EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related article Driving requires a complex array of neurological functions and skills that involve vision, thinking, attention and judgement, co-ordination, reaction time and motor control. Any of these can be impaired by epilepsy and seizures. People who drive vehicles may present safety concerns for themselves, their passengers and the public. Despite having epilepsy, many people are still able

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related article The stigma of epilepsy: “Despite the significant clinical and therapeutic progress of the last century, people with epilepsy continue to suffer from discrimination—not only in the developing world but also in the supposedly enlightened West.” https://epilepsytalk.com/2021/05/05/the-stigma-of-epilepsy-2https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1528-1157.44.s.6.2.x Epilepsy Waikato Charitable Trust (EWCT) invited people to participate in our “We are…” project as an attempt to help break

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles Understanding seizure triggers: Some events or situations can lower the seizure threshold andmake a person more vulnerable to seizures. If you learn which things may trigger your seizuresthen you and your GP can learn to manage your epilepsy more effectively. Here is a common list of seizure triggers: Missed medications Tiredness or sleep deprivation Stress Menstrual

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles This month we are looking at EEGs EEGs were developed in the 1920s to measure neural activity on the brain but did you know that some people were often, and still are, misdiagnosed because of their hair type? People with thick or curly hair have less positive electrical connections when the electrodes are placed on the

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles 1.Vaccines against COVID19 are currently being approved and becoming available. There is currently no evidence to suggest that having epilepsy is specifically associated with a higher risk of side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine. For people with epilepsy, the risk of COVID-19 infection and potential complications far outweighs the risk of side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine.

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles There has been considerable interest recently in the gut-brain relationship in treating neurological and gastrointestinal diseases. Do people with epilepsy have different populations of bacteria than people without epilepsy? Does successful AED treatment change the gut biota? The answers aren’t known; researchers are still studying what a “normal” gut biome looks like, or if there is such

1. Embrace watch Embrace is the first medical quality wearable to help measure stress, epileptic seizures, activity and sleep. As well as identifying seizures it also has a feature to notify parents and caregivers when a seizure occurs. “When people that have Epilepsy wear Embrace, they will get an alert when an unusual event happens, like a convulsive seizure. It will go via their smartphone

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles Cannabidiol (CBD) does not cause a high. CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two of the most well-known compounds isolated from the Cannabis sativa plant. It is THC, not CBD, that creates the ‘high-feeling’ people associate with cannabis use. This article discusses the differences between CBD and THC and explains why these compounds produce such drastically different effects

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles Two international epilepsy organisations (the IBE and ILAE) share a joint statement on epilepsy and racism. As scientists began to unlock the secrets of the brain, terminology for seizures changed over time. In 2017, the International League Against Epilepsy released its newest classifications of epileptic seizure types. These divide epileptic seizures into categories based on how

EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles The use of the ketogenic diet for those people critically ill with Covid 19 may just help in their recovery. The mortality rate is approximately 5% of reported cases and over half of patients require mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure. The ketogenic diet is a high fat, low carbohydrate, adequate-protein diet that promotes metabolic ketosis (ketone