Overview

Seeing a child who is a one moment doing just fine and struggling to compose themselves the moment after is as harrowing as it may sound. Epilepsy, a neurological/brain condition is an illness that one cannot see until it manifests itself in the most agonizing forms. The fact that epilepsy is still associated with substantial amount of social stigma in our society, stems from the lack of awareness regarding the given issue, which ultimately costs families and the patients themselves with the debilitating life years and the constant fear of another epileptic attack, anytime and anywhere. If the condition is not addressed at the right time and in the right ways, the child may end up with severe complications for life, only adding insult to the misery. The melancholy is known only to those who have undergone the painstaking treatments, procedures, and situations at the hands of faith healers, hakeems, or sometimes even from incompetent doctors.

Early Intervention is Important

Providing seizure first aid for the patient is as pertinent and promising to prevent a child and its preceding life from the consequences and compromises as is placing a stent in a patient with a heart attack. Epilepsy is itself a treatable condition and seizures or fits are preventable if the child is saved before deterioration. Timely diagnoses and treatment nips the devil in the bud by bracing the disease in its earliest forms and prevents any internal and external injures from the earnest stage.

Epilepsy in Pakistan

We find it as our national responsibility to shrink the disability life years of the epileptic patients and the associated loved ones who have to live under the shadows of fear all the time - the projection of a seizing child. It is not only the patient that seizes but also its life and the lives of its loved ones are halted as a result. The irony hits harder when this could be avoided and people could live as normal a life as any other human being but the situation reeks volumes of the careless practices on both ends. It is about time that we address this issue pertaining for thousands of years and give it the attention that it deserves to break its terror and to overcome the wrath that follows.

In a developing country like Pakistan, where epilepsy is still considered a taboo, great number of cases remain underreported and undertreated, consequently, leading to an increase in disease burden. Therefore, we must find better alternatives to address the given issue. Establishing a Childhood Epilepsy Helpline can perhaps cater to most our needs, be it raising awareness or countering the stigma that surround it, making it the need of the hour. Our helpline is purposed to provide the guidance for necessary first aid to the patient, in order to avoid any injuries, and to keep check and control of the disease, and to prevent it from exacerbating. Hence, avoiding the resulting chaos and stress to the patient and their caregivers. We strive not only to aid the initial steps of the process but we will make sure that we are there for you when you are seizing and even when you are not. Our epilepsy support groups and referrals with suitable psychologists, and having all the medicines in adequate amounts in our pharmacy to help you maintain compliance, are among the many services that we provide so you are not unaided and helpless. Moreover, that is not it; we will keep spreading awareness until epilepsy is not a taboo anymore. So no one out there experiences resulting consequences. And the epileptic humans are as equally supported, strengthened, enabled, and empathized as humans with any other chronic illness. In addition, they are accepted as normal as any other person who fights fever and gets back to life once healed.

Takeaway

The deepest pit of the disease, where its power lies in all its majesty, is that it would not show if it does not manifest as a seizure and that’s where most of us get fooled either by deeming it as demonic possession or not considering it as a chronic medical condition, and hence, estimating it unworthy of medical attention. Therefore, the power of disease lies not just in the diseased brain but also in the brains of the people. And we will address it until its mightiness crumbles to the ground!

Download the Shifaam Health App or visit www.shifaam.com to book an online consultation with Paediatric Neurologist Dr. Raman Kumar.