A Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, Ikenna Onwuekwe, says recurrent epilepsy in adults could be signs of degenerative diseases, stroke or tumour.
\nHe advised that an elderly individual, who has been experiencing epilepsy, should be taken to a physician for thorough medical examination, so that the root cause can be diagnosed and treated.
\nAccording to Mayo Clinic, an online health portal, epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behaviour, sensations and sometimes loss of awareness.
\nIt noted that anyone can develop epilepsy, adding that it affects males and females of all races, ethnic backgrounds and ages.
\nMayo Clinic explained that epilepsy has no identifiable cause in about half the people with the condition.
\nIt noted that however, in the other half, the condition may be traced to various factors that include genetic influence, head trauma, brain abnormalities and infections like meningitis, HIV, viral encephalitis and some parasitic infections. Others are prenatal injury (before birth) and developmental disorders such as autism.
\nFor degenerative disease, Docdoc.com, a medical information portal explained that it is a type of medical condition that causes a tissue or organ to deteriorate over time.
\nIt noted that there are quite a number of degenerative diseases and many of them are associated with aging or could get worse during the aging process.
\n\u201cDegenerative diseases are classified into three main groups: cardiovascular, neoplastic, and nervous system. The most common cardiovascular diseases are hypertension, coronary disease, and myocardial infarction. Neoplastic diseases include tumours and cancer. Diseases that affect the nervous system include Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s.
\n\u201cDegenerative diseases are caused by a wide variety of factors. Some are a direct result of normal wear and tear of the body, while others are perpetuated by poor health or an unhealthy lifestyle,\u201d the site stated.
\nProf. Onwuekwe, who is the Founder and Inaugural President of International League Against Epilepsy, Nigeria Chapter, clarified that seizures are different from epilepsy, noting that isolated seizures can occur from multiple causes and are not repetitive in nature, while epilepsy is repeated seizures that occur at least twice in the absence of fever.
\nSpeaking with The Tide\u2019s source, the neurologist, who is also the head of the Neurology Unit at the teaching hospital, said, \u201cFor older adults and elderly individuals, many causes of epilepsy are due to cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.<\/p>\n
\u201cTumours remain an important cause, while traumatic brain injury and post-surgery complications are known causes as well.\u201d
\nProf. Onwuekwe revealed that drug and alcohol abuse can also cause epilepsy in an older adult.
\nHe said a person suffering from a seizure may not be aware of or mildly affected when having an episode.
\nThe neurologist explained that the seizure manifestation of epilepsy may sometimes be mistaken for other conditions.
\nAccording to him, it is necessary that those close to elderly persons having epilepsy should watch out for the symptoms, as they may vary.
\nHe added, \u201cAll seizures are of brain origin and involve sudden abnormal generations of very high electrical activity by cortical neurons with involvement of certain subcortical structures.
\n\u201cThere may be a complete loss of consciousness in seizures if both hemispheres of the brain are affected during the seizure. Otherwise, consciousness may be normal or only mildly affected if it is coming from one hemisphere.
\n\u201cThe seizure manifestation can be multiple and often mistaken for other conditions. Motor manifestation such as repetitive jerking of limbs on one or both sides of the body, or facial twitching, are called convulsions.
\n\u201cSensory manifestations such as repetitive loss of sensation or unusually heightened feelings in the face or limbs can occur. Visual components of seizures are recognised too.
\n\u201cSpeech arrest may occur. Abnormalities of involuntary functions such as breathing, blood pressure, gut functions, sweating, laughing or crying may all be types of seizures, just as repetitive short-lived behavioural changes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, Ikenna Onwuekwe, says recurrent epilepsy in adults could be signs of degenerative diseases, stroke or tumour. He advised that an elderly individual, who has been experiencing epilepsy, should be taken to a physician for thorough medical examination, so that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291573,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291568\/revisions\/291573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}