Epilepsy- Facts that May Help You Understand it Better

Epilepsy is a neurological condition also known as a seizure disorder, where sudden changes in how your brain cells communicate through electric signals can trigger seizures. Epilepsy is diagnosed when an individual has two or more seizures that do not stem from another medical condition, such as low blood sugar. Most common in children and in people over the age of sixty-five, epilepsy can be related to head injuries, but in many cases, the exact cause is unknown. 

Approximately two and three-quarters million people in the United States have been treated for epilepsy within the last five years, and epilepsy is seen more in men than it is in women.

In the brain, there is a balance struck between the mechanisms that start electrical activity between nerves and those that restrict it, with safeguards in place to limit the spread of this electrical activity. When a person suffers a seizure, there seems to be a "short-circuiting effect" taking place, and electrical discharges that are not normal can occur and move into groups of near-by cells. These seizures can cause a person to lose consciousness and make their bodies shake and twitch, mildly or violently. When a person has at least a pair of these seizures, they are deemed to have epilepsy, but the truth is, the cause of half of these seizures is unknown. Children can develop epilepsy after being born with a structural defect in the brain, or they can start after undergoing head injuries or serious infections. Bad head injuries are the leading known cause of epilepsy in younger adults, while strokes, tumors, and injuries from falls cause epilepsy in the over sixty-five population. It is important to realize that epilepsy is not a mental health disorder, and that even though people with epilepsy may have psychiatric problems or be mentally retarded, epilepsy does not cause these traits.