Close to people | Stories from Bethel
Finally seizure-free after the operation
Christoph Springer was seven years old when he had his first epileptic seizure. "I was simply knocked out," says the young man. He lived with the seizures for many years, but today Christoph Springer is finally seizure-free. After many unsuccessful attempts at treatment, the turning point came with an operation at the Epilepsy Centre Berlin-Brandenburg of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel.
Christoph Springer experienced his epileptic seizures primarily in the form of impaired consciousness. "It feels like my brain is fooling me," he explains. "For example, I might realise in the evening that I have a bump on my head. But I wouldn't be able to remember that I had a seizure during the day." Christoph Springer once had a seizure while he was on his bike. He fell and injured himself on a fence. "Fortunately, I didn't end up on the road," he says. While most epilepsy patients become seizure-free through treatment with medication, Christoph Springer's seizures kept coming back. The years of treatment eventually felt like a one-way street for him, he reports. In 2016, he was examined for the first time at the Epilepsy Centre Berlin-Brandenburg. "I hardly had any real hope of improvement - but I wanted to leave no stone unturned."
The Berlin doctors found the spot in the brain that was triggering the seizures - and a way to remove it through surgery. Since the operation a year ago, Christoph Springer has had no new seizures. Cycling is no longer a problem for the now 20-year-old, and nothing stands in the way of him getting his driving licence. "Having the certainty that I won't have any more seizures - that's a good feeling," says the young man. Next, he wants to start studying nursing: "I like the idea of helping people - and I want to give back to others something of what has been done for me."
Text: Marten Siegmann | Photo: Christian Weische
This story simply told
Christoph Springer had his first epileptic seizure at the age of seven. After that, there were many unsuccessful attempts at treatment with medication. But the seizures kept coming back. An operation at Bethel's Epilepsy Centre Berlin-Brandenburg finally brought improvement. Since then, Christoph Springer has not had any more seizures.
Brochure
Surgical epilepsy treatment for adults
The 52-page brochure "Operative epilepsy treatment in adults" was published in January 2024 (publisher: Landesverband Epilepsie Berlin-Brandenburg). It provides a comprehensible overview of the procedure for pre-surgical diagnosis, explains the tasks of the professional groups involved and post-operative follow-up care as well as the opportunities and risks associated with different procedures.
The authors are employees from the epilepsy surgery programmes of the epilepsy centres Berlin-Brandenburg, Bethel/Bielefeld and the University Hospital Magdeburg.
You can download the PDF here
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About the centre
Epilepsy Centre Berlin-Brandenburg
Herzbergstraße 79
10365 Berlin
Offer & Services
The aim of our work is to provide optimal diagnostics, therapy, rehabilitation and counselling for all people with epilepsy - children, adolescents and adults with and without additional disabilities - in the Berlin-Brandenburg region and beyond. The Berlin-Brandenburg Epilepsy Centre Network offers ideal conditions for this. Our outpatient and inpatient treatment services include pharmacological, surgical, dietary and psychotherapeutic approaches.
