Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes set the field on fire with his agility despite suffering from epilepsy

Radheshyam Gupta had been leading a perfect life. As head of the department of physics most of his time was spent with books and students.

He used to wake up every morning with the aroma of his favourite tea. While he had his first cup in bed, his second was consumed while reading the two newspapers he subscribed for. He then went for a walk in the nearby playground with his friends.

It was during one of these walks that Gupta found his left hand began shaking. His friends found it funny. He sat down on a nearby stone and tried to stop his hands from shaking. But it was beyond his control. Gupta ignored it as a result of the walk in the cold wintry morning.

He met his family doctor the next day. His blood-pressure was found to be absolutely normal. The doctor who was also his friend insisted that he visit a psychiatrist along with his wife. Gupta was baffled.

“I remember telling my friends that I have not gone crazy. So why should I consult a psychiatrist?” said Gupta. The doctor told him that he might be suffering from a brain disorder. Gupta ultimately went to a psychiatrist, who came to a conclusion that Gupta might be suffering from TLE. Gupta had the shock of his life when he was was told the full form of TLE — Temporal Low Epilepsy.

Symptoms

Mention epilepsy and we see a person suffering from frequent occasional spells of fit. Description in story books and portrayals in movies have given it the image of a disease in which the patient when facing an epileptic attack falls on to the ground and his/ her entire body has convulsions.

Many other facts are however not known. “There have been cases when people have fainted while carrying out some activities. I once came across a case in which a person kept standing at the railway station even when the train he was scheduled to catch arrived, remain stationed there for fifteen minutes and left.

The person concerned had lost his consciousness for twenty minutes,” said Ashok Prasad, head of the department of psychiatry, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).Prasad has come across many epilepsy cases in his 27 long career.

Cure

Epilepsy is a completely curable disease. The treatment period is around three to three and a half years. “It's is a completely curable disease.

Although, I will not name the medicines that are to be administered because as a doctor I prescribe it considering the severity of the case I must say that doctors the world over have been able to treat epilepsy completely. I have myself treated many a cases,' said Ashok.

Relapse

Their is a meagre possibility of a relapse although there have been cases in which the patient has had an epileptic fit six to seven years after being treated. 'Yes their is a possibility of a relapse but such cases are rare. After three years of successful drug administration the disease basically gets treated,” says Ashok. Their are some epilepsy cases that do not get cured even when the hardest dose of medicine is administered. The doctors refer to such cases a as ediopathic epilepsy. “Ediopathic epilepsy is basically a case in which the patient does not react to medicines. It’s difficult to handle such cases but then proper care and right and continuous administration of drugs brings positive results,' says Ashok.

The most prone

Although in case some one is epileptic it becomes evident at a very young age, there have been cases when people have first suffered from a seizure even at the age of 70.

The disease can strike anybody. People in the past have battled the disease and have come out a winner. Julius Caesar the great Roman emperor had epiletic attacks and Jonty Rhodes who is widely acclaimed as the best fielder cricketing world has ever seen suffered from epilepsy.

Consider the case of Dewal Sahay. Life had been perfect for Dewal a retired general manager of a well known public sector company until that day. Dewal was having his daily walk on a perfect sunny sunday when he suddenly fell down on road and had a seizure. His body suddenly had tremors.

This had never happened to him earlier. After suffering from a fit for around 5 minutes his body became still. By then a huge crowd had surrounded Dewal. When Dewal came back to senses he was astonished for the fact that he has never ever heard of a case of epilepsy in his family.

There are medical reasons for epilepsy finding its home among old people. “As people grow old beyond 60 all the body parts including the brain begin to shrink.

This shrinkage might pressurise one spot on the brain leading to a mental disorder. The result might be epilepsy, epilepsy or some other mental disease,' said Ashok. Status Eplipticus tha is death in an attack. There have been cases when patients have died during an attack. “The medical term for such fatal cases is Status Eplipticus. The death to be true is due to the trauma that the attack brings along with itself. At times the blood supply to the brain stops in a prolonged attack leading to a casualty.

S. Shekar