T. Headache/Seizures

Question 1

Functional Headaches

Answer 1

migraine, tension

Question 2

Organic Headaches

Answer 2

SECONDARY HEADACHE

from intracranial or extracranial disease.

Question 3

Migraine Headache

Answer 3

• Unilateral, steady throbbing pain
• aura
• Generalized edema, irritability, pallor, N&V, sweating, sensitivity to noise, photophobia,

Question 4

Tension Type Headache

Answer 4

• “stress headache”
• Bilateral frontal-occipital location
• Pressure or bandlike
• Can have associated neck pain and increased muscle tension.
• Minutes to days

Question 5

primary headache

Answer 5

A primary headache is caused by overactivity of or problems with pain-sensitive structures in your head

Question 6

secondary headache

Answer 6

a symptom of a disease that can activate the pain-sensitive nerves of the head.

Question 7

Cluster Headache

Answer 7

• Rare, severe headache
• Intense, stabbing, ipsilateral
• Attacks last about 97 minutes.
• Associated with tearing, flushing, pupil constriction, agitation, eye swelling.

Question 8

Seizures

Answer 8

• Transient uncontrolled neuronal activity in the brain, interrupting normal function
• abnormal neurons undergo spontaneous firing.
• Firing spreads to adjacent or distant areas of the brain.
• If activity involves whole brain, generalized seizure occurs.

Question 9

Epilepsy

Answer 9

• Condition in which a person has at least two spontaneous seizures >24 hours apart, caused by underlying chronic pathology
• 50% to 60% of all seizure disorder cases cannot be attributed to a specific cause.

Question 10

Generalized Seizures

Answer 10

• occurs when the abnormal electrical activity causing a seizure begins in both halves (hemispheres) of the brain at the same time.
• Characterized by bilateral synchronous epileptic discharges in brain from seizure onset
• No warning or aura as entire brain is affected
• Loss of consciousness from seconds to minutes

Question 11

Tonic–clonic seizures

(formerly known as grand mal)

Answer 11

• Characterized by loss of consciousness and falling
• Body stiffens (tonic) with subsequent jerking of extremities (clonic).
• Cyanosis, excessive salivation, and tongue or cheek biting may occur.
• Postictal phase for tonic–clonic characterized by muscle soreness, fatigue; client may sleep for hours
• May not feel normal for days
• No memory of seizure

Question 12

Ictal phase

Answer 12

the time from the first symptom to the end of the seizure activity.

Question 13

postictal phase

Answer 13

the period of time immediately following a seizure

Question 14

Typical absence seizures (petit mal)

Answer 14

• Occurs only in children and rarely into adolescence
• May cease or develop into another type
• Typical symptom is staring spell for only a few seconds and usually goes unnoticed.
• Brief loss of consciousness
• May occur up to 100 times/day if untreated

Question 15

Atypical absence seizures

Answer 15

• brief (usually less than 15 seconds) disturbance in brain function
• characterized by staring spell with other signs and symptoms
• Brief warnings
• Peculiar behaviour during seizure
• Confusion after
• Atypical seizures are similar to typical seizures, except they tend to begin more slowly, last longer (up to a few minutes), and can include slumping or falling down.

Question 16

Myoclonic seizure

Answer 16

• brief jerky movement in a single muscle or muscle group
• Characterized by sudden, excessive jerk of body and extremities
• Can be forceful enough to cause fall
• Brief and may occur in clusters

Question 17

Atonic seizure

Answer 17

• brief loss of muscle tone
• involves tonic episode or paroxysmal loss of muscle tone, and person falls
• Consciousness usually returns by the time person hits ground and can resume normal activity.
• Great risk for head injury

Question 18

Tonic seizures

Answer 18

involve sudden onset of Increased muscle tone in one extremity.
Clients often fall.

Question 19

Clonic seizures

Answer 19

• uncontrollable, constant movement in the arms or legs
• begin with loss of consciousness and sudden loss of muscle tone.
• Followed by limb jerking

Question 20

Focal Seizures

Answer 20

• Caused by focal irritations
• Begin in specific region of cortex
• May be confined to one side of brain and remain partial or focal in nature
• May involve entire brain, accumulating in tonic–clonic
• Divided into Focal aware and focal impaired awareness

Question 21

Focal Aware

Answer 21

• simple motor or sensory phenomena with elementary symptoms with no loss of consciousness and lasting less than 1 minute
• a seizure that happens while a person is awake and alert and aware of what is going on

Question 22

Focal Impaired Awareness

Answer 22

• involve behavioural, emotional, affective, sensory, and cognitive functions
• Temporal lobe
• Last longer then a minute
• Often a postictal stage.
• Most common involves lip smacking and automatisms.

Question 23

Status epilepticus

Answer 23

state of constant seizure or condition when seizures recur in rapid succession without return to consciousness between seizures

Question 24

Tonic–clonic status epilepticus

Answer 24

is most dangerous as it can cause ventilatory insufficiency, hypoxemia, cardiac arrhythmias, hyperthermia, and systemic acidosis.
• condition in which prolonged or recurrent tonic-clonic seizures persist for 30 minutes or more
• Most tonic-clonic seizures last less than two minutes; nevertheless many seizures that continue for less than 30 minutes self-terminate.