My journey to Surgery

The history of Epilepsy

Nizhoni A. Begay

Navajo Nation, Creek, Choctaw Nation

The Brain

The brain is a interesting and complex part of the human body. It is a three pound organ, it senses what you are feeling, smelling, touch, and see.

FORMAL PRESSENTATION - Google Slides.webm

Jeanette Armstrong

Jeanette is a member of the council of the Penticton Indian Band, located in British Columbia. She is a part of the Okanagan tribe. Armstrong observes different Okanagan practices and views of the community. She wants to focus on the identity of her community and see how others see the tribe.

The History of Epilepsy

How Epilepsy was discovered.

It was discovered in the BC times by the babylonians, some of the people thought it was a gift from god and others thought it was a curse from the devil. But there are other religions that have different ways of discovering epilepsy in their countries.

Purple Day

There was this child.her name was Cassidy Morgan, she was so overwhelmed by her epilepsy that she wanted to make a day that others that were going through the same thing as her would wear purple and spread awareness for this unrecognized Chronic illness.

SUDEP

A risk that everyone with epilepsy takes when they have a strong seizure and something limits their air supply. We are all afraid of this, no matter how hard we try to hide it.

Epilepsy Awareness Month

A month that everyone that has epilepsy can bring awareness to their disability. We are the less known disability, yet we have more death rates than cancer brings. So why are we not recognized?

Under the Lights

"Under the Lights" is a short film about epilepsy. It was made by Miles Levin, he wants to end epilepdy stigma and raise epilepsy awareness.

Research Logs

Different Symptoms during a seizure described

There are many different types of symptoms that happen during a seizure, there are motor and non-motor symptoms. For generalized onset seizures, there was rhythmical jerking movement, your muscles becoming limp or weak, the muscles becoming rigid and tense, brief twitching, or epileptic spasms.

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy

SUDEP is a serious issue in the epilepsy community. We all have this fear. Even if it means staying on your toes every day. People have made inventions that helped people with epilepsy. They have made an anti-suffocation pillow.

Help After a Seizure

After a seizure, the person may or may not know where they are or even be able to speak after a seizure. They are in a postical state, that is when someone who is spacey looks out of it as if they came out of a seizure. You have to wait a couple of minutes for them to respond as you ask your question. But, if they are still confused do not leave them. You have to wait until they can answer the three W’s and that they are breathing normally and on their own.

Mayo Clinic Explains Epilepsy

Dr.Wong-Kisiel explains the basics of Epilepsy like Who has it? Who can get it? and what the symptoms are, and diagnosis and Treatment. She starts by telling the viewer that Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder. More than three million people in the United States developed epilepsy. Epilepsy is a result of abnormal brain activity, there is an electrical current that goes through the brain but gets interrupted, and that turns into a seizure.

Bristol Lunatic Asylum

In the late 1800s, a psychiatric asylum called “Bristol Lunatic Asylum” had patients who had epilepsy. Epilepsy was the most common non-psychiatric illness there, Epilepsy treatment was only discovered in the early 19th century. The Superintendent that was there that year was Dr.Benham, he did say that there were 120 patients with Epilepsy between the year 1800 to 1900.

Of the 120 patients that had epilepsy, that was a fifth of the population of patients that were there. There were only eleven patients that were properly diagnosed with epilepsy as the rest were diagnosed with Dementia, the number was 500 plus patients who had it but were in the Dementia ward probably. In 1881 the Superintendent made a list of the males and females who had epilepsy and there was a total of 12,462 seizures that both the male and females had.

It is devastating to see that people with Epilepsy were treated badly and put in asylums. I am grateful that the dark era of epilepsy has passed and we can think about what other treatments may come our way and see if there is ever a cure for this Chronic Illness.

Stigma is the toughest foe in an epilepsy fight

A woman named Jeneba Kabba, a teacher who lives in FREETOWN, Sierra Leone. She teaches children who have epilepsy under an awning and she tries to teach them how to do many things on their own. Mrs. Kabba also has Epilepsy but she had a traumatic experience with what a traditional healer was trying to do. This was when she was a teenager, the healer would boil herbs and many other things and ask her to smell the fumes that were coming from the tent. After a while, she would almost out and burn herself. The healer would say that this was the treatment to get demons out and that was what everyone thought epilepsy was. The other and last thing that the healer ever did was make Mrs. Kabba drink a two-liter of Kerosene, she said that her chest started to boil and the only thing that saved her was a frantic trip to the hospital. That was when she was put on Phenobarbital, which is one of the oldest anti-seizure medications. She has been 10 years seizure-free.

Native American Calling: Understanding Epilepsy

Reading the transcript of the podcast, it is nice to know that people are acknowledging Epilepsy. The podcast is telling us that out of the 3.5 million people that have epilepsy, there are at least 51,000 natives that have recurring epilepsy. There are 150,000 that get diagnosed with epilepsy each year and that is just the native population. Epilepsy is one of the most misunderstood chronic illnesses in the country. Half of the people that have epilepsy, have uncontrolled and recurring seizures. All they can do is take the medication that they are prescribed and see if any of the treatments work for them.

Laser brain therapy offers hope to epilepsy sufferers in England

Hundreds of people were offered laser therapy in the U.K, It offered hope for people that suffered from Epilepsy. The procedure contains a small laser that goes into the skull and destroys the brain tissue that causes seizures. But, the one thing is that this treatment can be riskier and more precise than a regular brain procedure. The laser procedure lets the patients recover more quickly than they would after brain surgery. There are around 600,000 people that suffer from epilepsy in England, Most of them are controlled by medication.

Audience

There were at least 12 students there. Most of them were Juniors and Seniors.

After Action Plan #1

This was after I showed a short film about Epilepsy. I asked if any students had questions.

Before Action Plan #1

I was mostly getting the video ready and prepped.

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Action Plan #1 (2022, November22)

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Action Plan #1 (2022, November 22)

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Action Plan #1 (2022, November 22)

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