Male Speaker: 46 year-old Polly Siegel's epilepsy first appeared 15 years ago after she had a devastating bike accident. She recovered from her injuries, but she has had debilitating seizures ever since.
Polly Siegel: I don't lose consciousness, but I am not always aware my surroundings during the seizures. So I can continue to do whatever I'm doing mechanically. But I have a really hard time interacting with the outside world.
Male Speaker: Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of the nervous system, affecting between 1 and 2% of the population in our country. Today more than 2.7 million Americans and 50 million worldwide are living with epilepsy. People of all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds.
Dr. R. Eugene Ramsay: Epilepsy is a condition in which the brain cells misfire. I like to called it an electrical storm in the brain and when this electrical storm occurs it causes the individual to function in an abnormal way and maybe any where from a brief period in which they stare off in the distance and not know what's happening, to what most people think of is a convulsion or they fall to the ground, they jerk all over, may bite their tongue and this usually takes a minute or two and then resloves.
Male Speaker: While in most cases it's not clear, there are many name causes of epilepsy and seizures. These include brain injuries, infections that damage the brain, tumors, disturbances is in blood circulation to the brain such as stroke, high fevers, lead or other poisoning, and maternal injury. Doctors treat epilepsy primarily with seizure preventing medicines known as anti-epileptic or anti-convulsing drugs. Anti-epileptic medications available today can be divided into two major groups, the old anti-epileptic drugs which were released for use prior to 1978 and the new anti-seizure drugs approved by the FDA after 1993. While both groups are equally affective, the older generation is often associated with more significant side effects like tiredness, dizziness, weight gain, double vision and skin reactions; others impair thinking and reasoning and may sometimes cause headaches.
Barry Gidal: Some of these older generation anti-epileptic drugs can interact with other medicines and the result of that could be that the physicians will need to use perhaps bigger doses of these other medicines or need to adjust the doses of these other medicines to compensate for these drug interactions.
Male Speaker: While medications have helped many control their seizures, they often have side effects that can compromise the qualify of life. New medications along with the older generation drugs successfully control and minimize seizures in about 80% of all epilepsy patients. Surgery is used when drug treatments fail and the brain tissue causing the seizure is confined to one area and can be safely removed.
Polly Siegel: Learn as much as can about it ask your doctor questions. If a medication is at working out for you because of side effects or its not controlling things ask your doctor if you can change.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services