Understanding Epilepsy: Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment

This report provides a comprehensive overview of epilepsy, including its prevalence in Australia, diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment options. It covers different types of seizures and their frequency, as well as the risks associated with epilepsy. The report also highlights the fact that a significant proportion of people with epilepsy do not receive the treatment they need.

Running Head: Human Physiology
Human Physiology
Neurological , Epilepsy

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Human Physiology
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Epilepsy in Australia...................................................................................................................................2
Diagnosis and Prognosis..............................................................................................................................3
Types of Seizures........................................................................................................................................4
Treatment....................................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................6

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Human Physiology
Introduction
Epilepsy is actually a disorder which is related to the brain or neurology. It is characterized by
epileptic seizures. These seizures are actually the incidents that might differ from short and
closely not detectable periods of strong shaking. Such type of episodes can cause physical
injuries that might involve breaking of bones too. These seizures actually tend to return and they
do not have any essential cause (Sharma & Dixit, 2013). The kind of seizures that are isolated
and are provoked because of the particular cause like poisoning etc. do not represent Epilepsy.
People who possess this disease can be treated in various different manners in different parts of
the world and also can experience different degrees of social stigma because of their condition.
Epilepsy in Australia
The epidemiology of this disease is very less known in Australia and hence, people are usually
reliant on the international studies when they access burden of Epilepsy and its harmful impacts
and injuries caused by it. As per the international studies and their data, the prevalence of this
disease is usually taken in between 4 and 10 cases per 1000 people and overall incidents are of
about 50 cases on per 100000 people (Australia, 2009). The percentages of people who factually
display the symptoms of epilepsy are 3 to 4 percent of the total population. The Australian
population is fairly 22 million and with the study of this data suggests that the cumulative
number of people who possess Epilepsy in Australia today exists in between 88k and 220k with
few 660k and 880k Australians who has Epilepsy in their lifetime. This disease does not happen
in isolation. It is related to the family condition and the impacts that it has on all the members of
the family. It is estimated that the total number of people affected are in between 352k and 880k.
This makes the total population of having this disease to be 2.6 million to 3.5 million Australian.
It is usually found out that this disease always carries excess death of 2 to 3 times as compared to
the general population. Every years approximately 300 deaths occur which are linked with the
Epilepsy and out of these 300 deaths, 150 approximately are unexpected. There is always a risk

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Human Physiology
of suicide and it is increasing with time in most of the populations in the people who possess
Epilepsy whereas some of the injuries or deaths happen because of the accidents like drowning
(Magiorkinis et al., 2014).
Diagnosis and Prognosis
The Seizures can start to develop at absolutely any age but this disease is mostly diagnose in the
childhood or in adolescence and them people over 65 years of age. The children display 40% of
the total population that have epilepsy. Adult count in the complete population who has epilepsy
is 30% and similarly, 30% of the remaining population is that of elderly people. Approximately
15% of the total people were actually referred to the specialists of epilepsy and it turned out that
they do not have epilepsy and they are completely normal. Hence, they were misdiagnosed.
This disease is diagnosed of someone possess:
 A minimum of two not provoked seizures (Dawda, 2010).
 At least one not provoked seizure and there is a probability of having another one soon.
 Epilepsy syndrome if diagnosed.
There are many people who have a long term reduction from the seizure. This is a disease which
might not prevail for life. It might reduce with growing age. It can be taken that epilepsy is
reduced or resolved completely when:
 If a person has age dependent epilepsy syndrome yet it is older than the age that is
actually applicable.
 A person is free from the seizure since 10years and on no medication since 5 years.
Epilepsy is associated with the risen up risks of death up to 2 to 3 times of usual population that
might relate to:
 Any underline disease related to the brain like tumor or any infection.
 Seizures that are in dangerous situations which leads to drowning or any other head
injuries.

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Human Physiology
 Emergencies in seizure that are occurring from a very long time (Anon., 2006).
 The causes that cannot be explained
 Wet breathing while having seizure
 Suicide or treatment linked with death.
Types of Seizures
It is usually thought that this disease will always include convulsions. There are approximately
40 types of epilepsy and epilepsy syndromes and most of them are not even convulsive. Seizures
can differ from the shortest periods of attention, confusion and unusual behaviors to fall or
convulsions. All types of seizures can differ in the frequency. A few people might have it in less
than a year whereas others can have multiple within a single day (Guerreiro, 2008).
Treatment
 With the treatment of epilepsy, about 70% of the people become free from seizure but
about three quarter of the people in the countries that are developing does not even get
the treatment that they require.
 After about 3 to 5 years of the treatment and becoming free from seizure, all types of
medicines related to the disease can be stopped in approximately 70% of the children and
60% of the adults with no later relapse.
 A very trivial amount of percentage might be suitable for the surgery of epilepsy. Only
50% of people who have undergone the surgery become completely free from the
seizures for the long term (Vongkasamchai et al., 2015).
 Other options instead of the surgery are Ketogenic diet, Vagus Nerve Stimulation etc
(Liao & Xiong, 2016).
Conclusion

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Human Physiology
This report focuses on the neurological disorder which is known as Epilepsy. Majorly it is seen
in Australia and the issue of prevalence prevails in Australia. Most of the population stays
undiagnosed and others also are in no better condition. This report also displays the data as to
what percentage of the people is diagnosed of the epilepsy. This report also discusses about the
diagnosis and the prognosis of the disease with the treatments that can be done for this disease.

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References
Anon., 2006. Diagnosis and Treatment of the First Epileptic Seizure: Guidelines of the Italian
League Against Epilepsy. Epilepsia, 47, pp.2-8.
Australia, J.E.C.O., 2009. Australian Chapter of the International Bureau for Epilepsy. [Online]
Available at: http://www.epilepsyaustralia.net/uploads/74689/ufiles/PDF/jeca-submission-to-pfe-
inquiry.pdf [Accessed 26 July 2018].
Dawda, Y., 2010. Epilepsy: Clinical Features and Diagnosis. Clinical Pharmacist, 2.
Guerreiro, C.A.M., 2008. Guidelines for Drug Treatment of Epilepsy. Arq Neuropsiquiatr, 66(3),
pp.591-99.
Liao, J. & Xiong, L., 2016. Implementation of Ketogenic Diet Therapy in Refractory Epilepsies.
Epilepsy Journal, 2(3).
Magiorkinis, E., Magiorkinis, E., Sidiropoulou, K. & Panteliadis, C., 2014. Highights in the
History of Epilepsy: The Last 200 Years. Epilepsy Research and Treatment, p.14.
Sharma, S. & Dixit, V., 2013. Epilepsy – A Comprehensive Review. International Journal of
Pharma Research & Review, 2(12), pp.61-80.
Vongkasamchai, N., Lertsinudom, S., Sawanyawisuth, K. & Tiamkao, S., 2015. Prevalence of
Provocative Seizures in Persons with Epilepsy: A Longitudinal Study at Khon Kaen University
Hospital, Thailand. Neurology Research International, p.4.