Today is World Epilepsy Day, or Purple Day, as it’s more commonly known.
What does that have to do with being nine years old I hear you ask? Stay with me…
Yes, Purple Day is yet another awareness day that reminds the human race about its vulnerabilities and weaknesses, but I also discovered that Purple Day was founded by a young Canadian girl, when she was just nine years old!
Cassidy Megan, now 15, was afraid to tell the kids in her class about her epilepsy because she thought they’d make fun of her, but after a presentation at her school by the Epilepsy Association, she became a spokesperson for kids with the neurological disorder.
She called it Purple Day, after the international colour for epilepsy lavender.
And now it’s brag time! Tell us about your amazing grandchildren and their fantastic feats…
Now on a serious note…here are some facts about epilepsy
– Epilepsy is a disruption of the normal electrical activity of the brain that results in seizures or fits.
– In people over 65, epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder after dementia and stroke.
– Although many people are diagnosed in the first two decades of life, it is more likely that epilepsy will develop in later life.
– Under certain circumstances anyone can have a seizure. It is only when there is a tendency to have recurrent seizures that epilepsy is diagnosed.
– Epilepsy is a disorder with many possible causes, although sometimes the cause is not found.
In the over 60s age group:
– Stroke is the most frequent cause of seizures. Seizures occur in more than 15% of people who have had a stroke. The larger the stroke, the higher the risk. Sometimes the first sign of a stroke is a seizure.
– Medications such as antidepressants and major tranquillisers can reduce the brain’s threshold to seizures. Some herbal medicines may also provoke seizures.
– Blocked arteries or heart disease or any other disorders that result in not enough blood or oxygen supply to the brain, can result in seizures.
– Trauma causing head injuries or brain haemorrhage can also cause seizures.
– Degenerative conditions such as Alzheimers. Up to 10% of people with Alzheimer’s disease can have seizures.
– Other seizure causes include diabetes, kidney or liver failure, serious infections, brain tumours and chronic alcoholism or illegal drug abuse.
Epilepsy Australia 2012