Genetic Factors

There seem to be a link between either abnorbalities observed in genes or that a family has a history of Epilepsy. About 500 types genes have been suspected of being liked to Epilepsy. The genes can also be affected by a mutation which elevate the chances of a person to be affected by Epilepsy. Some genes can even be resistant to certain medication and weakens the seizure threshold of each individual. The more genes that are inherited, the higher the possibility to be affected by this disorder.

Prenatal injury or developmental problems

Scientists discovered that Epilepsy can be associated with either prenatal injuries or developmental problems that can be caused by infections, poor nutrition or a lack of oxygen from the mother. It can be possible to identify brain disorders such as Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy by brain imaging pictures.

Head injury

Sometimes, a head injury can increase someone's chances to be affected by Epilepsy. To avoid this type of injury, it is strongly recommend to use safety features such as: a safety belt in the vehicle, a helmet while driving a motorcycle or a bicycle or other safety accessories while playing in certain competitive sports.

Other disorders

Often, Epilepsy is a result of brain damage by other disorders such as: alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, heart attacks, brain tumors, heart attacks and others which either deprive the brain of oxygen or alters the patterns of the brain. Approximately 32% of elderly people suffer from Epilepsy that was caused by a cerebrovascular disease.

Also, medical conditions such as: Meningitis, AIDS, Viral Encephalitis, some infectious diseases, Hydrocephalus, the Celiac disease or Neurocysticercosis may also represent some of the several possible causes of Epilepsy.

Sometimes, following a successful treatment, seizures may stop but it is far from being a guarantee as it depends of the type of seizures, the region of the brain that has sustained some damage and the severity of the damages.

Epilepsy can also be linked to several developmental and metabolic disorders such as: Au, Tuberous Sclerosis, Pyruvate Dependency, Neurofibromatosis, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.

What causes Epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a disorder that can be the result of either brain damage, illness or even abnormal development of the brain. Either way, Epilepsy can appear in a patient when the neuron activity of the brain displays an irregular pattern which creates a malfunction of the brain.

The way the brain processes information follows certain patterns but when these patterns are changes or interrupted, the processing of the information is changed which causes an overload for a part of the brain that is unable to do its share of work.

The brain's cells are called neurons. Each neuron is responsible of transmitting information when it receives a stimuli (message) by sending electrical impulses to the part of the brain that is responsible of analyzing and answering these messages. The membrane enveloping these neurons is responsible for generating these electrical impulses. If these membranes are not functioning well or if they are damaged of even absent, Epilepsy can be a result of such a problem.

In other cases, the chemicals released by cells that are not neurons but are present in the area of the brain. When there is an imbalance in these chemicals, Epilepsy may affect the patient.

Approximately 50% of the seizures have no identified causes as others are clearly caused by a trauma, and infection or other problems that can be identify easily.

Brain damage vs seizures

Several types of seizures are related to a malfunction of a section of the brain.

What is Epilepsy?

Epilepsy is not contagious, an attack by demons or related to a mental illness. It is in fact, a disorder of the brain.

The brain is made of neurons (cells of the nervous system) which receive and analyze impulses (messages for the brain). Each part of the brain specializes in a variety of specific tasks. In the Epileptic brain, these impulses are either interrupted, not sent or received therefore not analyze. These impulses follow specific patterns to ensure that the tasks required are done quickly and well. Unfortunately, the Epileptic brain does not function as well as needed and sometimes it is victim of a sudden overload of impulses which is manifesting itself as seizures.

In the United States of America, 1 in 100 person is diagnosed with Epilepsy. About 80% of the people who are diagnosed will be able to control the seizures by using prescribed medications. The other 20% will continue to suffer from seizures which are called intractable seizures as no medications or treatments will be able to control them.

Some seizures may cause brain damage depending on the lenght, the frequency and the amount of seizures that a person is experiencing through life. Often, when it is diagnosed at an early age, during puberty because of the hormonal change and the physical changes that the body is going through, seizures may disappear and/or become controlled without medication. If diagnosed after puberty, Epilepsy must be treated as a permanent disorder and requires the care of a neurologist.

Either way, you should know that today, with all the medical resources that are available to people, someone affected by Epilepsy can live an active, fullfilling and happy life.

Introduction to Epilepsy

About 3000 years ago, Epilepsy was perceived as an attack from demons or gods. In 400 B.C., Hippocrate suggested that it was in fact a disorder of the brain which was later on proven to be the right assumption.

When people are thinking about Epilepsy, they visualise physical spasms and convulsions accompanied by drooling, loss of consciousness, loss of control of the bladder followed by a state of exhaustion. What they might not be aware of is that such an episode represents only one of several types of epileptic seizures: a generalized tonic-clonic seizure.

From superstitions to facts, the knowledge about Epilepsy certainly has come a long way!

Febrile seizures affect children with sudden fevers
until approximately six years old.

Febrile Seizures

What is a febrile seizure? A febrile seizure is caused by a sudden fever that causes the body to react by having convulsions. This type of seizure has been observed in babies but especially in toddlers. Up to five or six years old, a child might be affected by febrile seizures and may be more sensitive to have them again in the future when a fever suddenly affects the child. Here are a few facts about this type of seizure.

• This type of seizure is caused by the sudden apperance of a fever, not how high is the temperature level.

• This type of seizures is usually harmless and will not cause any brain damage. In this case, only a fever over 107 will cause brain damage, not the seizure itself.

• There are two types of febrile seizures. There is the simple and the complex febrile seizure. The simple febrile seizure usually lasts between a few seconds up but no longer than fifteen minutes. The complex febrile seizure usually lasts more than fifteen minutes and may display more than one seizure.

• Usually, you would notice that the child has a blueish skin colour because he is not breathing well, his face might be swollen, his mouth can be foaming and let a cry or growl out because of the muscular tension. The child would arch his back and either some or all body parts are affected by the convulsions. The child might vomit, bite his tongue and release involuntarily both urine and excrements. Make sure that the child is on the side if he is foaming at the mouth, has too much saliva or his tongue is blocking the airway. Loosen up any tight clothes.

• Do not restrain the child in any way. Do not put anything in his mouth.

• Following the seizure, your child might be exhausted and fall asleep. Have him checked out at the emergency room right away so the cause, the symptoms and the possible damages may be investigated and taken care by experienced medical staff. Share as much details and information as possible.

• Use some prescribed medication or some acetaminophen (Tylenol) to lower the fever.

• Watch your child closely as other seizures may occur, especially if the fever is not lowering fast enough.

• Check your child's temperature every four hours around the clock and give him some medication, according to the weight and age of your child, if needed. If the child has no fever at the time, keep an eye on him as it may reappear later.

• About five percent of children may experience febrile seizures. Of this amount, 2/3 will have seizures in a future episode. Of this amount, 1/3 will have a second seizure during the same episode or in the first 24 hours of this episode. Of this amount, only half will have a third seizure during that episode.

• If after two or three days, the fever is not going away, go see your family doctor to have other tests done as it might be more serious than evaluated at first.

• If your child has a high fever or has chills, cover him lightly as chills will suddenly rise the body temperature as would by bundling him up.

• Please note that usually, there are no symptoms that allow parents to notice the high fever before the febrile seizures happen suddenly so don't feel responsible or like you are a bad parent as it is not the case.

Please, treat the febrile seizures as you would for any other situation that involve seizures and follow the step mentioned in my previous article on how to help someone who is having a seizure.

Stress vs Pseudoseizures

Stress is the main factor responsible for pseudoseizures.

Pseudo Seizures

Pseudo seizures are different from any other seizures as the cause is not related to a brain's difficulty to process information like if the connections were malfunctioning.It is also not affected by a medical condition such as Diabetes, Autims or Epilepsy. It is in fact caused by stress.

What are the differences between pseudo seizures and other types of seizures?

• If you have an EEG at the time, there will be no recognition or identification of a physical problem or some damaged area in the brain waves.

• If you have an MRI or a brain scan, there will be no brain damage shown in the results.

• The stress causes for a raise of adrenalin level which creates a muscular reaction called convulsions or seizures. There can be simple or multiple seizures and can last for long or short period of time.

• During the pseudo seizures, the patient is in a semiconsciousness state. In this situation, people seems like shadows as your vision is blurred and details might go unnoticed by the patient.

• The patient will feel a lack of control of his own body. Tears might be released, the breathing becomes erratic, the muscular spasms are uncontrolable and your vision is out of focus.

• The pseudo seizures are not treated with medication unless they are stress relievers that are usually prescribed for patients that are under a lot of stress or affected by depression.

• The best way to get rid of this medical condition is by identifying the source of stress and make the required changes and adaptations to either diminish the stress level or to get rid of it altogether.

Pseudo seizures, contrary to what some people might think, is not a way to attract people's attention. It is a real affliction that can affect and even change your life. Especially until the medical either witnesses them or receives tests results. Either way, make sure that it is well investigated and diagnosed otherwise you may lose a lot and suffer the side effects of unneeded drugs.