Jonathan Darmawan and Afrid Sunesara

What it is Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurring seizures. These seizures are caused by clusters of neurons sending out wrong signals. During seizures, people may have strange sensations and emotions or behave strangely. They may also have violent muscle spasms or lose consciousness.

Causes There are many causes including: Illness Strokes Brain injury Brain infection Abnormal brain development In many cases the cause is unknown

Diagnosis Doctors use brain scans to test epilepsy. Medical history also helps with diagnosis. Signs Seizures: Generalized tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures - Affects the whole brain. Muscles in the body become stiff. The person usually loses consciousness. Absence (or petit mal) seizures - Affects the whole brain, and usually only lasts a few seconds. May be unaware of his or her surroundings, suddenly stop moving, or have small changes in muscle movements. Partial (focal) seizures - Affects only one part of the brain. Symptoms vary based on which part of the brain is affected. Symptoms Dizziness Emotional changes Changes in vision (such as hallucinations) Smell (smelling an odor that isn’t there) Touch (such as numbness or tingling)

Treatment It is important to start treatment right away. There are no cures however there is medicine to control the seizures for most people. Alternative treatments include surgery or devices such as vagus nerve stimulator. Special diets can help with children with this disease.

Famous People With Epilepsy AUTHORS: Charles Dickens Dante Sir Walter Scott Lord Byron Alfred, Lord Tennyson Moliere Lewis Carroll Fyodor Dostoevsky Leo Tolstoy Gustave Flaubert Agatha Christie Truman Capote Edgar Allen Poe SPORTS FIGURES: Tony Greig (Cricket) Terry Marsh (Boxer) Greg Walker (Baseball) Wally Lewis (Rugby) Paul Wade (Aussie Football) Allen Faneca (NFL) Chandra Gunn (Women's Hockey) Bobby Jones (Basketball) Garry Howatt (NHL) Derek Morris (NHL) MILITARY & POLITICAL LEADERS: Alexander the Great Julius Caesar Hannibal King Louis XIII (France) King Charles V (Spain) Napolean Bonaparte Peter the Great Vladimir Lenin Theodore Roosevelt (U.S. President) James Madison (U.S. President) RELIGIOUS LEADERS: Saint Paul Joan of Arc Martin Luther Pope Pius IX PHILOSOPHERS: Socrates Aristotle Pythagoras PAINTERS: Leonardo Da Vinci Vincent Van Gogh Michelangelo COMPOSERS: Paganini Tchaikovsky Beethoven Handel George Gershwin Schumann ACTORS: Michael Wilding Margaux Hemingway Richard Burton Danny Glover Bud Abbott Ward Bond SCIENTISTS: Alfred Nobel Sir Isaac Newton Thomas Edison

Fun Facts Ancient people thought epileptic seizures were caused by evil spirits or demons that invaded a person's body. Priests tried to cure people with epilepsy by driving the demons out of them with magic and prayers. The superstition was challenged by physicians like Atreya of India and later Hippocrates of Greece, both recognized a seizure as a dysfunction of the brain and not a supernatural event. Aristotle was apparently the first to connect epilepsy and genius.

Bibliography https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/epilepsy.html http://www.epilepsy.va.gov/Information/about.asp http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases- conditions/epilepsy.printerview.all.html http://www.edmontonepilepsy.org/epilepsy/living/famous.html