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  • 1 year ago
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects over 65 million people worldwide and just over 40,000 thousand persons living right here in Trinidad and Tobago.


But what causes Epilepsy, commonly known as Seizure?

Sharla Kistow has more in this report
Transcript
00:00According to Pediatric Neurologist Dr. Venita Shukla, epilepsy is not contagious, but the
00:06cause of the disease is still unknown in about 50% of cases globally, and the causes of epilepsy
00:12are divided into a few categories, structural, genetic, infectious, immune, and unknown.
00:19There are a number of different causes, so when we say we don't find a cause, it's called
00:25idiopathic or unknown. Then there may be structural causes, so in kids especially,
00:32when their, when parents, moms are pregnant, it could be that, you know, a gene, a genetic
00:40condition very early on, and then it only presents later on as a seizure, where there
00:46might just be abnormal folding in one specific part of the brain, or it might be a small lesion
00:52that is slow growing, right, so it could be a benign tumor, so those are some of the structural
00:58causes. In our population, because we are a tropical country, we have a higher incidence
01:05of having infections, viral infections, and because of our ethnicities as well, we have
01:12a higher predisposition to autoimmune conditions, so like autoimmune, meaning your body would
01:19produce antibodies against a certain virus, and then those antibodies go from good to
01:26bad, and start affecting your own body, so it affects your own brain. Dr. Shukla explains
01:33what a person should do if they ever witness someone having a seizure, as there are many
01:38misconceptions. If a patient is having a tonic-clonic seizure, or a FIT, where their body jerks
01:45and stiffens, that's a common one that we would see. What we educate persons to do is
01:54to try to stay calm, and it's very hard, especially as a parent, but try to stay calm, put on
02:00a timer, always time it, turn them to their side. By turning them to their side, their
02:07tongue moves to the side, and it clears the airway, right, so that's the main thing. The
02:12pediatric neurologist says seizures can be controlled, and people living with epilepsy
02:17could become seizure-free with the appropriate use of medication. She says a seizure is not
02:23a death sentence, as there are several avenues that could be used to help people who suffer
02:28with the disease. Sharla Kisto, TV6 News.
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