Prevention of epilepsy and its recurrence of symptoms

Body convulsions until you lose consciousness is a symptom of epilepsy. When these symptoms appear, the patient must get prompt treatment. The reason is, body seizures that last more than 5 minutes or cause the sufferer to faint and not getting proper treatment can cause brain damage to death. Actually, is there a way to prevent epilepsy? Come on, see the following reviews regarding epilepsy prevention measures based on the observations of health experts.

Preventive measures to prevent epilepsy

Epilepsy is an incurable disease. Even so, epilepsy can still be prevented. The following are various things you can do to avoid getting sick, also known as epilepsy, in the future.

1. Avoid head injury

The first step in preventing epilepsy is knowing what the disease is. One of the causes of epilepsy is head injury. So, by preventing head injuries, it can indirectly be a way to prevent epilepsy.

You must be careful in your activities, especially in activities that have a risk of causing head injury, for example:

• Drive carefully. Make sure you are not sleepy, drunk, and in good health when driving a vehicle. In addition, always use safety equipment, such as seat belts and helmets according to standards.
• Be careful when climbing or descending stairs. Not being careful when climbing or descending stairs can make you slip. This can cause you to fall and head impact. So make sure you focus on the footsteps when climbing or descending the stairs, not playing with the phone and holding on to the side of the support if necessary.
• Work in accordance with the SOP (standard operating procedure).For those of you who work at high altitudes or are associated with building construction, always use safety equipment and work according to procedures.

2. Get vaccinated

Another cause of epilepsy is the presence of infectious diseases, such as meningitis. Meningitis itself is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation.

The preventive measure for meningitis as well as epilepsy is to get a meningitis vaccine. Vaccines can prevent diseases caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis.

3. Apply a healthy lifestyle that reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke

Stroke can cause a person to have seizures and this condition can increase the risk of epilepsy later in life. The reason is because a stroke affects blood flow in the brain which may also trigger abnormal electrical activity in the brain. This non-abnormal activity in the brain can later lead to epilepsy.

Meanwhile, heart disease that causes the heart not to work optimally in pumping blood can also trigger a stroke. Based on this relationship, health experts conclude that epilepsy prevention measures can be done by reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

You can prevent stroke and heart disease as well as epilepsy by adopting a lifestyle like the following:

• Control your blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can worsen the performance of the heart and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life. So, limit your consumption of foods high in salt.
• Take control of your cholesterol levels.High cholesterol can lead to heart disease and stroke. So, make sure you reduce your consumption of foods high in fat and cholesterol, such as junk food.
• Quit smoking. The chemicals in cigarettes can cause inflammation of the blood vessels and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Therefore, immediately quit smoking.
• Exercise and keep your body weight ideal. Excessive body weight can cause shared inflammation in the body. Therefore, make sure you eat accordingly and do regular exercise. Increase consumption of vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds.

4. Keep clean

You can prevent infection which is one of the risks of epilepsy. Apart from getting the vaccine, another epilepsy preventive measure you can take is to maintain personal hygiene.

Launching from the CDC page, infection with the cysticercosis parasite, which can cause epilepsy, can enter the body through food and drink. For this reason, you must keep your drinks and food clean so you don't get infected. Always wash the vegetables you process and make sure your cutlery is clean too. Don't forget to wash your hands diligently.

5. Always be healthy during pregnancy

The fetus in the womb is quite sensitive to brain damage. due to infection of the mother, malnutrition, and lack of oxygen. Well, this brain damage will later cause epilepsy in babies, children, or adolescents.

If you want to prevent your little one from getting this disease in the future, you have to keep yourself and your womb healthy. Always pay attention to personal health, food, and the environment to avoid various infections.

Make sure you have enough nutritional needs during pregnancy, whether it's from food, milk, or additional supplements that your doctor may prescribe. Finally, don't forget to have your uterus checked regularly to the doctor.

Tips for preventing the recurrence of epilepsy symptoms

Epilepsy is recurrent. That means, the symptoms can appear suddenly at any time and anywhere. Usually, the appearance of symptoms is triggered by several factors, for example, stopping taking epilepsy medications, lack of sleep, stress, or drinking excessive alcohol.

Don't worry, you can apply the following methods to prevent the recurrence of epilepsy:

1. Do not miss a dose of the drug

Symptoms of epilepsy can appear many times a day. Sometimes the sufferer realizes it, sometimes not. Fortunately, there are medications available that can reduce the frequency of symptoms.

If your doctor does prescribe you to continue taking the medication, follow his advice. Do not occasionally reduce doses or skip doses of prescribed drugs. The reason is, this action can cause symptoms to recur.

2. Get enough sleep

Epilepsy can disrupt your sleep, and sleep deprivation can worsen seizure symptoms. Some epilepsy medications can also cause side effects such as insomnia that can keep you from falling asleep. This condition will make you sleep deprived and symptoms will recur more frequently.

If you experience this condition, try to relax your body before bed. For example, a warm bath or bath, meditation, exercise, and meditation. Make your room more comfortable, such as adjusting the room temperature and lighting.

If the above methods fail to improve sleep quality or prevent symptoms of epilepsy recurrence, don't hesitate to consult a doctor. Do not use sleeping pills without supervision from your doctor.

3. Reduce stress and drinking habits

The next step to prevent the recurrence of epilepsy symptoms is to be clever in managing stress. Stress and anxiety can cause you to breathe faster. This condition can increase activity in the brain, which may cause abnormal activity and trigger seizures.

Therefore, people with epilepsy are very obliged to be able to deal with the stress they face. The method varies, from doing activities you like, doing sports, to consulting a psychologist - if necessary.

While alcohol can reduce a person's alcohol tolerance level. It could be that you are already drunk even if you only drink a little alcohol. It's not clear how alcohol triggers seizures. However, alcohol consumption can disrupt your sleep. So, it will be more if you limit or stop this habit first.