Epilepsy

5 July 2010 - The Chinese name for epilepsy was officially changed recently to avoid connotations of madness and to prevent discrimination by those who confuse it with mental illness. Previously known as 'deen gan' in Cantonese, the disorder will now be known as 'no gan'. While deen means "crazy", no means "brain", giving a more neutral description of the condition. 'Gan' means seizure. The name change was initiated by a group of patients' organizations, medical staff and social workers. More than 40,000 people in Hong Kong are reported to suffer from the disorder, which can be controlled but not cured. It is advised to have patients lie on their side while maintaining clear airway, and generally patients recover in a few minutes. The practice to put some object into the mouth of an epilepsy patient to prevent them from biting their tongues is an urban myth.