Website Review

by Janice Rodriguez

The topic this month is the development of seizures and/or epilepsy after having a stroke. First, what are seizures or epilepsy? The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says "A seizure happens when abnormal electrical activity in the brain causes an involuntary change in body movement or function, sensation, awareness, or behavior." Epilepsy is diagnosed when a person has more than one seizure. For more information see http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/epilepsy/index.htm.

What about the connection of seizures and strokes? The Epilepsy Foundation has a great website which has a wealth of information. For example, click on the "Answer Place" at

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/, and then "Epilepsy and Seizure Statistics" for the answer: "The basic, underlying risk of developing epilepsy is about one percent. Individuals in certain populations are at higher risk. For example, it is estimated that epilepsy can be expected to develop in ... 22 percent of stroke patients." See

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/statistics.cfm. There has been a great deal of research about the risk of seizures after stroke. In an ischemic stroke, the risk of late (7 days after a stroke) seizures are associated with three factors: acute early seizures, cortical signs ("cortical" is in the cortex or "grey matter" - one "sign" is aphasia) and large strokes. For example, individuals with just one of these factors have a 4.6% risk of seizure after one year, but those with two or three factors have a 33.3% risk. See http://www.aesnet.org/currents_pdf/epc_03408.pdf at the American Epilepsy Society website. So this is especially significant for stroke survivors.

If you experience a seizure, the Neurology Channel has a good website for the diagnosis, treatments and medications for epilepsy. See http://www.neurologychannel.com/epilepsy/index.shtml. Medications are the most popular treatment for epilepsy, so you might want to research the different drugs used. A great general website (not just for epilepsy) is MedLine, which has over-the-counter and prescription drug information. See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html. And finally, see the website Drug Information Online, http://www.drugs.com/, and click on "Drug Interactions Checker." You can create a list of all your medications and then check for interactions between medicines in your list.

Remember, the information on the Internet may be old, incomplete, or just wrong. So always check with your doctor or therapist, especially on any seizure and epilepsy information - it is critical! Thanks, and see you next month!

The Stroke Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 492 Abingdon, Maryland 21009