Epilepsy Day in Poland

On February 14, Poles celebrate not only Valentine's Day, but also Epilepsy Day. St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and people suffering from epilepsy, i.e. St. Valentine's Disease. It is the most common disease of the brain. About 400,000 Poles suffer from it. Few people know that Ludwig van Beethoven, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, George Byron, Graham Greene, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte also suffered from this unpleasant affliction.

Epilepsy is characterized by the occurrence of so-called epileptic seizures, which involve the sudden onset of a set of somatic symptoms. Classic symptoms include body tensing, arching, convulsions, jawbone, salivation, involuntary urination, and loss of consciousness. A typical attack lasts about three minutes. In addition to the most common symptoms, it is very common to find partial symptoms or atypical symptoms, e.g. motor seizures (only trembling of the corner of the mouth, thumb), sensory seizures (only tingling of certain parts of the body), vegetative seizures (e.g. excessive saliva production), unconscious seizures (characterized only by a brief loss of consciousness).