Antidepressants Blog » Epilepsy http://drugzz.com Offers user feedback about the effects of antidepressant drugs and natural antidepressants. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:26:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 THE KINDS OF SEIZURE: GENERALIZED SEIZURES – OTHER AREAS OF THE BRAIN THE OCCIPITAL LOBES AND PARIETAL LOBES http://drugzz.com/2011/02/the-kinds-of-seizure-generalized-seizures-other-areas-of-the-brain-the-occipital-lobes-and-parietal-lobes/ http://drugzz.com/2011/02/the-kinds-of-seizure-generalized-seizures-other-areas-of-the-brain-the-occipital-lobes-and-parietal-lobes/#comments Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:17:03 +0000 admin http://drugzz.com/?p=181 The temporal lobes and the frontal lobes are the most important in a discussion of epilepsy because they are most “epileptogenic.” We don’t know why.
Scars, tumors, and other damage in the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain are much more likely to be accompanied by seizures than damage to the occipital lobes or parietal lobes. However, just for completeness, we will briefly discuss these areas as well.
The primary function of the occipital lobe, located in the back of the brain, is vision. Messages from the retina (the back of the eyeball) are transmitted by way of the optic (eye) nerves and by a pathway (the optic radiation) to the occipital lobe, where vision is registered by the brain. Objects off to your left side (when you look straight ahead) are “seen” by the right side of your retina  and proceed along the path to the right side of your brain. Objects on your right (when you look straight ahead) go to the left side of your brain. Vision is complex, and when one stimulates the occipital cortex electrically, the patient sees only bright lights in a random pattern. When a seizure begins in the occipital lobe—which is not common—flashing bright lights may be experienced off to the left side, if it occurs in the right cortex, or to the left side if the right cortex is involved.
The parietal lobe is where “it” all comes together, where much of what we sense by vision or touch achieves meaning. Here, those flashing lights become patterns constituting a formed visual image; through interconnections with the frontal lobe (where memories are stored), we are able to store the images as memories or to recall the formed image as recognized faces or scenes. The posterior temporal-parietal lobe is the site where sounds heard become the pattern of words, which are recognized and remembered or given meaning by association with prior experiences stored in the frontal lobes. It is where speech that is heard becomes speech that is understood and where the sense of touch and feel of a particular object is identified as a key, a ball, or a block. Thus, the parietal lobe is called “the association cortex.” It is rarely the source of seizures and seems to play little role in our understanding of the types of epilepsy. It is not, in other words, very “epileptogenic.”
This basic and simplified lesson in anatomy should provide a better understanding of the many variations of partial seizures discussed below.
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]]> http://drugzz.com/2011/02/the-kinds-of-seizure-generalized-seizures-other-areas-of-the-brain-the-occipital-lobes-and-parietal-lobes/feed/ 0 THE KINDS OF SEIZURE: SIMPLE PARTIAL SEIZURES – WITH MOTOR SYMPTOMS OR WITH SENSORY SYMPTOMS AND WITH AUTONOMIC SYMPTOMS http://drugzz.com/2010/12/the-kinds-of-seizure-simple-partial-seizures-with-motor-symptoms-or-with-sensory-symptoms-and-with-autonomic-symptoms/ http://drugzz.com/2010/12/the-kinds-of-seizure-simple-partial-seizures-with-motor-symptoms-or-with-sensory-symptoms-and-with-autonomic-symptoms/#comments Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:12:50 +0000 admin http://drugzz.com/?p=173 With Motor Symptoms or with Sensory Symptoms
“Simple partial” seizures may involve movement, with jerking of the foot, face, arm, or any other part of the body. They may involve the senses, with a peculiar tingling, burning, or abnormal sensation in any part of the body. The jerking or sensation will depend on where in the brain the electrical activity begins and how it spreads. Since motor and sensory functions are lateralized—one side of the brain controlling the other side of the body—the motor jerking or sensory feeling will be one-sided, on the side opposite the brain’s activity.
Partial seizures may stay local or spread slowly up or down the motor strip or the sensory strip (Fig. 6.1) in a slow spread or “march” that used to be called a “Jacksonian seizure.”
With Autonomic Symptoms
Since a seizure may begin in areas of the brain that control involuntary functions, it may start with the face becoming pale or flushed. The heart may begin to beat rapidly; there may be abdominal cramps and discomfort or a fullness in the chest or throat. Physicians call these “autonomic” symptoms because it is the autonomic part of the nervous system that regulates involuntary body functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and bowel function.
Since the autonomic system has to control both sides of the body simultaneously, not a single half at a time, the physician often cannot identify the side of the origin of the seizure.
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]]> http://drugzz.com/2010/12/the-kinds-of-seizure-simple-partial-seizures-with-motor-symptoms-or-with-sensory-symptoms-and-with-autonomic-symptoms/feed/ 0 THE TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY: INFANTILE SPASMS http://drugzz.com/2009/04/the-treatment-of-epilepsy-infantile-spasms/ http://drugzz.com/2009/04/the-treatment-of-epilepsy-infantile-spasms/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:37:41 +0000 admin http://drugzz.com/2009/04/the-treatment-of-epilepsy-infantile-spasms/ The treatment of infantile spasms is unlike that of other epilepsies. Treatment usually consists of giving a steroid, either by intramuscular injection, or by mouth. The drug which is given by injection is called ACTH (adrenocorticotrophic hormone), and by mouth, prednisolone. The injections are usually given once (rarely twice) a day for two weeks until the spasms have stopped, and then every other day, and eventually just once a week. Only about one half to

two-thirds of children will respond to ACTH or prednisolone, and a number of these children will relapse (have further spasms) once the medication is discontinued. Unfortunately, these medications may be associated with serious side-effects, and therefore the children must be monitored very closely. Other drugs which may be useful in treating spasms include: sodium valproate (Epilim) and nitrazepam (Mogadon). More recently, one of the newer anti-epileptic drugs, vigabatrin (Sabril) is appearing to be successful in treating spasms, particularly if the cause is tuberous sclerosis or as a result of earlier meningitis/encephalitis. This drug seems to be safer, with less serious side-effects, than the steroid drugs. It may soon become the ‘first choice’ drug in the treatment of infantile spasms. One of us already uses vigabatrin to treat every child who has infantile spasms, irrespective of the cause because it appears to have so few side-effects.

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