Eighty per cent of epilepsy cases can be controlled or cured only by medicines, said Dr Dinesh Nayak, senior consultant neurologist and epileptologist, Fortis Malar Hospital, on Tuesday.
The doctor said that medicines can be stopped for 80 per cent of patients with epilepsy after a period of two to five years. The rest 20 per cent, who suffer from drug resistant epilepsy, require highly specialised tertiary level care.
Dr Dinesh along with Dr Satish Kumar and Dr Lakshmi Narayanan elaborated on the myths, facts and treatment options available for epilepsy, to a gathering of patients and their family members during the talk organised on the occasion of National Epilepsy Day.
A lot of myths surrounding epilepsy were discussed and cleared during the interaction. Dr Dinesh debunked the common myth of epilepsy being a mental disorder and a hereditary disease. He said that only in a very small percentage, it is hereditary. “People think that one having epilepsy cannot marry or lead a normal life. These are very common myths. We had to clear those myths and tell them the facts about epilepsy,” the doctor said.
The doctors recalled the popular belief that epilepsy seizures stop if a person is given a bunch of keys and clarified it as one of the most common myths. They said that 95 per cent of ‘fit’ stop by itself within two minutes.
Medical experts also cleared the doubts about people fearing that once a surgery is performed on the brain, people can’t talk or walk. They said with proper selection of experienced surgeons, the surgery would be successful in treating the problem.
Audience was also informed of the various treatments and medicines available to treat epilepsy. “For the first 100 years, there were only three to four medicines available. In the last few years, 20 new molecules have come up. These, though expensive, have less side effects,” explained Dr Dinesh. Patients who had been on medication and those who had been operated also shared their experiences post the talk.