DHA’s clinic raise community awareness about epilepsy

DUBAI / Emirates Business

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) held a smart clinic on Thursday to raise awareness about symptoms, causes and treatment of epilepsy.
Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which clusters of nerve cells in the brain sometimes signal abnormally causing strange sensations, emotions, and behavior, or sometimes convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. Epilepsy means the same thing as “seizure disorders and it is characterized by unpredictable seizures and can cause other health problems
It is the fourth most common neurological disorder and affects people of all ages.
Dr Muhammad Al Kaylani, consultant neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Rashid Hospital, said: “Although it is easily treatable, how epilepsy is perceived is often is a bigger problem than the seizures. In general, there is a lack of awareness of the disease and often the disease is confused with a psychiatric illness. Lack of awareness and social stigma surrounding the disease leads to late treatment, complications and poses an emotional burden for the patient and his family members. Late diagnosis is more common in cases where there is partial epilepsy or where the first seizure is not a major seizure.”