Article Medically Reviewed By:
Romila Mushtaq, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology Division of Neurophysiology and Epilepsy Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
Overview
What Is It?
An individual is considered to have epilepsy when seizures recur over a period of time without an obvious provoking reason, such as alcohol withdrawal or electrolyte imbalances in the blood.
In a healthy brain, nerve cells communicate with each other through electrical impulses that work together to control the body. But when those cells, called neurons, misfire or signal abnormally, a person can experience a number of sensations, emotions, behaviors, convulsions, muscle spasms and even loss of consciousness during what's called a seizure. If a person has more than one unprovoked seizure, she may be suffering from epilepsy. An individual is considered to have epilepsy when seizures recur over a period of time without an obvious provoking reason, such as alcohol withdrawal or electrolyte imbalances in the blood. Epilepsy cannot currently be cured, but it can be successfully treated and does spontaneously disappear in some patients.
The symptoms of epilepsy are complex. A seizure can be as subtle as staring off into space for a few moments, as if daydreaming. Other types of seizures cause more dramatic symptoms, including uncontrollable movements, loss of consciousness, stiffening, jerking, and loss of some bodily functions, among other symptoms. These symptoms can be as brief as a few seconds or as long as several minutes.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 200,000 Americans will learn that they have epilepsy this year, and more than three million are currently living with the disorder. A recent study done by the CDC found that about one in 100 adults have active epilepsy, and more than one-third are not getting sufficient treatment. Men are at a slightly higher risk to develop epilepsy in childhood, but in adulthood the incidence of epilepsy is equal among men and women. The CDC estimates that this neurological disease costs approximately $15.5 billion annually in medical costs and lost or reduced earnings and production.
Epilepsy is not contagious and is not caused by mental illness or retardation. But for most people who suffer from this chronic condition, the stigma associated with it is enormous and affects just about every aspect of life. Family life, driving, employment, social interactions and self-image are just a few lifestyle considerations that confront people with epilepsy. Just the fear of having a seizure produces tremendous ongoing anxiety for some people—a burden for even those whose seizures are generally well controlled with medication.
There is no single cause of epilepsy, and in many cases, no known cause is ever found. Conditions that can lead to epilepsy include:
- injury to the brain before, during or after birth
- infections that damage th...
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