the
E L T LIT
HA WK
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City High School 1900 morningside drive, iowa city, iowa 52240
AVO I D
issue five volume sixty-six - www.thelittlehawk.com
STROBE LIGHTS
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by Michael Hunter howing down on macaroni and watching Indiana Jones, it hit. A seizure, a black out, followed by memory loss and projectile vomiting. Freshmen Jeremiah Gevock was diagnosed with epilepsy y in March of 2009 but has remained seizure free for almost a year. Even after his diagnosis he continues to succeed at football, baseball and track. Gevock started at wide receiver and had 11 touchdowns his freshmen year. Jeremiah takes a daily medication to control his symptoms, however others with epilepsy may have different levels of symptoms. For 50 million Americans with epilepsy, many suffer uncontrolled shaking, blacking out and possible brain damage. Types of seizures include absence, tonic clonic and focal seizures. Seizures are caused by abnormally excited electrical signals in the brain. “My first seizure was on Friday, March 13th 2009 in my aunt’s living room,” Gevock said. “I began to shake then I blacked out. I passed out about four minutes then I woke up”. Many people with epilepsy have no family history of the disease. Epilepsy usually begins in children age 5-20 but can start at any age. Epilepsy can be idiopathic which means the cause cannot be identified. “Epilepsy doesn’t really bother my daily life as long as I take the medication” said Gevock. “Sometimes if I get pumped up or angry you kind of start shaking. You have to calm down.” Triggers for seizures vary for different people. Possible triggers for seizures include flashing lights, Caffeine, hormones, loss of sleep, and certain medications. “At homecoming, I didn’t really go dancing because there were strobe lights,” he said. “I also don’t drink too much caffeine.” Medications taken for epilepsy are called anticonvulsants that may reduce the amount of seizures. “I take a pill in the morning and at night” Gevock said. Since taking the anticonvulsant Gevock has not suffered from a seizure. Certain types of childhood epilepsy goes away or improves with age. For some people epilepsy may be a lifelong condition. Treatment can be surgery, diet and different types of therapy. For now Gevock hopes his medication keeps working.