EPILEPSY
Epilepsy is a convulsive seizure. It affects people of all cultures. The disorder can be caused by changes in electric brain potentials or be hereditary.
The three types of epilepsy are, grand mal, petit mal and temporal lobe seizures.
Grand mal is the most well known. The sufferer may notice a change that can signal the arrival of the seizure. This change can range from a strange smell, flashing lights, ringing in the ears to feeling sick. This is then followed by a loss of consciousness, the sufferer then falls to the ground, the muscles are rigid, followed by shaking and twitching. There is also loss of bladder control, foaming at the mouth and blueness around the lips. The sufferer then falls into a deep sleep. The attack usually only lasts a few minutes.
Petit mal is a form of epilepsy that mostly affects children. These seizures only last a few seconds, usually no more than half a minute.
The symptoms of a petit mal seizure is usually a blank stare that may or may not be accompanied by rapid blinking. These attacks can occur many times daily, the sufferer does not lose consciousness and resumes normal activity straight after the attack.
Petit mal rarely affects adults.
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