From: hound23x@gmail.com   
      
   Seizures From Head Trauma   
      
   Epilepsy can be a delayed consequence of head trauma. In fact, about 5% of all   
   cases of epilepsy are due to this.   
   Head trauma is very common in today's world. In addition to trauma from   
   vehicle crashes and sporting accidents, head injury is becoming the signature   
   injury of modern warfare. Over 1 million Americans sustain head trauma each   
   year, but fortunately only a    
   minority of these are severe. So how often does civilian head trauma lead to   
   epilepsy? It generally depends upon how severe the head trauma is. Mild head   
   trauma, with loss of consciousness for less than 30 minutes, is associated   
   with barely increased    
   risk of developing epilepsy compared to the general population.   
      
   Severe head trauma can be defined as either loss of consciousness or amnesia   
   for greater than a day or internal bleeding in or around the brain. Severe   
   head trauma leads to epilepsy in about 15% of adults and about 30% of   
   children. Injuries with actual    
   penetration of the brain, like a bullet wound, are even more likely to cause   
   epilepsy, about to 25 to 50% of the time.   
      
   Studies have looked at whether treatment with seizure medicines immediately   
   after trauma, before a seizures occur, prevents epilepsy, the condition of   
   spontaneously recurrent seizures. Unfortunately, it does not. Medication   
   simply suppresses seizures    
   while the patient takes them. If a person does have a seizure post injury, a   
   clinician will place it in one of two categories: early seizures, in the first   
   week after an accident, or late seizures occurring more than a week after   
   trauma. Only late    
   seizures are considered to be epilepsy. Early seizures are a risk factor for   
   later epilepsy, but most of the time they pass uneventfully. An early seizure   
   may not require treatment, but a seizure or two occurring later would be   
   treated by many doctors    
   with the usual anti-seizure medications.   
      
   Posttraumatic seizures may not appear for as long as 20 years after an   
   accident. Laboratory studies suggest that this may be due to the long-term   
   repair process after head injury. This repair process happens as new   
   connections and circuits are formed in    
   the brain over a period of years. While this aids recovery of strength, speech   
   and memory, it may also form hyper-excitable circuits that are prone to   
   seizures.   
      
   Head trauma can cause many problems in addition to seizures. People often   
   develop migraine headaches, memory and concentration problems, dizziness, mood   
   swings and various other symptoms known as the concussion syndrome. Even after   
   seemingly minor trauma,   
    these symptoms can persist for months. With more severe head trauma,   
   neurological symptoms sometimes can be permanent.   
      
   In conclusion, head trauma is common and usually mild, but severe head trauma   
   can lead to epilepsy. There is a great need for a long-term medication that   
   will prevent the development of epilepsy after trauma and other types of head   
   injury, and research    
   is currently being conducted to find one.   
      
   Epilepsy videos made in partnership with HealthGuru.com and the Epilepsy   
   Therapy Project.   
      
      
      
      
   http://neurology.stanford.edu/epilepsy/patientcare/videos/e_12.html   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)