What is a seizure?

Children are our future, and the health of children has always been critical to the whole society. However, no matter how much attention parents pay, many children will still be harmed by some diseases. Convulsion is a very common pediatric disease in life, but many people do not know much about convulsion. Let us take a look at what convulsion is.

Convulsion is commonly known as cramp, convulsion, and convulsion. It manifests as paroxysmal twitching of the limbs and facial muscles, often accompanied by upward rolling, staring or squinting of the eyeballs on both sides, and unconsciousness. Sometimes it is accompanied by foaming at the mouth or twitching of the mouth corners, respiratory arrest, and cyanosis of the face. The attack lasts usually within 3 to 5 minutes, and sometimes it recurs and even persists. It is a common emergency in children, especially in infants and young children. The incidence of convulsions in children under 6 years old is about 4% to 6%, which is 10 to 15 times higher than that in adults. The younger the age, the higher the incidence. Frequent attacks or persistent state of convulsions may endanger the life of the child or leave the child with serious sequelae, affecting the child's intellectual development and health.

Convulsion is a common pediatric emergency and the most common neurological symptom in children. It is a common acute and serious disease in children, with the main clinical features being rhythmic limb movements (convulsions) and coma. Also known as "convulsion", commonly known as "convulsion" or "shock". It can occur in any season and is more common in infants and young children. The younger the age, the higher the incidence rate. Some seizures are potentially life-threatening. Generally, short-term convulsions have almost no obvious effect on the brain, but long-term convulsions, especially status epilepticus, may cause permanent neurological damage. Convulsions in children may or may not be accompanied by fever. Those accompanied by fever are mostly caused by infectious diseases. Common intracranial infectious diseases include meningitis, brain abscess, encephalitis, brain parasitic diseases, etc.; common extracranial infectious diseases include febrile convulsions and various serious infections (such as toxic bacillary dysentery, toxic pneumonia, sepsis, etc.). Those who are not accompanied by fever are mostly caused by non-infectious diseases. In addition to the common epilepsy, there are also water and electrolyte disorders, hypoglycemia, drug poisoning, food poisoning, genetic metabolic diseases, brain trauma, brain tumors, etc.

The pathophysiological basis of childhood convulsions can be either epileptic or non-epileptic seizures. The former is caused by brain cell dysfunction due to various reasons, excessive excitability of brain neurons, sudden and abnormal super-synchronous discharge of neurons, which causes motor attacks of skeletal muscles through nerve conduction. The latter can be caused by increased excitability of the brainstem, spinal cord, neuromuscular junction and muscles themselves, such as changes in electrolytes in the body (such as increased potassium and sodium or decreased calcium and magnesium); it can also be caused by emotional changes such as hysteria.

After reading the introduction in this article, everyone should have some understanding of convulsions. Generally speaking, convulsions have a great impact on the health of children, so we must pay attention to this disease. In addition, many factors in life, such as infection and some diseases, can cause convulsions.