Category Archives: Arrhythmia

The Links Between Sleep Deprivation and Epilepsy

Leave a reply

Article by Jenifer

Suffering from sleep deprivation can have a lot of adverse side effects, and sleeplessness is even more dangerous if the person has epilepsy. Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder and is associated with the seizures sufferers acquire involuntarily. The seizures are symptoms of an excessive, abnormal, or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. It is estimated that fifty million people all over the world has epilepsy or has experienced epilepsy at one point in their lives.

Although not all epilepsies are permanent, there is no cure for it. Medications can help control epileptic shocks but epilepsy itself either lasts for certain stages of childhood or it could very well be a lifelong affliction. Also, epilepsy in itself is not a single syndrome. There are numerous precipitating factors for its occurrence, and it all culminates as an abnormal activity in the brain which causes the shock.

Although most epilepsy shocks happen spontaneously or at random, there can be triggers for epilepsy. Shock during drug and alcohol withdrawal is not considered epilepsy. The triggers can be normal day to day activities. These are called normal provocants, and it can include reading, hot water on the head, and hyperventilation. Flashing or flickering lights is a special type of reflex epilepsy called photosensitive epilepsy. Though popularly known as an epileptic trigger, only two to fourteen percent of epilepsy sufferers are affected by it. Environmental factors that can lead to an epileptic shock or seizures can be sleeping, or hypnogogia (which is the transition between being unconscious state of sleeping and waking state). Menstruation, constipation, stress and anxiety and alcohol can be other epileptic triggers.

Moreover, sleep deprivation, as most doctors and researchers have found out, is also linked with epilepsy. Epilepsy and sleep deprivation can work both ways: epilepsy can make it difficult for sufferers to go to sleep at night, and sleeplessness in turn, can lead to an epileptic shock. Epilepsy is not limited during a person’s waking state: there can be full or partial seizures during sleeping. People who are epileptic are also more likely to develop sleeping disorders compared to the rest. Insomnia is not the only adverse effect of epilepsy. Epileptics are also more likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea (restriction in the airways, causing pauses in breathing while asleep), restless leg syndrome, among others.

Medications to control the seizures can also be the cause why epileptics have a harder time sleeping. It has been found that these medicines can cut their sleeping time or cause erratic sleeping habits. What is worse is that since being deprived of sleep can cause more seizures, and epilepsy (and medications) can cause sleep deprivation, epileptics can be caught in a vicious cycle. It is just like connecting the dots: since sleep deprivation can affect the brain, and epilepsy shock is caused by episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain, the link between epilepsy and sleep deprivation is a dangerous combination.

Dealing with both epilepsy and sleep deprivation is a serious matter. One has to consult a doctor, and epileptics might need to change their daily habits, their environment, and so on. It takes a great deal of effort, but with the help of doctors and professionals, it can be managed.

Related Articles:

Teenage Sleep Deprivation

Sleep Deprivation and Diabetes

Penis Enlargement Food Why Are A Man’S Issues Mostly About His Penis? A Woman Wants To Know

Leave a reply

Article by dorothypuffinberger

Are you constantly worrying about your small penis size? Find out how you can improve your sexual performance by increasing the size of your penis in this article!

Are you unhappy with the size of your penis? Would you like to be bigger and able to perform better in the bedroom? Results are now guaranteed that will naturally increase the size of your penis permanently.

See results in as little as 7 days GUARANTEED – Click here to start TODAY >> No waiting – Start enlarging NOW >>

There is nothing quite like having an exceptional penis size and projecting the kind of self confidence and aura in you that all women find irresistible. But with the veritable avalanche of male enhancement products on the market these days finding that one solution to cure your size woes can prove to a tall order. Now rather than fretting over your size why not learn exactly what works to give you a really decent ‘lift’ to your manhood? Read on and find out!

A man who believes he is less endowed clearly does need any explanation on the disadvantages he can have when having sex. Instead he is surely more interested in ways to improve the size of his penis without having to go through the embarrassment and risks of surgery.

This article explains how you can grow your penis by at least 2-3 inches by using specific natural methods that involve no pain or risk of injury. I went from 5.5 inches long and 5 inches around to over 8 inches long and 6 inches around and my gains are completely permanent!

For all of you men out there who desperately want to change the size of your penis you will be pleased to hear there is now a natural approach you can take. Instead of needing to rely on gimmicks such as pills and extenders (that constantly fail) there is now a more natural alternative that is proving to be a fantastic success. I have used these techniques myself and I can honestly say that they have changed my life – I am now 4 inches bigger and my confidence is sky high. If you think your life would be better with a bigger penis then just copy exactly what I did.

If you’re frustrated over your attempts to boost your penis size (and have perhaps tried just about every male enhancement products on the market) fret not! The vast majority of men are in the same shoes. The simple truth is you can finally get the size your want and satisfy any woman using this one simple method that has stood the test of time…

When one journeys down the road of Natural penis male enlargement using penis exercises it should never be looked at as some kind of race or some form of competition. The exact opposite is true.

Disturbance In The Brain And Epilepsy

Leave a reply

Article by K Bakhru

In many patients, in spite of exhaustive efforts/investigations, no cause of epilepsy may be located. Such cases are called idiopathic cases of epilepsy.

However, an intensive drive is a must to detect any lesion in the brain which could account for an epileptic attack, the reason being, that if the cause of epilepsy is detected, it is usually treatable, and, therefore, the patient will be cured forever, and thus may not need a long course of. antiepileptic drugs.

If, somehow, the cause remains undiagnosed/undetected, especially when the pathology is right in the brain, the disease will advance further, and besides the manifestations of epilepsy, other clinical features of the underlying disease will occur, making the patient a most complicated case for treatment. It may even prove fatal, if a lesion like neoplasm/malignancy / cancer in the brain remains hidden. This usually happens when detailed investigations have not been carried out, especially the most informative ones like CT scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) etc. These are costly exercises, but all factors must be taken note of.

A thorough search for the detection of brain tumour is needed, especially in an adult / middle-aged / elderly person, more so when epilepsy is not being controlled in spite of high dosages of various antiepileptic drugs, and the attacks are increasing both in number and intensity. In such cases MRI must be done, even if the report of the CT scan is normal, as the MRI is more effective in the detection of any pathology in the brain. In one of our patients of about 40 years of age, epilepsy was not being controlled in spite of heavy medication, and even the CT scan was normal. An MRI was done, which showed the presence of a tumour in the brain. This was immediately operated upon, and the patient’s epilepsy was subsequently controlled.

It is very important to keep in mind that epilepsy may be the only and the first symptom of brain tumours, which may even continue for several years, before other manifestations of brain tumour appear. This usually happens when the tumour is a slow-growing one/benign in nature. Hence, whenever epilepsy occurs for the first time in an adult/middle-aged/ elderly person, a tumour of the brain must be suspected, and the case should be thoroughly investigated so that the treatment is not delayed. An early diagnosed and treated brain tumour has a very high prognosis.

Another cause of epilepsy could be either a recent or an old injury of the head, which also needs a thorough check-up.

Also, trauma induced by an injury to the head of a newly-born during delivery (i.e. birth injury/injuries) is an important cause of epilepsy, and again, even in such cases of birth injuries, epilepsy may occur after many/several years of birth.

Further, epilepsy may occur when the brain function is disturbed due to the various other lesions in the brain called space-occupying lesions (brain tumours are also one of the space-occupying lesions), like an abscess, tuberculoma as a result of tuberculosis, infarction (i.e. damage of an area of brain as a result of occlusion of one of the branches of cerebral/ brain vessels, responsible for the blood supply of involved/ damaged area of the brain), and cysticercosis (i.e. a lesion in the brain which occurs due to ingestion of infected and insufficiently cooked pork), etc. Focal epilepsy following ‘tuberculoma’ in the brain is also seen.

Heredity also plays a significant role in some of the cases of epilepsy.

Other important causes of epilepsy are fever, withdrawal of drugs or alcohol, toxaemia, etc. which are likely to precipitate an attack of epilepsy. Epilepsy sometimes also occurs in a case of renal/kidney failure.

Irrespective of the cause of epilepsy, and including the cases of idiopathic epilepsy, where no reason for an attack of epilepsy has been detected, the nature or clinical manifestations of the attack of epilepsy remain the same.