy with Cento-Temporal Spikes (BECTS) (a.k.a Rolandic epilepsy) and Absence Epilepsy, are of interest because of emerging data suggesting subtle behavioral and cognitive problems in these patients. In BECTS, these include behavioral problems, learning disabilities, ADHD, mild cognitive and coordination deficits, and even specific language impairments ( 58 ). In absence epilepsy, these include subtle cognitive and linguistic deficits and a high rate of psychiatric diagnoses ( 59 ). Thus, the presence of epilepsy and epileptiform EEGs seem to predispose individuals to cognitive, linguistic, and behavioral deficits.
What are the changes in EEG in autism?
Rather, these EEG changes are considered to be signs of cerebral dysfunction. Both nonspecific changes, such as slowing or asymmetry, and epileptiform discharges, consisting of spikes or sharp wave discharges, sharp slow waves, generalized spike-wave, and generalized polyspikes are seen. Epileptiform discharges are common among patients with active epilepsy, but are reportedly rare (1 to 4%) in healthy children ( 34, 35 ). One intriguing finding in ASD is the high rates of these abnormalities, even in the absence of epilepsy. This raises questions about whether these discharges could be considered a biomarker of cortical dysfunction in this population, and whether these discharges have a causal association with any of the autism phenotypes.
What is the relationship between autism and LKS?
LKS is characterized by the rapid onset of an inability to understand spoken language in a typically developing child, usually accompanied by seizures ( 47 ). It is often associated with a severe EEG abnormality in deep sleep (electrical status epilepticus in sleep or ESES). LKS has been treated with traditional anticonvulsant medications, corticosteroids, i.v. immunoglobulins, and even epilepsy surgery ( 48 ). In many instances, both the seizures and language impairment improve with normalization of EEG abnormalities. However, the relationship between language deficits and seizures/EEG abnormalities is not completely clear. Seizures often occur only after the period of regression or not at all ( 15) and EEG findings do not always correlate with the severity and course of language impairment ( 49 ).
What is TSC in autism?
TSC is a rare neurogenetic condition characterized by abnormalities in multiple systems. CNS manifestations include structural brain lesions, frequent intellectual disability, and a high prevalence of epilepsy. Although TSC is relatively uncommon (1 to 3%) in large unselected samples of individuals with ASD ( 51 ), it is more common among individuals with both autism and epilepsy ( 52 ). Autistic symptoms are frequent in children with TSC, and ASD has been reported in up to 60% of clinic samples ( 51, 53 ). The reason for development of ASD in TSC remains unknown, although early onset epilepsy and the presence of intellectual disability seem to be risk factors ( 52 ). It is hypothesized that electrophysiological dysfunction in the temporal lobe disrupts the development of social communication skills ( 54 ).
Is regression associated with epilepsy?
As with epilepsy, the association between the occurrence of regression and epileptiform EEG abnormal ities remains unclear. Currently, many practitioners use the presence of regression as a rationale for obtaining an EEG, to rule out a specific type of epilepsy, Landau Kleffner Syndrome (LKS) (see later). However, the literature contains incomplete and conflicting results that do not necessarily support this practice.
Is epilepsy a risk factor for ASD?
As reviewed, there is an increased risk of epilepsy in ASD and many factors may further increase this risk. However, these factors may not exist independently in a given patient. For example, an individual may have a lower IQ because of a comorbid neurogenetic syndrome that presents with early onset epilepsy. Unfortunately, existing studies have rarely had the sample sizes and phenotypic detail to determine which of these factors is most important in explaining the patient's increased epilepsy risk.
Is intellectual disability a risk factor for autism?
Certainly, a high percentage of children on the autism spectrum have comorbid intellectual disability ( 16 ), and intellectual disability is an independent risk factor for developing epilepsy ( 17 ).
How does epilepsy affect people?
The impact of epilepsy on patients' lives. The impact of epilepsy is multifaceted and extensive on its effects. The occurrence of seizures is unpredictable and often dangerous, increasing the risk of injury, hospitalization and mortality, and adversely affecting a patient's mental health, often resulting in anxiety, depression or cognitive i …. ...
Is it dangerous to have a seizure?
The occurrence of seizures is unpredictable and often dangerous , increasing the risk of injury, hospitalization and mortality, and adversely affecting a patient's mental health, often resulting in anxiety, depression or cognitive impairment.
Can seizures cause stigma?
Seizures can also result in stigmatization and social exclusion, with detrimental effects on an individual's confidence and self-esteem. However, the burden of epilepsy extends beyond the effects of seizures themselves.
How does epilepsy benefit people?
People with epilepsy can benefit from learning skills and techniques that help them manage their disorder, its treatment, and its effects so that they can live full and satisfying lives. Physician support of patient self-management is a key component of effective chronic illness care. A patient is much more likely to participate in a self-management program with a recommendation from a health care professional.
What is the role of health care providers in treating epilepsy?
Health care providers play an essential role in recognizing, treating, and managing epilepsy. This page shares links and resources that health care providers can use to learn about the latest epilepsy treatment guidelines, seizure classifications, programs that address mental health problems, and how to help pediatric patients transition to adult care.
What is the International League against Epilepsy?
The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) has revised its classification of seizures to make diagnosing and classifying seizures more accurate and easier. International League Against Epilepsy: A Practical Clinical Definition of Epilepsy. External.
What is time therapy?
TIME (Targeted Self-Management for Epilepsy and Mental Illness) is a group treatment program designed to improve epilepsy and mental health for adults with epilepsy and mental illnesses, such as depression , anxiety, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or schizophrenia . A trained nurse educator and a trained peer educator instruct in-person group sessions over a 10-12 week time period. Individuals have 2 telephone maintenance sessions with the nurse educator about 2 weeks apart after the group sessions are done.
Can epilepsy cause depression?
Depression is common among people with epi lepsy and can further reduce quality of life. Health providers should screen their patients for depression and offer referrals to mental health professionals when appropriate. 1