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.