Internati Awarene

Dayna Clarke What do Prince, Neil Young, Agatha Christie, Joan of Arc, Vincent Van Gogh, Susan Boyle, Charles Dickens and Julius Caesar have in common?

They all had, or have, epilepsy. And so do an estimated 50 million people across the world today, including over 4,600 in the Maltese Islands. Despite this, many of us are still relatively ignorant about epilepsy, a condition with no known cause or easy cure and which can affect both children and adults.

11 February, International Epilepsy Day, is an opportunity to raise awareness about epilepsy: what it is, how it can be treated and what is required to bring treatment to all those who need it, and The Malta Independent on Sunday met with Frank Portelli, President of the Caritas Malta Epilepsy Association, to learn more about the condition and the launch of a practical toolkit this year.

What is Epilepsy?

First and foremost, epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological condition; it makes no distinction between race or social background and can affect any person and at any stage in their life. Epilepsy can cause people to experience seizures or convulsions, this is a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain that usually affects how a person feels or acts for a short time. People are diagnosed with epilepsy when they have had two or more seizures, although it is important to note that someone with epilepsy can have more than one type of seizure

Seizures can take many different forms and can affect different people in different ways. In a major grand mal seizure – also known as a generalised tonicclonic seizure – the individual has a loss of consciousness and may have jerking movements. Such a seizure may come as a shock to onlookers who have never experienced it before. Although this is one of the more common types of seizures, there any around 40 different types, some of which – such as focal or partial seizures – affect just one part of the brain and may even be difficult to identify. They can last a few seconds, during which the person lacks awareness, while in others the person can become confused.

In Malta, unfortunately, there tends to be a large stigma about epilepsy: people lack awareness and understanding. The old name in Maltese for the condition is ‘ tal-qamar’ –which is often more of a barrier than the condition itself and should not be used. It has been replaced by the word epilessija in Maltese.

Can epilepsy be controlled?

With the correct medication, some 75 per cent of people with epilepsy can become seizurefree; the remaining 25 per cent