Talk:Epilepsy/Archive 1

message: I have no idea what the following means, There has been some relatively mild controversy over the standards for diagnosis for partial-complex seizures and how these standards are applied in practice, both among some surrealists and in particular as regards Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
Would the author care to expand, elaborate, or otherwise make the entry relevant? 1Winston 20:11, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Controversy and Complex Partial Diagnosis 

message: It should be mentioned that epilepsy can occur in non-humans too, for example dogs.  The hereditary component in dogs might be mentioned here or in another article. --Daniel C. Boyer
===Seizure-sensing dogs===
I've never heard of that. It sounds remarkable. Can anyone post an external link? Adambisset 16:05, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dogs too 

message: I've never heard of that. It sounds remarkable. Can anyone post an external link? Adambisset 16:05, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Seizure-sensing dogs

message: === Possible misdiagnosis of epilepsy in surrealists and the surrealist-oriented ===
I think the link on the bottom is bullshit, anyone willing to explain? User:Jwk
:Yeah, I wondered about it too.  Moved it off the article and onto this page for now, unless someone can explain it as more than kookiness.
:As the author of the article in question, I would ask why you describe it as "kookiness". I think that every one of my points has at least a colourable basis.  --Daniel C. Boyer
* Danger of misdiagnosis of temporal-lobe or partial complex seizure epilepsy in surrealists
::The link's now broken, and in addition it was a self-link to original research, which is prohibited by the Wikipedia standards regardless of the merits of the research.  If there are no other objections, I will soon clear these statements from the article.  -Ikkyu2 21:57, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: There has been some relatively mild controversy over the standards for diagnosis for partial-complex seizures and how these standards are applied in practice, both among some surrealists and in particular as regards Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
If there is any serious, peer-reviewed scholarly research that links the artistic movement, Surrealism, to this serious medical illness, it needs to be cited explicitly in the future.  -Ikkyu2 06:17, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

text: This is question-begging, to say the least, and suffers from the serious drawback that surrealism is not an artistic movement.  --Daniel C. Boyer 22:10, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Controversy 

message: I think the link on the bottom is bullshit, anyone willing to explain? User:Jwk
:Yeah, I wondered about it too.  Moved it off the article and onto this page for now, unless someone can explain it as more than kookiness.
:As the author of the article in question, I would ask why you describe it as "kookiness". I think that every one of my points has at least a colourable basis.  --Daniel C. Boyer
* Danger of misdiagnosis of temporal-lobe or partial complex seizure epilepsy in surrealists
::The link's now broken, and in addition it was a self-link to original research, which is prohibited by the Wikipedia standards regardless of the merits of the research.  If there are no other objections, I will soon clear these statements from the article.  -Ikkyu2 21:57, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: There has been some relatively mild controversy over the standards for diagnosis for partial-complex seizures and how these standards are applied in practice, both among some surrealists and in particular as regards Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
If there is any serious, peer-reviewed scholarly research that links the artistic movement, Surrealism, to this serious medical illness, it needs to be cited explicitly in the future.  -Ikkyu2 06:17, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

text: This is question-begging, to say the least, and suffers from the serious drawback that surrealism is not an artistic movement.  --Daniel C. Boyer 22:10, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible misdiagnosis of epilepsy in surrealists and the surrealist-oriented 

message: The American Academy of Neurology, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Epilepsy Society, and American Academy of Neurological Surgery all have consensus statements on the role of epilepsy surgery in the care of medically intractable epilepsy.  Why was this type of surgery called 'experimental'?   I've removed that word.  - Ikkyu2 23:02, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Surgery 

message: Article should be revised to explain that the cause of Joan's visitations is highly debatable/controversial, from actual divine visitation, to temporal lobe epilepsy, &c.  It's not necessarily true that this is what Joan has and the statement as it stands is somewhat misleading.  --Daniel C. Boyer 19:39, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Joan of Arcadia 

message: Hello,
Having experienced several Tonic-Clonic Seizures throughout my lifetime and having friends who also have them, I've got some information to add. I, however, feel that I shouldn't make changes but let people who have more experience with Wikipedia do so after they consider what I have to add. This is from the point of view of the person experiencing a seizure, and information most doctors are unaware of:
* Hallucinations and visions do not exist in all cases. Before losing consciousness and experiencing the effects of the seizure, the person may experience a feeling that is near impossible to express in words (at least at my ability to do so), but the feeling is a feeling that is only experienced before the seizure and simply is referred to as a warning signal by doctors (my doctor told me this).
* Many people who are treated with Tegretol for epilepsy can take the medicine right after experiencing the warning signal and the effects of the seizure will be nullified except for loss of consciousness. This has not been proven by medical science, but many (including myself) can attest to the effectiveness of this medicine.
* After a person wakes up from the seizure they may experience a headache similar in pain to a migraine, experiencing some of the effects of migraines or all of them. The person is usually unable to function properly for several hours after experiencing the seizure.
Hi there,
Just thought I'd document some changes I've just made:
* Rewrote 'Categories' section to clear up confusion on simple / partial seizures and to expand. Renamed to 'Types of Epileptic Seizure'. Moved to top.
* Removed some redundant text from 'Causes' (now covered in 'Types of Epileptic Seizure'). Replaced Epilepsy does not cause mental retardation or brain deterioration, except in cases where brain damage results from Status Epilepticus (see below) with note on cognitive decline in epilepsy.
* Added link to What to do when someone has a seizure information sheet from Epilepsy Action.
Updated information largely taken from  and .
- Vaughan 00:08, 4 Jan 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Changes 

message: Could there be at least some form of sourcing of famous epilepsy victims before they're put on the page? I've checked through a few of them, and there doesn't seem to be anything connecting them to epilepsy or even any mental disorder. We can't people just naming famous people without some sort of backing up.
: This has been bugging me lately!  There was, last month, an article in the journal Epilepsy Behavior contesting some of the famous people that, it has been suggested, have epilepsy.  I'll see if I can get a copy of the full research. Dupont Circle 09:17, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Having got hold of the full research, I've removed Pythagoras, Aristotle, Hannibal, Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Cardinal Richelieu, Jean Moliere, Isaac Newton, William III of England, Georg Fridric Handel, James Madison, Sir Walter Scott, Nicolo Paganini, Baron Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Nobel, Michelangelo, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Agatha Christie, Truman Capote and Richard Burton.  The research states that the most common syptoms leading to epilepsy misdiagnosis in these famous people are psychogenic attacks and alcohol withdrawal seizures Dupont Circle 14:48, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Ah, great work! That was annoying me a lot to, I'm glad somebody had the will to do something about it. Thanks! --Toomin 08:35, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Famous Epilepsy Sufferer 

message: Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys has epilepsy? That needs to be verified in case it is a prank. Decius 20:10, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Adam Horovitz]] 

message: I intentionally left out remacemide and ethotoin because they are used only very, very rarely in the treatment of epilepsy.  -- Ikkyu2 09:43, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I don't see how you could go wrong adding more information.  One of the nice things about this list, though, is that it is a list of links to some very nice descriptive articles about the drugs in question.  Have you clicked through any of them?  As far as wikipedia replacing a doctor's visit, well, it's not clear to me that anyone would think it did.  Tripping over a rock cannot replace a visit to the doctor - do we need to put warnings on every rock? -Ikkyu2 16:04, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pharmacology 

message: Under the generalized tonic-clonic seizure section was the following text:
These tend to be accompanied by intense visions or hallucinations, often of a mystical or religious nature. The person with epilepsy may, upon regaining consciousness, hold very strong beliefs deriving from the experience that may persist for some time.
This is not something that's familiar to me, and I think it must have been put there in error.  To the contrary, generalized tonic-clonic seizures tend to be unremembered by the people that experience them.  There's certainly no basis for the claim that epilepsy causes people to hold unfounded beliefs.  People with epilepsy may or may not think rationally or hold strong beliefs - just like any other people, and for the same reasons.
I'm removing it; anyone thinking of putting it back will need to dig up some evidence supporting their claim. -Ikkyu2 02:50, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed text 

message: In about half of cases of temporal lobe epilepsy, very strong ictal headaches[1] may occur, often misdiagnosed as migraine with aura. However, these headaches may be much more intense, and are sometimes even accompanied by temporary blindness.
This is a problematic paragraph for a number of reasons.  First of all, the prevalence of ictal headache is nothing like 50% in any kind of seizure.  Ictal headache is exceedingly rare.  Post-ictal headache, which happens after a seizure, probably has a prevalence close to 50%.  Secondly, headaches are probably better termed 'painful' rather than 'strong', to avoid confusion.  Thirdly, migraine headaches are often accompanied by temporary blindness, and while it is difficult to compare subjective symptoms from patient to patient, it is probably a mistake to suggest that any sort of headache can be 'much more intense' than a migraine.
I will be altering this paragraph in the near future.  -Ikkyu2 15:08, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Fixed. -Ikkyu2 16:05, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  ictal headache 

message: I have recently become aware of Benign Rolandic Epilepsy, a particular type of Epilepsy that is based in the "rolandic strip" area of the brain (temporal lobe area, near speech center).  It is often called "benign" because children tend to grow out of it by puberty (but this is not always the case).  Perhaps someone who is more of an expert on the topic could provide information on this type of epilepsy on the main page? 1Winston 21:27, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Ikkyu2, I see that the main page is expanding.  Excellent!  1Winston 20:53, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  (Benign) Rolandic Epilepsy 

message: The section of the Pokémon episode that was linked to some 12,000 Japanese children's seizures was repeated on the Japanese evening news of December 16, 1997 causing another large outbreak of seizures.  Can anyone find any information on this?  It would probably be in Japanese.
-Gaston33 21:12, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pokémon seizures 

message: Would it make sense to reference Todd's palsy/Paralysis in the main article?  1Winston 20:02, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Todd's Paralysis 

message: I have removed the following text, plus a previous edit with much the same advert for The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP).
:Established in 1955, IAHP is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and development of children who have some form of brain injury, including children diagnosed with Epilepsy. The IAHP claims that with a home program consisting of a healthy diet, clean air, and respiratory programs many of these children can be well without the need for medication. The IAHP publishes the results of its treatment for over 1700 children on its website. (visit IAHP website).
User Jollygood has added this and similar text/links to Cerebral palsy, Autism, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome. I request that he/she refrain from re-submitting any link or text about this organisation to the epilepsy article until they can present independent, peer-reviewed evidence in a respectable journal that this company's approach is both safe and effective.
I refer the reader to an article on the IAHP web site: A BILL OF PARTICULARS ON SEIZURES AND ON DISCONTINUING ANTICONVULSANT DRUGS by Edward B. LeWinn, MD, FACP, The Institute for Clinical Investigation which it totally at odds with all established medical practice:
#Claims that seizures cause no harm and that status epilipticus is caused by anticonvulsants and may be best left untreated by them.
#The only medical article referenced is an editorial (i.e. opinion piece, not peer-reviewed research) in a thirty year old journal. This editorial refers to a situation of 1970's America, which lacked most of the anticonvulsant drugs in common use today.
#The only anticonvulsants discussed are phenobarbital and phenytoin, neither of which are first-line drugs for children in developed countries and the former is well known to have negative cognitive consequences.
#Insists that all anticonvulsants be eliminated from all children (detoxification).
Further skeptical information about their program is also discussed on QuackWatch. --Colin 23:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential 

message: The epilepsy article used to have a section labeled 'Controversy'.  Nearly any article in an NPOV encylopedia should probably have such a section.  If the IAHP has its own Wikipedia article, verified, NPOV, and passing the strict WP inclusion criteria, I would not be averse to a no more than one-sentence link to that article from the 'Controversy' section of this article.  The sentence would have to emphasize that most reasonable people, including experts on epilepsy, found the contentions of the IAHP to be impossible, dangerous, harmful, offensive, unverifiable, and false.  Ikkyu2 03:32, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Controversy

message: Why was this disease called Morbus Comitialis ('disease of the assembly hall')?
Any knowledge?--Calm 12:02, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Have a look at He Hath the Falling Sickness by Stanley M. Aronson, MD. It appears the Romans had several names, so the article should probably reflect that rather than picking just one. I have read more than one source explain that the assembly was broken up if someone had a seizure. This is relevant to the discussion regarding stigma rather than just history. Colin°Talk 13:21, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why "Morbus Comitialis"? 

message: Hello there, I have basically created (and am one of very few contributors) to the Simple English article on Epilepsy(simple:Epilepsy). In there, I sate with easy words, what epilepsy is. I have recently added a (also simple) section on what to do if one sees someone having a seizure (i.e. Emergency tips). Could someone of you (who are probably specialistsa in the medical, if not neurology department) have a quick look, and put things right? - Thanks -- 16:32, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Could someone proofread the Simple English article? 

message: I have removed the following paragraph:
:Side effects reported for antieleptic drugs include cognitive impairment, microcephaly and birth defects . Low serum biotinidase activity has also been reported in children taking valproic acid .
I'm not disputing that these effects can occur nor am I trying to say that this article should not discuss AED side effects. However, if it does, it should be in fairly general terms and mention effects common to a lot of AEDs. There are lots of pretty unpleasant effects that vary from drug to drug. These are covered in great detail on each drug's page. A fuller discussion of AED side effects could go in the anticonvulsant article. Particular problems with the above paragraph are:
#The 1st article from PNAS only mentions "cognitive impairment, microcephaly and birth defects" in the introductory paragraph in the abstract. The article itself is about neurodegenration of the rat brain. So a better source would be a study of the incidence of these side effects in the human population.
#The 2nd side effect is extremely technical and specific to just one drug. This should go in the valproic acid article if anywhere. It is also essential to explain what "Low serum biotinidase activity" means since Wikipedia is a general encyclopedia, not a medical textbook.
I have also removed:
:Magnesium and vitamin b6 exerted a positive non-specific influence on the mental states of patients with epilepsy, depression and anxiety during an experiment .
There are many thousands of epilepsy-related studies. It is not clear why this study on "A use of Magne-B6 in the treatment of anxiety-depressive states in patients with epilepsy" deserves to be mentioned here. This article should focus on the main treatment practices in-use (whether mainstream or alternative). So unless "Magne-B6" is a standard treatment somewhere, it doesn't really belong here.
Colin°Talk 08:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In this trial, magnesium sulphate was associated with a significantly lower rate of recurrent seizures and lower rate of maternal death than that observed with other anticonvulsants. 
--Mihai cartoaje 12:33, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed text (AED side effects / magnesium/vb6) 

message: Is it really in anyone's interests to list the trade names of the generic drugs used to treat epilepsy? Most companies seem to market things under different names depending on the continent they're on; in other cases several companies will market the same drug prepared in their own way under different names. (Sodium valproate, for example, is explicitly marketed as Epilim in the UK by one company; however I believe something very similar is marketed under an entirely different name in the US.)
I propose we remove the trade names instead of trying to keep up with pharmaceuticals' marketing wings.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ithika (talk • contribs) 19:51, 27 May 2006.
The generic name is preferred in Wikipedia for precisely those reasons. However, we have to bear in mind that Wikipedia is intended for a general audience rather than for pharmacists or physicians. I've noticed that US patients and doctors tend to use the trade name, whereas UK patients and doctors tend to use the generic name. There are exceptions: I've yet to hear anyone say "levetiracetam" (Keppra) - probably because the drug company deliberately composed a tongue-twister of a name. I wouldn't want the reader to be put off by lots of scientific and hard-to-pronounce names, or for them to fail to spot the drug they were familiar with.
Sodium valproate, valproate semisodium, and valproic acid are particularly troublesome (they are variations on the same drug) because their trade names vary from country to country and also on whether it is a tablet, capsule, syrup or injection.
I think the current list is reasonable, and should remain restricted to the original/popular brand for English-speaking countries.
Colin°Talk 22:18, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I recently discovered that someone in my doctor's office was using this very page to learn how to spell these drugs' names for the purpose of transcribing my dictations.  So, yes, it's useful to someone.  --ikkyu2 (talk) 02:57, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If you go to e.g. the page for sodium valproate, it lists the different formulations available by country. I'd suggest that's a better way of doing it than including all the information about the drug in all the pages where it's mentioned? Nmg20 11:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

text: You won't find such a list of country trade names outside of the valproate articles and even those lists are pretty short - see www.crazymeds.us/depacon.html for one person's (not entirely accurate) attempt to list them all. The valproates have a long history and are the most troublesome in terms of trade names. We all agree there shouldn't be too much detailed drug info on this page which is about Epilepsy as a whole. I do think that a little extra info is justified here and that a long list of generic drug names would be a total turn off for anyone outside of a pharmacists. Most modern drugs have one primary trade name and in this age of globalisation, it is standard throughout the English-speaking world. Colin°Talk 14:30, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Drug trade names 

message: In a recent edit (4th June) User:Midgley dropped the "yet" from the "reliable evidence" statement on acupuncture, psychological interventions, vitamins and yoga. I believe the "yet" is justified for two reasons:
# The Cochrane Collaboration use it themselves (wrt acupunture) .
# All four reports contain:
:#Some evidence (of possibly very poor standard, such as anecdote) that the treatment works
:#A rational explanation of why it could work
:#A request for further trials
The last point is IMO the strongest justification for saying "yet". This is not a done-deal. There are no huge damning studies that say it is pointless to waste more time on these treatments. There are in fact some studies that suggest there may be something in them (though they fail to meet the Cochrane Collaboration's very high standards). The edit has resulted in text that says "there is nothing here, move along now". This is POV and fails to reflect the conclusion of the referenced reports. Therefore, I would like the "yet" restored.
-- Colin°Talk 20:07, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is predicting the future.  If evidence of effectiveness is found, then there will be no need for anyone to say "yet".  Until it is, it has not been found.  Rather than predicting the future, I suggest adding a note on the rational basis on which it might work - and that evidence to confirm that continues to be sought.  That seems to me more encyclopaedic.  Midgley 20:16, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternative treatments 

message: The other change is from "unscientific" to "dangerous". This is potentially libellous. If you read their web site, it appears they take great care to taper AEDs and supervise the process by medical staff. Whilst many may regard them as quacks, to call their methods "dangerous" really does demand a reference quoting a significant authority. If such a published statement can't be found, I ask that it revert back to the previous word.
-- Colin°Talk 20:07, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is dangerous.  If it was not dangerous, there would be no need to take great care.  25% relapse , every AED's enclosed patient advice leaflet will remark on the need to avoid suddenly stopping... sudden death in epilepsy is a complication more frequent in untreated epilepsy ...  ... Midgley 20:23, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If this group is claiming that children stop having seizures and therefore their methods aren't dangerous, the onus is very much on them to prove that these children stop having seizures, isn't it? If they've done so - and I haven't looked into the claim - then fine - otherwise what they're doing is dangerous. Nmg20 23:42, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential 

message: The NSE article refered to in the text is very interesting and there is much to agree with. It is a bit of a polemic and I feel contains rhetoric that shouldn't make its way into an encyclopedia article. I've toned down 
the intro and the paragraph added to the Diagnosis section.
I've also removed the statements about "the most common" or "second only to migrane". The word "common" is a bit general when there are complications to do with prevalence, incidence and age. This aspect really needs a paragraph or two in its own section. For example, stroke and alzheimer's are also extremely common, but only tend to affect the elderly. Migrane isn't in the same league as epilepsy in terms of how serious a condition it is (I appreciate it can be very disabling, but it rarely requires emergency hospital treatment or is a significant cause of death).
Colin°Talk 11:04, 13 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If you consider backache as a neurological condition, it trumps all the other neurological conditions *put together* in terms of total cost to society.  Most of that is due to days of productive work lost.  I agree that 'most common' or 'most important' is not really a very insightful way of classifying a kind of human trouble.  --ikkyu2 (talk) 02:52, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diagnosis of Epilepsy 

message: Could we please have some information, or at least a redirect, to what to do in the case of an epileptic fit? I just had to deal with someone having one. I imagine many people will come here, possibly in an emergency, looking for information.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seaniedan (talk • contribs) 15:34, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Please see Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer. I'm afraid we can't give medical advice. There's no guarantee that any editor here is actually medically qualified to give advice. The article could at any point be vandalised to give the wrong or even dangerous advice, though hopefully any vandalism wouldn't last long. A Google search for "first aid seizure" returns some decent pages, such as this one from the UK Epilepsy Action. Colin°Talk 19:36, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  emergencies 

message: Someone has created a new article at Rage Epilepsy.  It looks suspect to me (like someone is using Wikipedia to publish a new theory), but I don't know much about this area.  If some of the regular editors for this article would please take a look at it, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks, WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:17, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rage epilepsy? 

message: Anybody know when, or if, being seizure free as a direct result of surgery constitutes, medically speaking, being 'cured'? This article says medicines can 'control' but not 'cure' it- what, therefore, does successful surgery do? 86.42.84.131 (talk) 07:10, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: See Facts about epilepsy surgery. Drugs don't remove the underlying seizure-causing problem (just suppress it, to varying degrees of success). Surgery can eliminate the cause (but not always, and not all forms of surgery attempt this). Colin°Talk 08:54, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Also, do not confuse medicine with surgery. Medical intervention usually refers to therapeutic intervention, not surgical intervention. This may help explain why the two statements you mention don't actually contradict eachother. Surgery can 'cure' epilepsy but it is reserved for severe cases, but medicines (or medical inerventions/drugs) cannot. I hope this helps. 79.184.57.240 (talk) 15:45, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Can surgery be curative? 

message: :Modern treatment enables many people with epilepsy (seizure disorders) to lead normal lives. But age-old fears and prejudices continue to cause social problems that too often severely limit their participation and personal fulfillment.
:So many misconceptions surround epilepsy that communicators may inadvertently add to the negative image of the disorder merely by choice of language. The following is an effort to call attention to usage of terms that in some manner communicate a negative image of epilepsy.
:Disease
:Many people with epilepsy prefer the term disorder, since the condition is not a disease in the usual sense of the term—it is a disorder characterized by a recurring disturbance in the electrical activity of the brain. To the general public, the term disease has connotations of being unsightly, progressive and contagious. Epilepsy and seizure disorder(s) are equally acceptable terms that may be used interchangeably.
:Epileptic
:Like all individuals with disabilities, people with epilepsy dislike labels, such as in “He’s an epileptic.” This dislike can be summed up by the statement, “epilepsy is what I have, not what I am.” The preferred terminology is person with epilepsy or child with epilepsy, rather than epileptic, which can be cumbersome for headlines, something that is, in fact, rarely an issue (see Stereotyping below). Use of epileptic as an adjective, as in “epileptic seizures” is appropriate.
:Fit
:Although the term fit is commonly used by the medical profession in the English-speaking world outside of the U.S., most individuals with epilepsy in the U.S. are particularly sensitive to the description of seizures as fits. The feeling is that this word connotes mental derangement or loss of emotional control. Some associate the word with the symptoms of rabies in animals. Seizures or, in some cases, convulsions, is preferred. (Convulsion is a more specific term that more aptly describes a single type of seizure involving muscle contractions throughout the entire body. Not all epileptic seizures are convulsions. Some seizures may amount to only a momentary stare.)
:Control
:Seizures are controlled with medication, persons with epilepsy are not. “Controlled epileptic” is particularly to be avoided as it often gives the impression that the person needs to be restrained from willful, aggressive behavior. The adjective violent as a description of a seizure is also unfortunate because the term implies a threat to others and a force out of control.
:Stereotyping
:In the past, stereotyping has created unfounded associations between epilepsy and crime or violence, and between epilepsy and mental incompetence. “Epileptic Charged in Murder” makes as much sense as “Insomniac Charged in Murder,” yet this type of headline is not uncommon.
:Persistent Myth
:Perhaps the most persistent myth is that a person having a seizure can swallow his tongue. It is not physically possible to swallow your tongue. The tongue, if relaxed, could possibly block the airway. The way to avoid this is to turn the person on her side so the tongue falls away to the side of the mouth.
:Lesser Seizures
:All seizures are serious. Absence seizures (formerly known as petit mal) may seem less severe than generalized tonic-clonic seizures (formerly known as grand mal), but they’re not. Although tonic-clonic seizures (or convulsions) are more dramatic and expose the person experiencing them to serious injury, a child who has 50–75 absence seizures an hour may suffer more severe consequences from them—such as a severe functional disability—than a  person who has two or three tonic-clonic seizures a year. The parents of the child who has almost debilitating absence seizures will likely—and rightfully—take exception to their child’s condition being referred to a lesser form of epilepsy.
The above text contains speculation, personal opinion and is completely unsourced. Colin°Talk 12:42, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The first two sentences of the article give standard medically accepted definitions of epilepsy and seizure, and are sourced to the ILAE who are an authority on such terminology. The above text is unsourced and needs to be per WP:V. It is also not written in an encyclopaedic tone. Colin°Talk 10:22, 24 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Communicating about epilepsy

message: I think the wording should be more objective. It reads as if whoever wrote it was emotionally involved. Sad, but it is out of place here.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.108.93.159 (talk) 03:27, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  'Lesser Seizure' Section 

message: Forgive me, but can someone please explain to me what a "provocant" is?  I came across it in the "triggers" section.  I looked it up, but could not find it anywhere.  One would assume that it is something that provokes, except that the sentence begins with "The diagnosis of epilepsy requires that the seizures be unprovoked."  Can someone clarify please?-Fogelmatrix 21:49, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Provocant? 

message: I note in the reading that about halfway down the page, listed are the drugs used to treat  epilepsy, and then another listing of drugs used to abort seizures or end status epilepticus.  The FDA Web site notes that Dilantin or phenobarbital are the primary medications used to control epilepsy, but phenobarbital is not listed in those used to control epilepsy here.
(On a side note, I have epilepsy, diagnosed by the US Navy in 1995, and after going through all the fancy new drugs that cost a bunch with bad reaction one after another, the Navy prescribed phenobarbital, which the Veterans Administration has never changed.  This has done the trick for me.)
According to the World Health Organization, phenobarbital is the primary anti-convulsant in most contries.  It is listed on the WHO Essential Medicines List, 17th edition, and may be found at
http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/EssMedList15.pdf
Of note: phenobarbital has never been approved for use by the FDA.  The laws requiring testing for safety and efficacy were enacted long after phenobarbital first appeared.  Those laws allowed a grandfather clause that permitted medications to be sold only for their intended purposes if they had already had a long established record of safety, and later, efficacy, in the marketplace.  According to the FDA Web site, the FDA estimates 2% of medications legally sold today in the USA are not approved.  A program is now in place at the FDA to require approval of all medications, though (in my own opinion) this puts medications like aspirin and phenobarbital, which cannot be patented, at risk of disappearing from the market.
I recomend that phenobarbital be added to the list of medicines used to -treat- epilepsy.  I would do this myself but am unsure of editing Wiki pages properly.
- J. Kulacz
96.18.50.143 (talk) 01:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Phenobarbital omitted from treatments list 

message: Any reason why this entry doesn't mention suden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)? There's an article about it in the current Science. Some of the doctors quoted said that patients at risk of SUDEP should be told about it, because some of them don't realize how important it is to control their epilepsy. Nbauman (talk) 04:33, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  SUDEP 

message: Why is there an image of benign familial macrocephaly? It has almost nothing to do with epilepsy. Nbauman (talk) 17:57, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree, we should really have a video of a seizure. --Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 21:07, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Maybe not have a video of a seizure. This may be distressing to those newly diagnosed or anyone else looking for information on epilepsy. If you can provide a warning before showing the seizure it would be fine. But I would advise against it anyway. Maybe a brain with the temporal lobes highlighted or something benign like that. 79.184.57.240 (talk) 15:51, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Note that Wikipedia isn't censored. Doesn't have to be a grand mal seizure though, might be abscence or partial. --Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 22:07, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think a video of a seizure would be wonderful.  Most people who have never seen a seizure have no idea what it is.  Many think that the few small twitch one gets when the pass out could be a seizure.--Doc James (talk) 13:54, 24 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Meanwhile, how about an EEG? Perhaps something in the way of :File:Spike-waves.png. Fvasconcellos (t·c) 15:02, 24 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image 

message: Hi. I had a right temporal lobectomy in 1996. It was the best decision I have ever made. Since that I have gone on to university, finished in the top 10 in my year, and been awarded a PhD. I'm still probably awful at calculus, quadratic equations and such like as I slept through most of those crucial school days and never got it back. Anyway, that's my background. I think this article would be considerably better if the section on surgery was updated with modern statistics and methods as I imagine there are enormous improvements in technology and success rates since the group who underwent surgery between 1965 and 1974- or indeed in my case since 1996. I think the potential for success in surgery is underplayed in this otherwise very, very good article. Also, it would be good if some informed person could put the relevant research concerning the power of the brain to heal and recover from years of seizures. My surgeon emphasised that strongly at the time, and that gave me huge hope and confidence. Things can be a lot brighter, and it would be absolutely awful if people suited for surgery avoided it out of fear of the unknown. There are, sadly, far too many people in that category and this article could really tackle some of those groundless fears with updated results. I do not mean to be flippant but the operation was a breeze; it was the fear in the months after that the surgery might not succeed that was isolating. What is post-operative treatment like now? I was given a review by the surgeon after 3 months, an MRI and a series of tests by a clinical psychologist to compare with the same tests that I underwent before the operation, and that was it. All the best. Fyodor Dostoevsky (talk) 00:27, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  More up-to-date surgery statistics? 

message: Question: I note that the "Controversy" section is devoted to speculation on the possibility of epilepsy contributing to behaviors of a particular historical figure; in this case the founder of a church. It doesn't seem "encyclopedic" to include this section since one could speculate about epilepsy in any number of individuals, and in any case, probably would be better to include these speculations, even if properly sourced, in the articles of these individuals or as a sublist in the "List of Famous People with Epilepsy". I propose eliminating this section and replacing it with a 'Morbidity and Mortality' section in which one can outline the variety of comorbidites, problems, and risks which accompany the diagnosis of epilepsy.
Karmattol (talk) 11:34, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That section keeps getting inserted (,,) and I keep removing it. I've not been watching this article closely enough recently. It is gone. Colin°Talk 11:42, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Replace 'Controversy' with 'Morbidity and Mortality' section?? 

message: Hey! Just thought this isn't really a great term for it- perhaps actually using 'petit mal' or 'absence' instead? I'll change it to petit mal as I doubt anyone will have any real problem with it. Obviously if not acceptable, change back and we can discuss it :)
Thanks Jess xx (talk) 19:59, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Minor Seizures" under 'Diagnosis' 

message: I have never heard of Abdominal epilepsy, so I would think it better that it be merged here (?) Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:39, 12 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merger proposal 

message: Dear all, I am attempting to overhaul PNES. As PNES is thought to affect 20% of outpatient patients presenting to a seizure clinic I hope you'll agree it's an important issue. I am attempting to rely upon decent literature but additional pairs of eyes, lobes, etc. would always be appreciated. Sincerely, --PaulWicks (talk) 20:37, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures]] overhaul, additional editors welcome! 

message: Started the Pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy article, added here under "see also", but if you somehow include the mention in the text, would be grateful. --CopperKettle 03:47, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy 

message: I've removed the unsourced text on THC/marijuana for epilepsy. Both epilepsy.com and epilepsyontario list this drug, and THC in particular, as not safe as it may have both pro and anticonvulsive actions. Colin°Talk 14:21, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  THC therapy 

message: I've removed the prominent section on neurofeedback. See this Cochrane review of Psychological treatments for epilepsy. The current wording is trying to prove the case for neurofeedback to the reader. Instead, we should be citing what our best sources recommend as treatments for epilepsy. I'm not aware that this therapy is recommended for clinical use at this time. Colin°Talk 14:21, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Neurofeedback 

message: What are the symptoms of epilepsy?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.194.151.236 (talk) 11:13, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Epilepsy Symptoms 

message: As epilepsy is an invisible disability, perhaps this article should be within the watchful eyes of a new WikiProject group - WikiProject Disability (at least, this is new as of June 2010). ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:29, 15 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Epilepsy as invisible disabilit 

message: This section was without references thus moved here:
==Research==
===Important investigators of epilepsy===
* Jean-Martin Charcot
* John Hughlings Jackson
* Hans Berger
* Herbert Jasper
* Wilder Penfield
* H. Houston Merritt
* William G. Lennox
* Fritz E. Dreifuss
* Gregory L. Holmes
Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 16:59, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  References needed 

message: Hi all,
I would like to add the following external link: Free Webcasts of Controversies in Neurology 2010.
It links to a website which contains freely accessible webcasts of selected lectures held at CONy2010, about the most recent discoveries on epilepsy, the content may be very helpful to the reader of the Epilepsy articleRaymeadow (talk) 16:16, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  External link 

message: Greetings all. Last night, a section on Purple Day was removed from the article. The reason cited was that it did not meet Wikipedia's reliable source criteria. However, upon a little research, "Purple Day" (http://www.purpleday.org/) "Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness. In 2011, people in dozens of countries on all continents except Antarctica participated in Purple Day. With your help, Purple Day 2012 will be even bigger!". Now, purpleday.org is an affiliation between Epilepsy Foundation Association of Nova Scotia (EANS) and The Anita Kaufmann Foundation of New York (AKF). Does anyone have any input on this regarding Wikipedia:RS?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aneah (talk • contribs) 13:50, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Purple Day 

message: Time for an update:
*
*
*
*
*
Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 06:53, 10 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed. I have been meaning to overhaul (not merely update) this page for some time. This should be the year I do it. Thanks for collecting those reviews.  I plan to add to these and possibly some books too. It won't be a quick process, I'm afraid. Colin°Talk 08:46, 10 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes none of these huge topic are. Seizure and epilepsy are closely related which makes writing about them a little difficult.Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 17:35, 10 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reviews 

message: I'm planning a major overhaul of this article. Currently, I'm reading some big textbooks on the subject. I would appreciate two changes to the citations and per WP:CITEVAR I'm requesting the change here.
*Move from the  template family to hand-formatted citations in Vancouver style, which is the style often used in medical journal articles. It is easy to format by simply taking the citation from PubMed search results and moving the author-list before the title. This will greatly help page-formating time when the article is edited/previewed and loaded, reduce the bulk of the HTML generated for the reader, and eliminate unnecessary bloat in the edit window.
*Move to using list-defined references (see also Wikipedia:Citing sources#Avoiding clutter). This is a big aid to organising and keeping track of references used in an article. It makes it easy to add HTML comments against sources. It also makes the text easy to read in the edit window.
See ketogenic diet for an example. Colin°Talk 19:33, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source citation format 

message: In my opinion there should be added section about psychiatric symptomps of epilepsy. Here one can find 
a nice source describing many different types of psychosis caused by this disorder:
http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/e_b_psychosis.html  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.5.54.183 (talk) 00:24, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Psychosis in epilepsy 

message: hello,
Fyodor Dostoyevsky had an odd, rare type of epilepsy, that even physicians often refer it to "Dostoyevsky epilepsy"; it is either a "generalised epilepsy", a "temporal lobe epilepsy" or both. Maybe it should be mentioned here. Regards.--GoPTCN 10:40, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: See List of people with epilepsy which is linked to from this article per WP:MEDMOS. Colin°Talk 11:09, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I know the list. What I meant is that we might include him under the "Epilepsy syndromes" section. The Dostoyevsky epilepsy, a "Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Ecstatic Seizures", is a special type of epilepsy. There is even a book, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Ecstatic Seizures (So-Called Dostoevsky Epilepsy) by F. Cirignotta, C. V. Todesco, E. Lugaresi. Regards.--GoPTCN 11:29, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: It is not a book, just a paper, a short case report. It is a very rare form of eplilepsy and isn't recognised as an official epilepsy syndrome by the ILAE. I don't think it warrants mention in this article. To be honest, the Epilepsy syndromes section is already way too long and covers too many rare syndromes. I plan (if I ever get the time) to split this off to a separate article and leave a shorter section in this article, focussing on common syndromes. Colin°Talk 14:31, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dostoyevsky epilepsy 

message: The Hmong name for epilepsy is "qaug dab peg" as stated in:
* Fox, Margalit. "Lia Lee Dies; Life Went On Around Her, Redefining Care." The New York Times. September 14, 2012.
If you want to write an article for the Hmong Wikipedia at http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/mww/Main_Page about epilepsy, please do so
WhisperToMe (talk) 01:51, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hmong name