“People who care about animals tend to care about people. They don’t care about animals to the exclusion of people. Caring is not a finite resource and, even more than that, it’s like a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born February 21, 1977) is a writer. … nonfiction titled Eating Animals While Foer’s works have been released to … 21 KB (3,107 words) – 02:35, 23 September 2013)
As we get older the tissue that comprises everyone’s muscular system decreases in size and relative strength. When muscle fibers die they are replaced by FATTY TISSUE. This makes the movement of muscles more difficult.
You want to know if this can be prevented? Well YES, it can!
The good news is that the effects of this normal declining or atrophying in the muscular system when getting older can be decreased in the severity by exercising regularly. The sooner you get in a regular plan of doing it the easier it will be as you grow older. By staying active always in your years of living you will continue to be muscle toned and build new muscles as well as keep your muscular system happy and healthy with not allowing it to become atone (loose in tonicity of the muscle=little strength if any). So you don’t have to be 15 or 20 or 30 or 40 years old to start this. The longer you hold off on some form of exercise (mild to moderate to intense) the longer it takes to tolerate it and adapt to this being a part of your daily living. Like anything else for most; it may not be easy at first but in time whatever exercise you choose 3x, 5x, or even daily the sooner you will love it and want it in your life. It can range from belly dancing, to gym workouts, to fast walking, to racquetball, to swimming or hiking. Anything beats sitting most of the day or sitting behind a desk for work hours than coming home for dinner followed by TV than sleep. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, most individuals should be doing moderate aerobic activity four or more days a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. Aerobic exercise can be defined as that which engages your heart and lungs, so a leisurely walk won’t do it. Keeping your muscles healthy aerobically should also be fun and can be done with others. Hiking is a great example of such an enjoyable activity since walking hills force both big and small muscles to optimally utilize oxygen.
It is much easier than you think. If you are overweight think about getting into your therapeutic body mass index of weight that can take 6 months to even less or for some take a year up to two years. Whatever time it takes to get in your therapeutic range it’s worth the while in getting yourself at a weight that allows you to start exercising=being active. When you reach that point in life it allows you to do so much more with your life than sit on the side lines but instead play on the field with a big view of more enjoyment and activity. Anyone can do it; you just need to have the power and perseverance. The ending results are worth it for one person only, YOU but it will give people around you a positive impact as well. If you have a condition that doesn’t allow you to do the types of activity that I mentioned earlier there is always home remedies from treadmills, using dumb bells in light weight lifting (2.5lbs. to 20lb.), sit ups, just walking around the yard or block or using the pool you may have doing laps. You can figure it out with the help of asking your doctor (For people with any disease/illness or condition it is recommended to go to the physician first to get clearance in getting activities that you’re allowed to do). Always a health fitness coach could give direction but not replace a doctor for clearance in activity).
The foods that will help your muscular system in staying healthy: Eating well on a consistent basis is also essential in maintaining healthy muscles. The National Institute of Heath recommends you should eat 6 small meals a day. All meals being at the same level of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and sugars (fairly low) excluding your one meal out of the 6 meals being high in protein (lean meats and more green vegetables primarily. These meals are 3 hours apart. By doing this you keep your sugar level at a steady rate (no peaks in sugar level). Keeping your glucose (sugar) level steady you prevent fat storage occurring. When we have too much sugar left in the bloodstream, that we got after digestion of a meal, first we use up any sugar that was transferred into our bloodstream as fuel but by absorbing it into our tissues for the energy but when we have used all the sugar we needed at that point and still have extra glucose (due to a large meal) the extra sugar in the blood gets stored somewhere in the body equaling fat storage that equals weight gain. Eat 2 or 3 moderate to large meals a day you’ll always run into this problem (extra sugar being stored in your body). To prevent this from happening you eat 6 small healthy meals a day which are lower in calories, carbs, fat and sugars including the portions, that’s the logic. Know that all carbohydrates, all sugars (calories) with certain fats when entering the stomach after eating break down into further simple or complex sugars. Than they transfer into the bloodstream when digestion is done in the stomach=more sugar than just the amount that is present on the back of the container, regarding the food that you’re eating at that time. The 6 healthy meals a day are not saying 6 big macs or small whoppers. I am talking about healthy foods eaten by the 4 food groups. In making your muscles healthier begin to make better choices with each meal. Seek to replace saturated fats and refined sugars with healthy fish (high protein) but not daily (have it 2 to 3 times a week) and fiber based foods (daily). Other suggestions include eating your first meal of the day within 30 minutes after waking up. Lastly and very important drink water (at least eight glasses a day or if possible 2 to 3 liters a day). Drinking this much helps your muscles in doing their function better, they move easier (think of the fluid helping the muscle in not drying out which allows the muscle to function better in range of motion).
Health habits are important. Unhealthy habits that have that an impact on your muscles is:
-Stress, which can be brutal for your entire body systems including your muscular system. Having emotional stress places an inordinate amount of demand on your muscles. Ways to conquer the stress is relaxation therapy (ex. Next time you have an emotional stress (angry to sad) focus and sit back with take 10 deep breaths, tired after work go to bed earlier about ½ hr. to an hour and play soft music to fall off to sleep, still not working than do EXERCISE-it tires your stress and eat healthy foods not junk).
-Poor diet: To build muscle and lose fat, you need a variety of proteins, veggies, fruits, carbs, and healthy fats properly portioned for your meals. Eating a protein helps build and maintain your muscles. It also helps fat loss because protein has a higher thermic effect than carbohydrates or fats.
There is not just one food to eat or one type of exercise to do or one healthy habit to perform that will keep you healthy, there are choices. Come onto my website which is no fee, no charge, no hacking, it will just let you check us out to look further in understanding how to take a shape for your life with Dr. Anderson and even myself as your health coach in helping you learn what a healthier diet is using with all 4 food groups in 6 meals, with knowing the exercise right for you and what healthier habits are for a better muscular system and overall life. It allows you to make all the decisions in what you want to do regarding what to eat (diet), exercise/activity, and what healthy habits you want to add in your life. We just provide the information and healthy foods in your diet and you decide if you want them. I happen to eat them 5 times out of the day with one meal being my meat or fish (high protein) and vegetable (lean and green). You make all the choices, like I do. Wouldn’t you want to be stronger, more active, with less disease/illness for yourself and for even others throughout the nation including the future generations? Well than click on over to healthyusa.tsfl.com and take a look with what Dr. Anderson and myself can provide for you. I have been in the health care system over 25 years as a Registered Nurse and I know you or anyone will benefit from this information (I lost over 20lbs. so far). Take a peek.
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
Albert Einstein
To understand how this system and health relate you need to understand how it works in the body. What is the muscular system? It is a body system composed of a network of tissues (cartilages, ligaments, tendons, fascias, joints, etc…) that allows the human body to control movement inside and outside of it. As simple as walking to exercise to activities we do from within the body to survive (Ex. heart beating, lungs breathing, veins returning blood to the heart from the legs=activities we don’t focus or concentrate on when awake or asleep.). Our muscles are divided into groups:
1-Skeletal Muscle: Found in the skeletal system and provides controlled movement. It maintains body movement from our head to our toes=jaw movement, poster, producing heat in the body to simply speaking while you’re standing and so much more. You get the idea that this system plays a vital role in many functions we carry out daily but a lot of times we take this for granted since we use the skeletal muscle for our daily routine functioning that is both voluntary and involuntary.
2-Visceral Smooth Muscle: Found in the digestive tract, urinary tract, and blood vessels; contractions not under voluntary control.
3-Cardiac Muscle: Found only in the heart; contractions not under voluntary control.
Skeletal muscles are organs and do vary in size and shape from long and thin, broad and flat, to bulky masses and some not.
The skeletal muscle is highly vascular. Muscle fatigue and pain result when there is insufficient oxygen delivered to the muscle. Oxygen is the fuel to the human body in making it possible for us to function and survive; without it we can’t live.
You see how important this system is and we need to keep it healthy. Keep your muscular system healthy as a priority in your daily life. By doing this you will not only improve your quality of life, overall, but you will also begin to focus more easily on enjoying what’s truly important in your life. With staying healthy in your life it will increase the risk of you living longer and a more productive one. Prevention of injury to the muscular system and all the systems of the body is the answer to happiness, so start now and the younger the easier and better are the results.
How can you do this, well there are 3 main factors that would highly impact reaching a healthy or healthier muscular system and it’s NEVER too late to get started. They would be:
1-DIET 2-EXERCISE 3-ROUTINELY PRACTICING HEALTHY HABITS
At first it may seem like a challenge but when it gets in your regular routine of daily living it’s a BREEZE. I can say that because I made changes to a degree with better healthier living. If I can do it so can you. It really isn’t that difficult.
Let me first inform you what happens to the muscular system as we get older. We become more inactive from our younger years (meaning sedentary lifestyle with no form of activity) and we are more prone to practice poor healthy habits (including what’s in your diet and how you eat). The reason for this is we are no longer in high school with a higher metabolism or in college as well but working crazy hours on the run with the family and don’t have the time like we did but you end up with the following:
As we get older the tissue that comprises everyone’s muscular system decreases in size and relative strength. When muscle fibers die they are replaced by FATTY TISSUE. This makes the movement of muscles more difficult.
You want to know if this can be prevented? Well YES, it can! The good news is that the effects of this normal declining or atrophying in the muscular system when getting older can be decreased in the severity by exercising regularly. The sooner you get in a regular plan of doing it the easier it will be as you grow older. By staying active always in your years of living you will continue to be muscle toned and build new muscles as well as keep your muscular system happy and healthy with not allowing it to become atone (loose in tonicity of the muscle=little strength if any). So you don’t have to be 15 or 20 or 30 or 40 years old to start this. The longer you hold off on some form of exercise (mild to moderate to intense) the longer it takes to tolerate it and adapt to this being a part of your daily living. Like anything else for most; it may not be easy at first but in time whatever exercise you choose 3x, 5x, or even daily the sooner you will love it and want it in your life. It can range from belly dancing, to gym workouts, to fast walking, to racquetball, to swimming or hiking. Anything beats sitting most of the day or sitting behind a desk for work hours than coming home for dinner followed by TV than sleep. *
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, most individuals should be doing moderate aerobic activity four or more days a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. Aerobic exercise can be defined as that which engages your heart and lungs, so a leisurely walk won’t do it. Keeping your muscles healthy aerobically should also be fun and can be done with others. Hiking is a great example of such an enjoyable activity since walking hills force both big and small muscles to optimally utilize oxygen.
It is much easier than you think. If you are overweight think about getting into your therapeutic body mass index of weight that can take 6 months to even less or for some take a year up to two years. Whatever time it takes to get in your therapeutic range it’s worth the while in getting yourself at a weight that allows you to start exercising=being active. When you reach that point in life it allows you to do so much more with your life than sit on the side lines but instead play on the field with a big view of more enjoyment and activity. Anyone can do it; you just need to have the power and perseverance. The ending results are worth it for one person only, YOU but it will give people around you a positive impact as well. If you have a condition that doesn’t allow you to do the types of activity that I mentioned earlier there is always home remedies from treadmills, using dumb bells in light weight lifting (2.5lbs. to 20lb.), sit ups, just walking around the yard or block or using the pool you may have doing laps. You can figure it out with the help of asking your doctor (For people with any disease/illness or condition it is recommended to go to the physician first to get clearance in getting activities that you’re allowed to do). Always a health fitness coach could give direction but not replace a doctor for clearance in activity).
“Heart disease continues to be the number one killer; cancer, the number 2 killer, not far behind. The tragic aspect of these deadly diseases is that they could all be cured, I do believe, if we had sufficient funding.”
Arlen Specter ((February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was a United States Senator from Pennsylvania
A number of symptoms are associated with heart failure, but none is specific for the condition. Perhaps the best known symptom is short of breath (called dyspnea). In heart failure, this may result from excess fluid in the lungs. The breathing difficulties may occur at rest or during exercise. In some cases, congestion may be severe enough to interrupt or prevent you from sleeping.
-Fatigue or easy tiring is another common symptom. As the heart’s pumping capacity decreases, muscles and other tissues receive less oxygen and nutrition, which are carried in the blood. Without proper fuel (oxygen from the blood) provided by our engine (the heart), the body cannot perform as much work as it use to do (just like going from in shape to out of shape in time). The ending line is this will result into fatigue.
-Fluid accumulation will cause swelling in the feet, ankles, legs, and occasionally the abdomen (if the fluid building up in the body gets severe), what we medically call edema. Through gravity the blood goes backwards and our body allows water to transfer in the skin to allow the fluid to go somewhere other than the bloodstream to decrease fluid overload to the heart by compensating. It body compensates since the blood is going backwards from the heart causing fluid back up. Excess fluid retained by the body will result into weight gain, which sometimes occurs fairly quickly (if you have CHF already you should always call your M.D. if you weight gain is 3lbs or more in a week, odds are high this is due to fluid building up).
-Persistent coughing is another common sign, especially coughing that regularly produces mucus or pink, blood-tinged sputum. Some people develop raspy breathing or wheezing.
-Heart failure usually goes through a slow development process, the symptoms may not appear until the condition has progressed over the years. This happens because the heart first compensates by making adjustments with the heart that delay or slow down but do not prevent, the eventual loss in pumping capacity. In time failure happens, just like a car in when it gets older over several years is starts showing one problem after another and is exchanged for a newer car; same principle with the heart in that you show signs and symptoms as your heart starts to slow down to failure and its either treat the problem or get a transplant of the organ (which is unlikely to happen). The heart first hides the underlying process but compensates by doing this to your heart:
1- Enlargement to the muscle of the heart (causing “dilatation”) which allows more blood into the heart.
2- Thickening of muscle fibers (causing “hypertrophy”) to strengthen the heart muscle, which allows the heart to contract more forcefully and pump more blood.
3- More frequent contraction, which increases circulation.
By making these adjustments, or compensating, the heart can temporarily make up for losses in pumping ability, sometimes for years. However, compensation of the organ can only last so long, not forever (like anything in life the living thing or an object will go through a ending life process to termination). Eventually the heart cannot offset the lost ability to pump blood, and the signs of heart failure appear.
DIAGNOSIS
In many cases, physicians diagnose heart failure during a simple physical examination. Readily identifiable signs are shortness of breath, fatigue, and swollen ankles and feet. The physician also will check for the presence of risk factors, such as hypertension, obesity and a history of heart problems.
Using a stethoscope, the physician can listen to a patient breathe and identify the sounds of lung congestion. The stethoscope also picks up the abnormal heart sounds indicative of heart failure.
If one or not both symptoms or the patient’s history point to a clear cut diagnosis, the physician may recommend any of a variety of laboratory tests, including, initially, an electrocardiogram (EKG), which uses recording devices placed on the chest to evaluate the electrical activity of a patient’s heartbeat which will be affected by CHF.
Echocardiography is another means of evaluating heart function from outside the body. This works through sound waves that bounce off the heart are recorded and translated into images. The pictures can reveal abnormal heart sizes, shape, and movement. Echocardiography also can be used to calculate a patient’s ejection fraction which is a measurement of the amount of blood pumped when the heart contracts.
Another possible test is the chest x-ray, which also determines the heart’s size and shape, as well as the presence of congestion in the lungs.
Tests help rule out other possible causes of symptoms. The symptoms of heart failure can result when the heart is made to work too hard, instead of from damaged muscle (like in a heart attack). Conditions that overload the heart occur rarely and include severe anemia and thyrotoxicosis (a disease resulting from an overactive thyroid gland).
Prevention of CHF:
-If not diagnosed yet your already possibly ahead. Without this diagnosis you can get started on making yourself further away from being diagnosed with this disease. How to reach this goal is through living a routine life through healthy habits practiced, healthy dieting over all, and balancing rest with exercise during the week 30-40 minutes a day or 1 hour to 1.5 hours 3 times a week and not being obese. They all would benefit the heart in not stressing it out making the heart’s function harder in doing its function. When the heart stresses out it is at risk for lacking oxygen putting it at potential for angina (heart pain) to a heart attack with over time leading toward failure of the heart. Need to learn more about what is and how to get your weight in therapeutic body mass index range through dieting of all 4 food groups, balancing exercise/rest, and knowing how the body works with all ingredients in foods including portion sizes (fats, calories, starches, carbohydrates, proteins with vitamins and minerals) to understanding how all this information takes effect in how your metabolism operates in being beneficial or against you? Well than go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and take a peek at what we offer at such a reasonable price and more of a reachable goal with having Dr. Anderson through access of his book “Dr. A’s healthy habits” with me as your personal coach and if you want foods to eat in helping you lose weight if needed I’m there to help you with any questions you may have and even for support. To take a peek go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and see what we offer for no price and with no hacking. Join me and so many others in attempting to reach this goal. So far I have lost 22lbs. and hope to lose more.
QUOTE FOR WEDNESDAY
“CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE: heart failure in which the heart is unable to maintain adequate circulation of blood in the tissues of the body or to pump out the venous blood returned to it by the venous circulation”
Merriam Webster
.
The definition of heart failure, it occurs when the heart loses its ability to pump enough blood through the body. Usually, the loss in pumping action is a symptom of an underlying heart problem, such as hypertension and CAD = coronary artery disease. The term heart failure suggests a sudden and complete stop of heart activity but actually the heart does not suddenly or abruptly stop. Instead the way it works is heart failure usually develops over time, years. The heart first compensates with the disease or illness the individual has but, just like a car, after wear and tear the heart goes into decompensating to heart failure due to the heart decline. How serious is this condition? It varies from person to person depending on factors like an individual with obesity & unhealthy versus a person in healthier condition. All people diagnosed or not diagnosed with heart failure lose a pumping capacity of the heart happens as they age but diagnosed with heart failure makes the engine of the body a challenge in doing its function properly. The pump loss is more significant in the person with heart failure and often results from a heart attack (actual scaring to the tissue=death to that tissue area) or from other diseases that can damage the heart. The severity of the condition determines the impact it has on a person’s life. At the other end, extremes, treatment often helps people lead full lives if the person follows the meds ordered by the doctor including the diet and activity/exercise the doctor orders to the patient with heart failure (compliance so important). There are different levels of heart failure but even the mildest form is a serious health problem, which must be treated. If not the pump (the heart) will just get worse in doing its function properly. To improve the chance of living longer in an individual with heart failure, patients must take care of themselves, see their physician (cardiologist) on a regular basis, and closely follow treatments (as ordered) with knowing what heart failure actually to understanding how the disease works (is the failure on the right side or left side? Which in time will effect the other side in time). In knowing what side the failure is on will make you understand what signs and symptoms to expect.
Types of Heart Failure
The term congestive heart failure (CHF) is often used to describe all patients with heart failure. In reality, congestion=the buildup of fluids in the heart for not pumping correctly, just like pipes in a home not working properly=back up of water in the pipes, happens with CHF also to the fluids (blood) backing up in the lungs. This is just one feature of the condition and does not occur in all patients. There are two main categories of heart failure although within each category, symptoms and effects may differ from patient to patient. The two categories are: 1-Systolic heart failure (systolic is the top number of your blood pressure=the heart at work). This occurs when the heart’s (muscle-myocardium) ability to contract (pump=being active) decreases, particularly starting on the L side of the heart where the muscle of the heart is greatest (myocardium=heart muscle). The heart cannot pump blood with enough force to push a sufficient amount out of the heart into the circulation through the aorta. The aorta is a artery (vessel) that leaves the L lower chamber of the heart (left side of the heart=highly oxygenated rich blood). Due to the heart not using enough force pushing the blood forward in the aorta this causes the blood to back up and cause it to go back up into the L lower to the L upper chamber that goes further back up into the pulmonary vein into the lungs=congestion in the lungs due to the heart failure.
2-Diastolic heart failure (diastolic is the bottom number of your blood pressure which is the pressure when the heart is at rest). This failure occurs when the heart has a problem relaxing. The heart cannot properly fill with blood because the muscle of the heart due to trying so hard to compensate over a long period of time with disease (ex. High B/P, Obesity, etc…) strains the heart in doing its function that failure finally starts that the muscle of the heart (myocardium) becomes stiff. This causes the heart to lose its ability to relax to allow proper filling of the heart in upper and lower chambers=back up of the blood. This failure starts on the right side of the heart causing the blood to back up away from the heart and may lead this blood that is highly concentrated with carbon dioxide to accumulation especially in the feet, ankles and legs. Some patients may have lung congestion.
Causes of Heart Failure:
As stated, the heart loses some of its blood pumping ability as a natural consequence of aging. How- ever, a number of other factors can lead to a potentially life-threatening loss of pumping activity.
As a symptom of underlying heart disease, heart failure is closely associated with the major risk factors for coronary heart disease: smoking, high cholesterol levels, hypertension (persistent high blood pressure), diabetes= abnormal blood sugar levels, and obesity. A person can change or eliminate those risk factors and thus lower their risk of developing or aggravating their heart disease and heart failure through healthy habits performed routinely, proper dieting, and balancing rest with exercise.
Among prominent risk factors, hypertension-HTN (high blood pressure) and diabetes are PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT. Uncontrolled HTN increases the risk of heart failure by 200 %, compared to those who do not have hypertension. Moreover, the degree of risk appears directly related to the severity of the high blood pressure.
Persons with diabetes have about a two to eight fold greater risk of heart failure than those without diabetes. Women with diabetes have a greater risk of heart failure than men with diabetes. Part of the risk comes from the diabetes association with other risk factors for heart disease such as high cholesterol or obesity or other risk factors. However, the disease process of diabetes also damages the heart muscle.
The presence of coronary disease is among the greatest risks for heart failure. Muscle damage and scarring caused by a heart attack greatly increase the risk of heart failure. Cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, also raise heart failure risk. Any disorder that causes abnormal swelling or thickening of the heart sets the stage for heart failure.
In some people, heart failure arises from problems with heart valves, the flap-like structures that help regulate blood flow through the heart. Infections in the heart are another source of increased risk for heart failure.
A single risk factor may be sufficient to cause heart failure, but a combination of factors dramatically increases the risk. Advanced age adds to the potential impact of any heart failure risk.
Finally, genetic abnormalities contribute to the risk for certain types of heart disease, which in turn may lead to heart failure. However, in most instances, a specific genetic link to heart failure has not been identified.
SO LIVE AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE IN YOUR ROUTINE HABITS, YOUR DIETING OF THE 4 FOOD GROUPS, MAINTAINING YOUR WEIGHT IN A THEREPEUTIC RANGE (look as calculating BMI online for free to find out what your weight range for your height is), and BALANCING REST WITH EXERCISE TO HELP DECREASE THE CHANCE OF GETTING HEART FAILURE. Go to healthyusa.tsfl.com to learn what Dr. Anderson through his book of “Dr. A.’s Healthy Habits” and me as your health coach could provide you within a reachable cost. To just view what can be offered to you for no price with no hacking go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and take a peek;)
“Some people may notice that their seizures occur in response to very specific stimuli or situations, as if the seizure is a ‘reflex’. There is a type of epilepsy called ‘reflex epilepsy‘ – in this type, seizures occur consistently in relation to a specific trigger.”
Than their is the epilepsy that is diagnosed with a IDIOPATHIC cause – meaning unknown cause and the patient could grow out of it in childhood depending on the type of seizure disorder or not–in where the condition becomes chronic (for life).
Although heredity has been known since antiquity to cause epilepsy, the progress to date in identifying the genetic basis of epilepsy has been limited primarily to the discovery of single gene mutations that cause epilepsy in relatively rare families. For the more common types of epilepsy, heredity plays a subtler role, and it is thought that a combination of mutations in multiple genes likely determine an individual’s susceptibility to seizures, as well as the responsiveness to antiepileptic medications. —————————————————————————————
Epilepsy can be caused by genetic factors (inherited) or acquired (a etiology—cause) , although in most cases it arises in part from both. The neurology and neurological sciences of Stanford Epilepsy Center Dr. Robert S. Fischer Ph D. presents the following facts on “Genetic Causes of Epilepsy”.
Articleour genes are the instruction set for building the human body. Genes reside on chromosomes.
Going to the basics is every person has 46 chromosomes, carrying a total of about 30,000 genes. We get half our chromosomes from our mother and half from our father. While genes determine the structure of our body, they also control the excitability of our brain cells. Defective genes can make hyperexcitable brain cells, which are prone to seizures.
In recent years, several epilepsy conditions have been linked to mutations in genes, but the matter is complicated by the fact that different genes may be involved in different circumstances.
In general, the most common epilepsy conditions, including partial seizures, seem to be more acquired than genetic.
Gene testing will soon be able to identify predispositions to epilepsy, allowing doctors to help a patient get treatment and to assist with family counseling. One day, doctors may simply be able to swap a patient’s cheek, test his or her genes, and predict response to various epilepsy medicines, eliminating much of the trial and error in medication choice that goes on today. Eventually, we may even be able to repair or replace defective genes that predispose a person to epilepsy, a process called gene therapy.
Lastly, Dr. Robert Fischer Ph D presented in his article, that I found very interesting, the general population has about a 1% risk of developing epilepsy. Meanwhile, children of mothers with epilepsy have a 3 to 9% risk of inheriting this disease, while children of fathers have a 1.5 to 3% risk of inheritence. Still, the actual risk is upon the specific type of epilepsy. For example, partial seizures are less likely to run in families than are generalized seizures. In any event, with the usual forms of epilepsy, even if a parent does have the condition, there is more than a 90% chance that their child will not. So most epilepsies are acquired than inherited.
Clearly, genes determine a great deal of who we are, including our possible risk for epilepsy but slim versus a actual cause. But what happens to us in life and what we do is still the larger part of the risk for epilepsy. ————————————————————————————–
A person given this diagnosis in the 1970’s, or before and even up to the early 1990’s was quiet about ever letting people know about this since in the 1970’s and back with lack of knowledge, information to the public and definitely technology than versus now. Epilepsy is much more an accepted disease in the overall community compared to 20-25 years ago and back. Heck in the 1970’s and back these patients when having a seizure episode were characterized as “Freaks”. This was due to ignorance and lack of information but due to the past 20 to 25 years with the computer used more as a must in our lives with media, television and even our government they all have made it possible for society everywhere in the world to learn and understand diseases with acceptance in wanting to help those, particularly the US, but we still need a healthier America. It will take time to get there with the many multicultural lives that all live in the U.S. which practice differently on how important or where a healthy diet with exercise balanced with rest and stress well controlled is on their priority list in living.
For a person diagnosed with or without a cause of epilepsy these steps in learning about the disease with higher technology and continuous research with medications over the years has allowed them to be able to live a completely healthy life doing the same things other people do without the disease but only if the patient is UNDER COMPLETE CONTROL which includes being COMPLIANT; this does exist in America.
Compliant meaning taking their medications everyday as ordered by their neurologist with yearly or sooner follow-up visits with blood levels of the anti-seizure medications there on. This is the only way one with chronic epilepsy is guaranteed that living this way MAY stop the seizures from occurring (inactive epilepsy you can call it — meaning you’ll always have the disease but can put the seizure activity in a remission by medications preventing the seizure.)
The purpose for (follow up) F/U visits is for the neurologist to see how good of a therapeutic drug level your anti-seizure med is in (you get the blood test before the F/U visit). Possible do a EEG (electroencephalogram); the only test to decipher if you have spikes in your brain waves indicating you had a seizure (a 26 lead to wires on the brain, which is painless). Go to the expert for keeping you on the right track. Its just like based on the principle why a person gets a check up on there car by seeing the mechanic (the car’s doctor).
Types of seizures whether with a etiology or unknown:
I-Partial seizures (seizures beginning local)
1-simple partial seizures-(the person is conscious and not impaired). With motor symptoms, autonomic symptoms and even psychic symptoms.
2.)-Complex partial seizures-(the person is with impairment of consciousness)
II-Generalized seizures-(bilaterally symmetrical and without local onset).
3.) Tonic clonic seizures – Grand Mal
Ending line is make your life one without seizures occurring, don’t put your life on HOLD you need to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! That is all up to you the patient diagnosed with epilepsy or at risk for it.