Epilepsy Essay -- Neurology Neurological Disorders Essays

EpilepsyEpilepsy is a very common neurological disorder. Some reports pronounce that five in single-thousand people suffer from this problem. Throughout history, people with epilepsy get been shunned or considered inferior. Even today, ignorance leads many people to treat the epileptic as abnormal or retarded. Although the etiology of epilepsy is still not fully understood, it is quite treatable due to advances in modern medicine. Epilepsy is characterized by uncontrolled spendthrift activity of either a part of, or all of the primordial nervous system. A person who is predisposed to epilepsy has approach shots when the basal level of surliness of the nervous system rises above a certain critical threshold. As colossal as the degree of excitability is held below this threshold, no attack occurs. Basically, epilepsy can be classified into three major types grand mal, petit mal, and central or partial epilepsy. Grand mal epilepsy is characterized by extreme neuronal discharge s in all areas of the brain in the cortex, in the deeper parts of the cerebrum, and even in the brain stem and thalamus. Also, discharges into the spinal cord cause generalized smart convulsions of the entire body, followed toward the end of the attack by alternating tonic and and then spasmodic muscular contractions called tonic-clonic convulsions. Often the person bites or swallows the tongue and unremarkably has difficulty in breathing, sometimes to the extent of developing cyanosis. Also, signals to the viscera frequently cause urination and defecation. The grand mal seizures lasts from a few seconds to as long as three to four minutes and is characterized by post-seizure depression of the entire nervous system the person remains in stupor for one to many minute... ...l. 16 S31-S38. Bleck, T. and H. Klawans. (1990) Convulsive Disorders Mechanism of Epilepsy and Anticonvulsant Action. Clinical Neuropharmacology 13(2)121-128. Cohen, P. G. (1984) The metabolous Basis for the G enesis of Seizures The Role of the Potassium-Ammonia Axis. Medical Hypothesis, 13199-204. Craig, C. R. (1984) Evidence for a role of neurotransmitters in the mechanism of topical convulsant models. Federal Proceedings, 43(10)2525-2528. Fisher, R. S. (1989) Animal models of the epilepsies. head word Research Review, 14245-278. Guyton, Arthur C. Textbook of Medical Physiology, 8th Ed. ,Saunders Co. (1991) p.663-665. W.B. Schmidt, D., C. Cornaggia, and W. Loscher. (1984) Comparative Studies of the gamma aminobutyric acid System in Neurosurgical Brain Specimens of Epileptic and Non-epileptic Patients. Neurotransmitters, Seizures, and Epilepsy II, p.275-283.