Health News

People with epilepsy have to cope with the effects of their seizures on their chances in

life—which may well be reduced if seizures are frequent. Throughout all of life with epilepsy, they have to act as their own public relations officer, deciding how much to tell and how much to conceal. Their circle of friends and choice of sexual partner may well be narrowed. Their inability to hold a driving licence and limitations in employment reduce their earning power, social status, and long-term financial security. By avoidance of factors which they believe may precipitate seizures, social activities may be greatly reduced. It is not surprising, therefore, that people with epilepsy become anxious, or depressed, or resentful and irritable.

The age of onset of epilepsy influences the psychological effects suffered. A robust man of 45 in previous good health who develops epilepsy following a head injury has established his personality, social life, family, and employment before the injury. Although he may encounter problems with future employment, there is no change in how his friends and family perceive him and react to him. The late age of onset and the clear-cut cause of seizures allows this man and his family to take up the position that although he may have a few blackouts he is not really ‘an epileptic’.

It is quite different for a girl whose epilepsy begins at the age of 12, with frequent seizures throughout her school career. Whatever her abilities, her friends and teachers perceive her as ‘an epileptic’. Epilepsy dominates social intercourse, the development of personality, and possibilities of future employment and establishment of married life. Such a person will have more profound psychological difficulties than the 45-year-old man described above. Anxiety, depression, and resentment are entirely comprehensible reactions to the fact of epilepsy. One might say: ‘I would feel like that if I had her problems’. To that extent, therefore, it would be wrong to categorize these psychological effects as an illness, though that does not mean that advice and support from friends, or the family doctor, or a psychiatrist may not aid the person with epilepsy to come to terms with their disability. However skilled the counsellor, we are convinced that the ability to cope depends primarily upon the strength of personality of the person with epilepsy.

Occasionally depression in association with epilepsy may become so severe that treatment with an antidepressant drug is indicated. This drug should be chosen with care.

Depression and inability to cope with the life situation caused by epilepsy may be so severe as to cause the unfortunate sufferer to take his own life. Suicide is approximately five times more common in those with epilepsy than in the general population.

A psychotic illness with symptoms similar to those of paranoid schizophrenia may occasionally be seen in those with epilepsy arising from a temporal lobe lesion. The occurrence of the psychosis is not necessarily related to the frequency of seizures. Indeed, there is a curious group of patients in whom the psychosis becomes prominent as seizures settle, only to remit as seizures return.

One cause of epilepsy is impaired fetal development of the brain or brain damage occurring at or around the time of birth. Children with such brain damage may be less intelligent than their siblings, be more easily distracted from work and play, and be prone to emotional extremes. Because of constant restlessness, this behaviour is sometimes known as the ‘hyperkinetic (or hyperactive) syndrome,. It should be understood that both the behaviour and the epilepsy share a common cause; the epilepsy in itself does not cause this behaviour.

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Let’s first have a look at sea cucumber, an ancient therapeutic agent used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine. Numerous modem scientific research studies show that sea cucumber helps to control inflammatory processes in the body. As a result, sea cucumber often provides relief of the inflammation associated with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, tendinitis, sports injuries, sprains, and joint pains, as well as other inflammatory diseases. One study found that it also improved the body’s overall resistance to stress.

Sea cucumber works by helping to regulate biochemical substances known as prostaglandins which are involved in inflammatory processes. It also contains chondroitin which the body finds valuable to help produce new joint cartilage, and it is a good source of lubricating compounds that are found in the joints and joint fluids. The famous nutritionist Earl Mindell describes sea cucumber as “an even more potent anti-inflammatory agent than hydrocortisone.” The benefits of sea cucumber for most arthritis patients has even been proved in medical studies. It has been approved by the Australian Department of Health as an effective treatment for arthritis and is widely used in the Orient and Europe for that purpose.

An analysis of dried sea cucumber reveals that it is about 80% protein. Other substances found are chondroitin sulphate, and the beneficial minerals boron, calcium, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, silicon, and zinc. Good mineral balance in the body has always been recognized as being valuable for joint health. The safety and the effectiveness of sea cucumber’s therapeutic effects has been demonstrated over thousands of years in practical application, as well as now by modern laboratory testing and clinical trials. Though rare, a few sensitive persons have developed a minor rash from its use.

More evidence of the beneficial effects of the combination of CMO and sea cucumber has been provided by a study conducted by Dr Alan Edwards in England. He reports on a small trial with fibromyalgia suffers which showed improvement for the majority after only 4 weeks use of this combination. Importantly, those that improved showed a very promising improvement, whilst those that did not, had hardly any positive impact at all, perhaps because they failed to absorb the nutrients involved. At the time writing this report is awaiting publication in a respected journal, currently scheduled for the middle of this year.

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Symptoms

Visibly curved spine

Hip-shot standing position

Home care

Check the child’s posture periodically.

Precaution

Scoliosis can worsen rapidly. See your doctor if you suspect scoliosis.

Scoliosis is also known as curvature of the spine. In profile (a side view) a normal spine, or vertebral column, traces an S curve from top to bottom of the back; viewed from the front or the back, the spine is straight from top to bottom. In scoliosis, the spine curves toward one side or the other when viewed from the rear. That curve toward one side produces a second, compensating, curve in the spine to keep the head straight.

One type of scoliosis (idiopathic scoliosis), which more frequently affects girls than boys, has no known cause. It develops during adolescence and stops getting worse when the child stops growing. The other types of scoliosis can develop at any age and can be caused by damage to the vertebrae (bones of the spine) from infection, a tumour, injury, radiation therapy; abnormal development of the vertebrae or ribs; or weakness in the muscles of the trunk. Scoliosis can also result from a difference in the length of the legs. Unlike other forms of the disease, this type of scoliosis does not result in a fixed curvature of the spine; the vertebral column straightens when the child lies down.

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