Jamie, a 13 year old boy, was a huge fan of racing games. One day, he sat down to play one of his many games on his laptop. As the game loaded, he plugged in the charger. He sat down, about to begin the race. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground surrounded by his family. What had happened? He had fainted, his mom told him, possibly due to being careless while connecting the charger and getting electrocuted.
He had another episode as lay down at night. He was convulsing violently and seemed to be unconscious. His worried parents took him to the neurologist. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and was prescribed with medications for the next few years.
And poor Jamie got diagnosed with epilepsy. Now, what exactly is it? Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological (nerve related) disorder in the world. It is characterized by recurring seizures. The types of seizures in an epileptic person varies widely; some may not even notice it, some may show altered senses (no, it does not involve X-Ray vision) while others may show total loss of consciousness and convulsions, depending on which part of the brain is affected.
Since the brain is affected, any function may be altered; some signs and symptoms observed are:-
Now, onto how you can get it:-
How is it diagnosed? Having a single seizure does not mean you are an epileptic. In fact, many people undergo at least one seizure in their lifetime. Children with very high fever may also undergo seizures, this need not develop into epilepsy. Usually, a CT scan or MRI scan is done to analyse any structural damages to the brain, hemorrhage or tumors aside from a myriad of tests for assessing the neurons. MRI has better imaging quality, however CT is more sensitive to blood. An EEG (electroencephalogram) is also taken.
And now onto why knowing about this condition is important:-
Treatment, duh! However epilepsy treatments are symptom oriented than cause oriented. This means that it controls/reduces the seizures but does not eliminate the cause, unlike medications for, say, a bacterial infection. Treatment options include:-
Being a very old disease as far as recognition goes, it has been surrounded by centuries of misconception.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 15, which is about 4 years back. I was prescribed medicines and while on medication, I did not have any seizure, or at least any seizure which could be noted. About an year back, I stopped my medication. Since then, I haven’t suffered a major seizure however brief lapses of concentration and a sense of altered reality make me question if it was wise to stop the medication.
SOURCES
https://www.epilepsy.com
https://www.mayoclinic.org
https://pixabay.com - For the photos
Sketches by me
Special thanks to 
