4 -10% Ghanaians are epileptic - Dr. Owusu Antwi

Specialist assistant at the Psychiatric Department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr Ruth Owusu- Antwi has stated that between four to ten out of hundred people are epileptic in Ghana.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Speaking on the Ultimate Breakfast show with Host Lantam Papanko, Dr. Ruth Owusu Antwi disclosed that the disease comes as a result of abnormal electrical discharges in the brain.

She further added that, epileptic seizures cause damage to human brain adding that it halts the way the brain seamlessly and complexly coordinates functions.

‘Note that we have electricity in the brain, but for us to be able to talk, walk there are a lot of connections via neurons (that look very much like electricity wires) that make this possible in the brain. Some connections have been one so that we can function well.

Unfortunately when there are breaks in the connection, abnormal connections, excessive excitation of the connection, then people get repeated seizures and that’s what we call epilepsy,’ she said.

Depending on which part of the brain is predominantly affected during an epileptic seizure, some patients experience effects such as headaches, foaming at the mouth, distortion of cognitive function, defecating on their self, hallucination, behavioral arrest and loss of consciousness.