What is AHC?
- Hemiplegia is the paralysis of one side of the human body. With AHC, the hemiplegia can affect the left side, right side, or both sides of the body.
- AHC attacks may last for several minutes, hours, or even days.
- Children with AHC may have a wide range of symptoms in addition to AHC. These include lack of muscle tone, stiffening of extremities, eye disorders, developmental delays, mental retardation, and seizures.
- The causes of AHC are currently unknown and there are no known cures for the disorder.The causes of hemiplegic attacks can differ among children.
- High stress activities
have been known to cause attacks, as well as the presence of a cold or
upper respiratory problems.
- Children with AHC can
be affected by bright lights, wind, temperature changes, and
exposure to water.
- Many AHC attacks occur
for no apparent reason.
- Treatment options are limited. Flunarizine is the only
treatment thought to help the frequency or severity of episodes. It is
tough to accurately assess treatments due to the relative rarity of
AHC.
- When considering that the disease often has devastating
consequences, families and doctors are often compelled to try multiple
drugs out of desperation.
With its relative infrequency and its similarities to epilepsy early in childhood, there is a strong potential for misdiagnosis and underreporting. That’s why, with the help of the AHCF, we are trying to increase awareness on the part of the medical community and general public.
Increasing awareness also assists in research of the disease, since more facilities and studies increase the knowledge-base and help determine treatment strategies.