KENDALL, Fla. – An estimated three million Americans are living with epilepsy and for those here in South Florida, there’s now a special program providing consolidated care.
Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute has opened a five-bed monitoring unit which can observe patients 24 hours a day with state-of-the-art technology in each room.
“Each room has monitoring video and EEG monitoring. The neurologist will bring the patient into the hospital off their epilepsy medications so the aim is to actually generate a seizure so we can record it. We can record the visual phenomenon or physical phenomenon as well as the electrical phenomenon and then with repeated recordings essentially confirm the localization of the onset of epilepsy,” said Dr. Michael McDermott, Chief Medical Executive with Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute.
McDermott said this specialized monitoring allows experts to determine the best treatment approach for each individual patient.
BINGE DRINKING ON THE RISE
According to a new report, one in six adults in America is considered a binge drinker.
The CDC defines binge drinking as having four or more drinks in one sitting for women and five or more for men.
Women who have eight or more drinks in a week are considered heavy drinkers.
The number is 15 for men.
Another study found that women who consume eight or more alcoholic drinks in a week have a 51 percent higher risk of heart disease.
Researchers say that risk goes up to 68 percent among women who are binge drinkers, which qualifies as 3 drinks a day.