What is Epilepsy?

YOUR

Epilepsy

So what is epilepsy?

What is a seizure?

Will I have seizures forever?

This part of YourEpilepsy.org.uk will help you understand the basics, answer the most common questions, and empower you with the information you need to find a place for epilepsy in your life without turning it upside down.

Epilepsy has afflicted human beings since the dawn of our species and has been recognized since the earliest medical writings. We now understand that epilepsy (commonly called ' the epilepsies') is a group of disorders that occurs as a result of seizures that temporarily impair brain function.

Epilepsy is not a ' one size fits all problem'. It can look, feel and act differently in different people. It is much more common than previously thought and is one of the more common neurological problems affecting people of all ages.. With as many as one in 130 people affected, epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in the UK.

Few medical conditions have attracted so much attention and generated so much controversy.

Throughout history, people with epilepsy and their families have suffered unfairly because of the ignorance of others. Fortunately, the stigma and fear generated by the words seizures and epilepsy have decreased during the past century, and most people with epilepsy now lead normal lives.

Many of you reading this will have epilepsy yourselves, or will have family members, friends, work colleagues or neighbours who have epilepsy.

See nothing..

Epilepsy is the tendency to have recurrent seizures, which tend to recur spontaneously. These seizures occur when there is a temporary disturbance in the brain and the signals it sends to the body become mixed up, rather like an electrical storm in the brain. What happens during a seizure depends on which part of the brain the 'storm' is occurring in. Different seizure types are outlined later in this section - people with epilepsy can have one type, or more than one type. A seizure threshold is the theoretical level of resistance an individual has to seizures.

Epilepsy has been around throughout history and more is being understood about it all the time. There still exists a stigma in some cultures about epilepsy, with people believing that seizures are a result of possession or a curse for example.

Causes

Causes of epilepsy can be put into three categories:

Idiopathic ~ where there is no clear cause other than a possible low seizure threshold.

Symptomatic ~ when there is a known cause for the epilepsy such as a head injury, illness, stroke or scarring on the brain.

Cryptogenic ~ this is when a conclusion cannot be made as to whether the epilepsy is idiopathic or symptomatic. It is suspected that it is not due to low seizure threshold but no other cause has been found.

Up to 80% of people with epilepsy don't have seizures - they are controlled through taking medication.

Epilepsy can affect anyone at any time, although it is often diagnosed before the age of 20 or after 60. It can affect people of all ages, races, social classes and ability groups. Most people with epilepsy do not have the condition for the whole of their lives, particularly those whose epilepsy develops in childhood.

Unless someone is having a seizure it is impossible to tell someone has epilepsy unless you are told.

For most people, there is no known cause for their epilepsy - this is referred to as cryptogenic epilepsy. However, in some people with epilepsy, the cause is more certain, and the condition develops as a result of damage to the brain, for example, from injury, birth trauma, or stroke. This is known as symptomatic epilepsy. All our brains have the capacity to produce a seizure in certain circumstances. Most brains won't do this unless encouraged, and so are said to have a ‘high seizure threshold'. Others have a low threshold and people with cryptogenic epilepsy have a lower resistance to seizures. In the case of epilepsy arising from injury or illness- symptomatic epilepsy - the existing seizure threshold may be lowered.

To be diagnosed with having epilepsy, the person must usually have recurrent attacks - one is not enough to constitute a diagnosis.(Follow the link to learn more about EEG and other tests).

Once diagnosis has been confirmed, the person will be offered anti-epileptic medication which is designed to stop them from having seizures altogether, or reduce the amount of seizures they have.

One in 20 people has a seizure at some time in their lives.

Diagnosis is based on events and there is no one medical test that can prove that a person has epilepsy. Tests such as an EEG (electroencephalogram) can pick up on abnormal electrical activity in the brain, but an EEG is not usually grounds enough alone for a diagnosis. These tests can, though, help to find out the seizure type, identify any underlying cause and indicate appropriate treatment.

Most cases of epilepsy are diagnosed through witnessed accounts of seizures and through descriptions of what happened before, during and after, by both the person suspected of having epilepsy, and the person who was with them at the time.

The nervous system is a network of cells called neurones which transmit information in the form of electrical signals. Your brain has around 100 billion neurones, and each communicates with thousands of others - as many connections as in the world's telephone system, the biggest machine on the planet. Neurones communicate with each other at special junctions where chemicals help to bridge the gap between one neuron and the next.