Patient's question:
What are the symptoms of benign infantile epilepsy? Will it affect a child's intelligence? Does involuntary leg twitching during sleep indicate benign epilepsy? The child is still very young, what should we do if they get epilepsy?Doctor's answer:
The harm of pediatric epilepsy on children is very significant. To treat epilepsy effectively, it is essential to choose a reputable children's epilepsy hospital for treatment, which is the most fundamental guarantee. The treatment of epilepsy is a long process, during which many patients may easily lose vigilance, leading them to fall into some misconceptions about epilepsy treatment. Falling into these misconceptions can result in recurrent epilepsy seizures, affecting the treatment outcomes. Therefore, when treating children's epilepsy, it is crucial to pay attention to details and avoid falling into these misconceptions.Experts at children's epilepsy hospitals emphasize that to effectively treat children's epilepsy, it is necessary to remember the harm caused by pediatric epilepsy and maintain constant vigilance. The specific harms are as follows:
1. Harm to brain cells: According to research, each seizure recurrence results in the loss of approximately 2 billion brain cells in patients. Naturally, the more frequent the seizures, the greater the impact on the child's brain cells. The extent of brain damage in epilepsy patients is proportional to the number of seizure recurrences.
2. Harm to intelligence:
(1) The severity of intellectual impairment is related to the age of onset. For example, during the neonatal and infant stages, when brain cells are still developing, epilepsy seizures have a more significant impact on intelligence compared to older children.
(2) Different types of epilepsy seizures also have varying effects on intelligence. For instance, neonatal convulsions, infantile spasms, and small motor epilepsy, if not promptly controlled, often lead to intellectual impairment. In contrast, absence seizures and benign childhood epilepsy have relatively minor effects on a child's intelligence.
3. Harm to other aspects: Epilepsy can easily cause severe hypoxia in the brain, damaging brain function. Some seizures may lead to accidental injuries, such as falls, resulting in traumatic brain injuries and other physical injuries. Therefore, it is important to prevent recurrent seizures to avoid exacerbating brain dysfunction.
In summary, to effectively treat epilepsy, it is essential to choose a professional hospital to minimize the harm caused by epilepsy to children.