Epilepsy Articles Go Mainstream
15 Apr
As I have posted before, many mitochondrial patients suffer from seizures daily. Epilepsy is finally getting some much-needed publicity in the April 20th edition of Newsweek. You can read the articles on their website which I have linked below.
My daughter has suffered from seizures since she was 4 weeks old. The longest she has ever gone without a seizure is 35 days. At this point, she is having between five (5) and eight (8) per day. While that seems like alot, there were times she had 20 to 50 seizures a day, and there are plenty of other epileptics who, despite using multiple medications, have even more seizures every day.
Hopefully, Newsweek has brought an issue to the forefront that is long overdue. Some of the startling facts that these articles mention:
- Epilepsy is as common as breast cancer and takes as many lives.
- Public and private funding for research lag far behind other neurological afflictions, at $35 a patient (compared, for instance, with $129 for Alzheimer’s and $280 for multiple sclerosis).
- The mortality rate for people with epilepsy is two to three times higher—and the risk of sudden death is 24 times greater—than that of the general population.
Click on these links to read more and pass this information on to everyone you know – since one in ten people will suffer a seizure in their lifetime.
In the Grip of the Unknown
Agony, Hope & Resolve
Higher awareness and support for mitochondrial disease, and the afflictions frequently suffered by those with mitochondrial disease, is heartening news. It is important to remember that while many focus on discovering cures, the path to those cures provides huge benefit in treatments, survivability, and the quality of life for those afflicted and their families.