Author Archives: DHamel

Absence seizures: what they look like and how to react

February 11, 2016

By Deron Hamel

The scene is a play rehearsal. Two high-school students, a boy and a girl, are practising their parts. Suddenly, the girl pauses. She stares blankly, appearing lost in her thoughts. Several seconds pass. She then she resumes speaking, as though nothing has happened.

One of the students asks another if a teacher should be called.

Pictured above is a scene from Epilepsy Ontario's new video about absence seizures. — Pictured above is a scene from Epilepsy Ontario’s new video about absence seizures.

The student, realizing what is happening, says “No … it’s fine.”

This is what an absence seizure looks like. The above description is from a video series recently created by Epilepsy Ontario to educate people about different types of seizures.

Absence seizures are a type of generalized seizure, but the features differ from tonic-clonic seizures, which are the more widely recognized type.

Often, absence seizures are mistaken for daydreaming. The person experiencing the seizure will stare blankly but nothing seems too out of the ordinary. Some people do have other features that could include eye movements or blinking. Most absence seizures last only five to 15 seconds. When the seizure is over, the person often does not realize what happened.

Absence seizures, which generally begin in childhood, usually do not require medical assistance, but it’s important for people to recognize what they look like and how to react.

“By the time someone notices that a person is having an absence seizure, the seizure is sometimes over,” explains Suzanne Nurse, Epilepsy Ontario’s director of information and client services.

But, Nurse adds, there are things people can do when they see someone having an absence seizure. For instance, if the person was involved in a conversation, information can be repeated, as they would have missed what was said. In a classroom setting, repeating information is also important so a student doesn’t miss out on valuable instruction.

If a person experiences a suspected absence seizure but does not have an epilepsy diagnosis, they need to be made aware of what happened. If suspected seizures happen to a student at school, parents should be alerted so they can consult with their child’s family doctor about the episodes.

The video is one of three recently created through a joint project of Epilepsy Ontario and Epilepsy Toronto with funding provided by Ontario Trillium Foundation. The other two videos examine tonic-clonic seizures and focal dyscognitive seizures.

Click here to watch all three videos.

If you have feedback on this story, or have a story of your own that you would like to share, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.com. You can also leave a comment below.

Pharmaceutical companies need to explain why drug shortages occur in order to prevent them

February 4, 2016

By Deron Hamel

Stakeholders would be better positioned to offer solutions to prevent medication shortages if pharmaceutical companies provided public explanations about why shortages happen, says Suzanne Nurse, Epilepsy Ontario’s director of information and client services.

Following public consultation in 2014, the Canadian government announced it would be mandating the country’s pharmaceutical manufacturers to publicly announce medication shortages. Mandatory reporting is not in place yet, but even with compulsory reporting, processes need to be in place to prevent shortages of lifesaving medications, Nurse says.

Currently, six medications manufactured by Apotex that are commonly taken by people with seizure disorders are in short supply. These are divalproex, clobazam, levetiracetam, lamotrigine, pregabalin and topiramate.

There’s no explanation for the shortages, Nurse says. Lack of active ingredients, Canadian generic medication pricing policies and global factors have been proposed by some experts as possible causes of shortages, “but it’s all just speculation unless the manufacturers come forward and explain what is going on,” she says.

Shortages of epilepsy medications are “terrifying” for people needing the drugs and their families because of the health and safety risks, Nurse says, adding this is the third time in recent years clobazam, an anti-seizure medication, has been in short supply.

If public explanations were provided when drug shortages occur, stakeholders – whether independent agencies or government organizations – could play a part by working with others, nationally and internationally, to prevent shortages or to mitigate their impact, Nurse says.

For instance, providing explanations for drug shortages would allow global health-care regulators to work together to obtain ingredients that might be in short supply in one country but not in another.

Epilepsy Ontario and other advocacy organizations could play a role by creating dialogue with drug manufacturers to underscore the impact certain medications have on people’s lives, Nurse says.

“When we don’t know what’s happening, it makes it difficult to figure out what needs to be done to prevent it,” she says.

“Knowing what the biggest factors are behind shortages would help us identify what needs to be done to try to prevent them from happening.”

Mandatory reporting will give the public notice of which medications are in short supply, but without an explanation, it’s just a drug’s name on a list, she adds.

“The impact and the personal experience is lost,” Nurse says. “One of the roles Epilepsy Ontario plays is making sure that all the stakeholders that are involved in this issue are aware of how serious (drug shortages are) and how terrifying this is for people living with epilepsy.”

Video examines dos and don’ts surrounding tonic-clonic seizures

January 28, 2016

By Deron Hamel

When it comes to epileptic seizures, it’s safe to say tonic-clonic seizures are the most recognized – and misunderstood – variety.

A new video on Epilepsy Ontario’s website provides insight into what tonic-clonic seizures are, what to do if you see someone having this type of seizure and what not to do.

Pictured above is a scene from the new video about tonic-clonic seizures.

In the video, a man and his girlfriend are walking through a park. Suddenly, the man stops in his tracks, falls to the ground and begins convulsing. Luckily, his girlfriend knows how to react. When she sees her boyfriend begin to fall, she responds right away and asks a person nearby to help her make him comfortable by placing rolled-up clothing under his head.

The stranger then asks the man’s girlfriend, “Is he going to swallow his tongue? Are you supposed to put a spoon in his mouth or something?” The woman then explains that putting anything in a person’s mouth during a seizure is dangerous.

“The best thing we can do is wait it out,” she says. “We’ve just got to make sure and there’s nothing around where he can harm himself.”

A common reaction when people have a tonic-clonic seizure is that someone calls an ambulance. However, unless the person does not have epilepsy, is in water, pregnant, or is injured from the seizure, calling for medical help is not necessary.

Medical help should be called if a seizure lasts longer than five minutes. Because of this, timing seizures is crucial. Medical help is also needed if a second seizure begins before the person has recovered from the first one. Prolonged seizures, or repetitive seizures without recovery in between, are medical emergencies that require urgent treatment because they can result in status epilepticus.

During a tonic-clonic seizure there is widespread seizure activity in both hemispheres and the individual would be unconscious.

Tonic-clonic seizures can start in different ways, depending on the type of epilepsy that a person has. For some people, their seizure may start as a focal seizure in a specific area of the brain and evolve into a bilateral convulsive seizure. For other people, the seizure is a generalized tonic-clonic seizure from the outset. Understanding whether someone has focal epilepsy or generalized epilepsy is important because there are different treatment options.

Each video provides a glimpse into what specific types of seizures look like and explains what steps should be taken by those witnessing the seizure.

“We can use these new videos to show people how to identify different types of seizures and how to help when they see someone having a seizure,” explains Epilepsy Ontario project manager Nikki Porter.

“The videos dispel myths about seizures and (provide information about) seizure first aid. I hope they also help to destigmatize epilepsy.”

Voices of Epilepsy is featuring a series of articles focusing on each of the videos. Click here to read the article about focal dyscognitive seizures.

Click here to watch the videos.

If you have feedback on this story, or have a story of your own that you would like to share, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.com. You can also leave a comment below.

Focal dyscognitive seizures explored in new video

January 21, 2016

By Deron Hamel

A businessman is giving a presentation in a boardroom. Suddenly, he stops midspeech and begins to blankly stare. Then he starts to fidget and wander. One of his colleagues notices something is not right, but she has seen this before. She walks over to the man and slowly begins to guide him to a safe area.

Pictured above is a scene from the new video about focal dyscognitive seizures.

The man has experienced a focal dyscognitive seizure.

This is a scene from a two-and-a-half-minute video, produced by Epilepsy Ontario and Epilepsy Toronto, about this type of seizure, previously called a complex partial seizure.

Focal dyscognitive seizures begin in a particular brain region – in other words, there is a focus or site where the seizures begin. The seizure activity occurs in networks within a single hemisphere, either the right or left side of the brain.

Focal seizures will vary from one individual to another, but for a given person their seizures will tend to be similar every time. Focal seizures may interfere with a person’s ability to communicate. People experiencing these seizures may be unresponsive; they could fidget with clothing or objects and might exhibit unusual behaviours.

If a person sees someone displaying these symptoms they should stay by their side and move any hazards out of the way. If a hazard cannot be moved, gently guide the person away from danger. Focal seizures last approximately one to two minutes.

When a focal dyscognitive seizure ends, the person may be confused. Stay with them until full awareness returns.

In addition to focal dyscognitive seizures, the seizure type shown in the video, there are other types of focal seizures which do not impair cognition. During a focal seizure with retained awareness a person will be fully alert and aware of everything that is happening with no impairment in their thinking abilities or language.

Focal seizures with retained awareness can also cause visible changes in certain muscles or a body part on one side, such as a twitching of part of the face.

The video is one of three recently created through a joint project of Epilepsy Ontario and Epilepsy Toronto with funding provided by Ontario Trillium Foundation. The other two videos examine two types of generalized seizures, absence and tonic-clonic.

Each video provides a glimpse into what specific types of seizures look like and explains what steps should be taken by those witnessing the seizure.

“The videos dispel myths about seizures and (provide information about) seizure first aid. I hope they also help to destigmatize epilepsy.”

Voices of Epilepsy will be featuring the other two videos in upcoming editions.

Click here to watch the videos.