News

In advance of Brain Awareness Week, the Neurological Alliance of Ireland have released findings of the survey they commissioned last year on "Living with a Neurological Condition in Ireland". Many of our members, service users and volunteers will remember that we circulated this survey widely on our website and social media channels at the time the survey was lauched.

Expert Electrical have announced they have selected Epilepsy Ireland as their charity partner for 2020 and 2021.

Expert, who are Ireland’s largest electrical retailer and have 67 stores nationwide, have pledged their support to the only organisation in the Country that caters for people with epilepsy and their families.

- As many myths as there are seizures -

- Epilepsy Ireland seeks to highlight misconceptions surrounding condition as part of International Epilepsy Day Campaign -

Monday February 10^th is International Epilepsy Day (#epilepsyday) and as part of a new awareness campaign, Epilepsy Ireland is urging the public to separate the myths from the facts when it comes to perceptions of epilepsy.

With the General Election campaign now coming to a close, Epilepsy Ireland has been busy reaching out to candidates seeking support for our key epilepsy priorities for the next Dáil term.

It is important to note that Epilepsy Ireland are non – political and that we are willing and ready to work with everyone elected to the 33^rd Dáil in order to a society where no person’s life is limited by epilepsy.

With the General Election set to take place on February 8^th Epilepsy Ireland is using the opportunity to further highlight matters important to people with epilepsy and their families with all election candidates.

We have selected six issues which are frequently highlighted by the people with epilepsy and their families we work with as being major factors in their day to day lives. These were also among the most common issues highlighted in our recent advocacy survey.

Futureneuro have announced University College Cork as their newest academic partner.

Initially, UCC’s collaboration with Futureneuro will come in the form of Dr. Danny Costello of Cork University Hospital & UCC who will join Futureneuro as a funded investigator.

A new study which looked at the working relationship between HSE Epilepsy Nurse Specialists and Epilepsy Ireland’s Community Resource Officers in delivering patient-centred care for people with epilepsy in Ireland has recently been published in the Journal of Interprofessional Care.

The study used a participatory action research (PAR) approach and featured collaboration between FutureNeuro, Royal College of Surgeons, NUI Maynooth, St. James’ Hospital & DCU.

A new study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience has revealed how memory and abnormal brain activity are linked in people with epilepsy.

Memory impairment or loss is a common complaint amongst people with epilepsy and this study, which was conducted by Cedars-Sinai in the US, investigated the area of the brain which is key to memory –the hippocampus.

A major new study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine has stated that levetiracetam (Keppra), fosphenytoin (Pro-Epanutin) and valproate (Epilim) are equally effective in the treatment of Status Epilepticus.

The international study featured collaboration between a number of institutions in the UK & the US and sought to establish whether the drugs stated above are effective in the treatment of Status Epilepticus.

A new study undertaken by a number of institutions in the United States and recently published in the journal, JAMA Neurology , has recommended that mothers with epilepsy continue to breastfeed as normal despite being on epilepsy medication.