Tag Archives: 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.

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 absence seizures and focal dyscognitive seizures.

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.

Medication Alert: Divalproex Sodium (Epival)

December 19, 2015

Canadian pharmaceutical companies are reporting shortages of divalproex sodium (Epival), also known as valproic acid.

As of Thursday December 17, a total of fifteen divalproex sodium shortages were posted on drugshortages.ca by Abbott Laboratories Limited*, Apotex Inc., Pro Doc Limitée, Sanis Health Inc. and Teva Canada Limited. None of the pharmaceutical companies have provided an explanation for the shortages.

This situation is a serious concern. The estimated resupply dates currently range from December 24, 2015 to April 30, 2016. These dates are estimates and could change. Drug shortages, or back-orders, at the level of the pharmaceutical companies do not always result in shortages at community and hospital pharmacies. Although the longer a shortage lasts the greater the likelihood that it could have an impact on patients.

If you or a family member have been prescribed divalproex sodium (Epival), contact your pharmacist and ask about the availability of your medication.

If your pharmacist runs into any difficulty obtaining divalproex sodium they may be able to find some from a different supplier, another drug store, or another chain.

According to the Canadian Pharmacists Association’s guide on drug shortages, Step 1 is for pharmacists to exhaust every avenue to supply the medication. This may require looking beyond their regular sources of supply and contacting other wholesalers or calling the manufacturers. Your pharmacist also has access to resources and information through the Ontario Pharmacists Association.

If the situation worsens and your pharmacist is not able to locate any divalproex sodium for you, it is important to work with your pharmacist and your health care provider to manage the drug shortage in the safest way possible.

During a shortage, your pharmacist and health care provider may explore options that could include filling your prescription with a different strength tablet or substituting a different medication. If your dosing instructions change, ensure you understand the instructions and ask questions if it isn’t clear.

When a drug is unavailable in Canada, Health Canada’s Special Access Program (SAP) will consider requests from health care providers for access to the drug from outside the country. The SAP can be reached 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the program strives to process requests within 24 hours of receipt.

It is important to continue to take your medication as indicated. It can be frightening when an epilepsy drug is in short supply but skipping doses, taking less medication, or suddenly stopping an antiseizure drug is dangerous. This can lead to breakthrough seizures, more prolonged seizures or life-threatening events.

If you need any assistance or if you would like to be notified of any updates, please let us know. Call our office at 905-474-9696 or toll-free 1-800-463-1119 or email [email protected].

Click here for frequently asked questions about drug shortages

Click here for additional information about the Health Canada Special Access Program

* This company may be listed on drugshortages.ca incorrectly. Epival is no longer marketed by Abbott Laboratories Limited. According to the Health Canada drug product database, Epival is currently marketed by BGP Pharma. It appears that old drug shortage notifications from 2012 were re-used instead of creating a set of new notifications for the current Epival shortages.

WHO passing epilepsy-care resolution a ‘huge’ step towards closing treatment gap

September 10, 2015

By Deron Hamel

A World Health Organization (WHO) resolution that was unanimously passed earlier this year could create large-scale, positive change in epilepsy treatment across the globe, says Mary Secco, an Ontario advocate for people with epilepsy.

IBE and WHO representatives, pictured left to right: Athanasios Covanis, president IBE; Shekhar Saxena, WHO; Shichuo Li (China); Brooke Short, WHO; Ann Little, executive director IBE (Ireland); Mary Secco, IBE (Canada); Tarun Dua, WHO; Emilio Perucca, president ILAE; Alla Guekht, ILAE (Russia). Photo credit: International Bureau for Epilepsy

Secco, who is co-chair of the International League Against Epilepsy’s (ILAE’s) Global Outreach Task Force as well as a volunteer with a worldwide organization called the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE), says with the WHO committing to further epilepsy care and research, the large epilepsy treatment gap in developing countries could be significantly narrowed.

Delegates at the WHO’s general assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, unanimously approved a resolution in May to improve epilepsy care and research around the world.

As an IBE volunteer, Secco met with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Foreign Affairs Canada to encourage support for the resolution. She also addressed delegates from the World Health Assembly’s 194 member states to underscore the importance of the resolution passing.

In her presentations, Secco noted that an estimated 50 million people worldwide are living with epilepsy and that there is a large treatment gap in the condition.

For instance, 75 per cent of people living with epilepsy have never received medication for treatment, despite the fact that epilepsy is treatable and it would cost as little as US$5 per year for medication for some people.

“To me, (the treatment gap) is a huge social injustice,” Secco tells Voices of Epilepsy. “We have strategies for malaria, for polio, we’re putting so much money towards other things, and we have never looked at epilepsy and we could make such a difference by just having it on governments’ radar.”

Momentum supporting the WHO to commit to a focus on epilepsy treatment has been building in the past year. In December, China requested that epilepsy be put on the WHO’s agenda. In February, seven countries formally sponsored the resolution: China, Russia, Maldives, Argentina, Iran, Japan and Panama.

During the May general assembly, 43 nations spoke to support the resolution, with 19 countries – including Canada – co-sponsoring it.

With the passing of the resolution, the WHO is now accountable for ensuring steps are taken to close the treatment gap. At the World Health Assembly in 2018, the WHO will have to demonstrate steps the organization has taken to improve epilepsy care worldwide.

“We’ll see governments putting epilepsy medications in stock; we’ll see countries putting epilepsy training within their health-care system and having a plan to treat people with the condition in their countries,” says Secco, who is travelling to Istanbul, Turkey, this month to attend a conference where she will be training delegates on how they can use the WHO resolution as leverage to improve epilepsy care.

“There are measurable outcomes that the WHO has to bring back to us in 2018. … This is huge for people with epilepsy. It gives us the political will now to work with our governments to see this go into action.”

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.

Webinar focuses on coping strategies for epilepsy-related memory challenges

May 16, 2014

An upcoming Epilepsy Ontario-hosted webinar will focus on developing strategies for improving memory function for people who have a seizure disorder.

The webinar, called Epilepsy and Memory: Coping Strategies, will feature guest speaker Dr. Brent Hayman-Abello, a clinical neuropsychologist at London Health Sciences Centre. The May 22 webinar is the third instalment in Epilepsy Ontario’s Knowledge is Power series.

Hayman-Abello says the webinar will be “very beneficial” to people who are affected by epilepsy and other seizure disorders and experiencing memory issues. He’ll largely centre on specific strategies and techniques to help improve everyday memory functioning and ways to work around memory difficulties.

The webinar also welcomes friends and family members of people living with a seizure disorder so they can help people experiencing memory problems work through them, Hayman-Abello adds.

“I think the webinar will help people understand that they don’t have to put up with having memory difficulties and that there might be some pretty simple ways to work around memory difficulties that people are having,” he tells Voices of Epilepsy.

“(The webinar) will be very beneficial to people who are affected by epilepsy; whether they are people that have epilepsy or friends and family members of people who have epilepsy, so that they can understand the issues and maybe help share the information.”

Hayman-Abello will also speak about the definitions and descriptions of memory, as well as factors that can affect memory for people with epilepsy.

Hayman-Abello notes that not everyone with a seizure disorder has memory challenges stemming from their condition. That said, memory difficulty is a common issue for people with epilepsy, he says.

“People might be surprised that there are different kinds of memory problems, that they can come from a lot of different areas, and some are easier to work around than others,” Hayman-Abello says. “If people are having memory problems, sometimes the memory can’t be fixed, but you can work around it.”

The Epilepsy and Memory: Coping Strategies webinar is being held Thursday, May 22 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

To register, e-mail gula(at)epilepsyontario.org. To join the webinar by telephone, call 416-764-8662/1-888-884-4534 and enter participant code 7605062#. To join via Internet, login at http://ontariobraininstitute.adobeconnect.com/epilepsy-memory/ and click on the “Enter a Guest” icon.

Writer: Deron Hamel

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.ca. You can also leave a comment below.