What is Epilepsy?

First, what is epilepsy and what is a seizure?  This is a basic question, yet many people don’t seem to know the answer.  Even the experts are always refining their technical definitions of this condition. 

In his book A Guide to Understanding and Living with Epilepsy, Orrin Devinsky defines epilepsy and seizures clearly.  A seizure is “a brief, excessive surge of electrical activity in the brain that causes a change in how a person feels, senses things, or behaves.”  Epilepsy is “a disorder in which a person has two or more seizures
without a clear cause.”

What this boils down to is that epilepsy comes from unusual activity by the brain cells, of miscommunication with one another.   

However, it is extremely complicated because any of those brain cells (neurons) could misfire any which way, at any time.  Depending on the number of neurons involved, where they come from, and how they interact, all determine the outcome of what kind of seizure will happen.

If only a few neurons in just one part of the brain are involved for a few seconds, the seizure will be minor.  However, if it begins in one part of the brain then spreads and lasts longer, then it will become more complicated.  Finally, if the entire brain is affected, a large, generalized seizure will occur.

Epilepsy is a very difficult disorder because it is not a one size fits all kind of thing.  There are over 20 different types of seizures.  No wonder people have misunderstood it.  Meanwhile, the search for a cure continues.