Epilepsy patients are victims of misinformation: Experts

Life took a turn for the worse for Snehal Sawant ever since began having spells of seizures 38 years ago. Convulsions leading to fever, uncontrollable bladder and bitten tongue have become some sort of a routine for the 50-year-old.

Doctors say Snehal, who landed in Bombay Hospital last week, suffers from epilepsy and is a victim of poor awareness of the brain condition. She went home on Tuesday, on the eve of World Brain Day. The Federation of Neurology has selected 'epilepsy' as its theme for 2015.

Epilepsy patients can lead a normal life, say neurologists, ruing the fact that hundreds of people continue to suffer because of misinformation and are forced to live as social outcasts. It's a chronic disorder of the brain that affects people worldwide.

The condition is characterized by recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement that may involve a part of the body or the entire body, and are sometimes accompanied by loss of consciousness and control of bowel or bladder functions.

Neurologists say such episodes of seizures are caused by over-excited brain tissues when they send out abnormal signals to the body. Seizures may vary from the briefest lapses of attention or muscle jerks to severe and prolonged convulsions. The frequency of the attacks too vary – one a year to several per day.

A relative said Borivli resident Snehal used to get seizures almost everyday, mostly at night. While her vital parameters were normal, she had pallor and multiple pigmentations on the face and nail bed. Her worried parents never got her married – in fact, many like her meet the same fate. She is not even allowed to cook as they fear she might get an attack and suffer injuries. Repeated seizures have had an effect on her intelligence quotient, added the relative.

After proper medication, blood transfusion, her haemoglobin level had drastically gone down, she recovered and went home on Tuesday. "To raise awareness among the masses, the World Federation of Neurology has chosen epilepsy as the theme of this year," said Dr Nirmal Surya, consultant neuro-physician at Bombay hospital. She is also the founder trustee and chairman of Epilepsy Foundation.

Dr Surya added, "Many people don't know that this condition can be controlled. However, it may become life-threatening if a patient doesn't receive medical help on time. Many a times, general practitioners fail to diagnose the condition which leads to the patient getting wrong treatment."

(patient's name changed to protect identity)

Epilepsy facts
Epilepsy is a chronic non-communicable disorder of the brain that affects people of all ages.
Approximately 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally.
Nearly 80% of the people with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries.
In about 70% cases, patients respond to treatment.
A single seizure that does not happen again is not epilepsy