Epilepsy
is a chronic disorder which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures,
often with no known cause. The word
unprovoked is important here because someone can have one seizure due to
alcohol, sudden head trauma, lack of sleep, or extreme stress. That individual seizure is not counted as
epilepsy.
However,
if someone has ongoing seizures without any immediate accompanying events, that
is considered epilepsy. There may be
factors such as alcohol, head trauma, or brain tumor which plant the seed
inside the brain for the seizure activity, but unlike the one-time seizure,
these situations most likely activate something which is already there. Stress
and lack of sleep also contribute to seizure activity.
It
is useful to remind ourselves what a seizure really is. Normally, the brain works by neurons (brain
cells) firing randomly. However, during
a seizure, they organize and concentrate themselves, firing off synchronously—in
an orderly pattern.
It
is clearer to see this with an EEG (electroencephalogram). You can see the disorderly waves, until the
seizure activity comes about. Here there
is a pattern to the spikes and waves.
Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
There
are many types of seizures and syndromes.
Although we have many treatments, we have no cure.
Sources
Pictures of EEGs
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