What is Epilepsy?
What is Epilepsy?Epilepsy is a brain disorder caused by a disruption of nerve cell activity in the brain. Individuals with this condition will experience seizures and the cause of epilepsy is largely unknown.
Epilepsy is a chronic, long-term disease. Seizures can make a person unaware of their surroundings or change their emotions or behavior. Some people lose muscle control or describe feelings of déjà vu, unusual smells or tastes, or tingling feelings in their arms and legs.
Epilepsy vs seizure
Epilepsy is a chronic, neurological condition characterized by two or more seizures of unknown origin or one unprovoked seizure with a high risk of more. People with epilepsy tend to experience recurring seizures that happen without warning. A seizure is a sign or symptom of the condition causing abnormal neurological activity in the brain—epilepsy.
Types of Epilepsy
Types of EpilepsyEpilepsy is broken down into four main types of seizure groups: focal, generalized, combination focal and generalized, and unknown.
- Focal onset seizures (once called partial onset seizures). Focal seizures start in one brain area on one side of the head. There are two types of focal onset seizures:
- Focal onset-aware seizures (once called simple partial seizures). Symptoms can include:
- Changes to sensory senses (taste, smell, or sound)
- Emotional changes
- Uncontrolled muscular coordination (jerking motions)
- Seeing flashes of light, dizziness, or tingling in arms and legs
- Focal onset impaired awareness (once called complex partial seizure). This type of seizure may cause confusion, being unaware of surroundings, or loss of consciousness. Symptoms include:
- Staring blankly into space (blank expression)
- Repetitive motions: eye blinking, lip-smacking, chewing motion, hand rubbing, or finger movements.
- Focal onset-aware seizures (once called simple partial seizures). Symptoms can include:
- General onset seizures. Generalized seizures simultaneously involves cells on both sides of the brain. There are six types of general onset seizures.
- Absence seizures. Symptoms of this type of seizure include losing consciousness or staring into space with a blank expression and minor muscle movements such as eye blinking, lip-smacking, or hand movements. This type of seizure is more common in children.
- Atonic seizures. In this type of seizure, people lose muscle control during the seizure. Eyelids may droop, or their head drops. Individuals may fall to the ground during this brief seizure.
- Tonic seizures. This type of seizure causes the muscles in the body to tense up or stiffen, causing a person to fall. Tonic seizures are typically short.
- Clonic seizures. A neurological condition involving fast, repetitive stiffening and relaxing of muscles. Clonic seizures occur when muscles jerk and stiffen continuously for a few seconds or minutes.
- Tonic-clonic seizures. This type of seizure was once called a grand mal seizure. It is a combination of muscles becoming stiff, then repeated, followed by muscles jerking. A person may lose consciousness, and muscles jerk and become stiff, causing the individual to fall to the ground.
- Myoclonic seizures. This type of seizure includes quick muscle jerks lasting only a few seconds. This type of seizure is more common initially in young adults and teens.
Signs & Symptoms of Epilepsy
SymptomsThe key symptom of epilepsy is recurring seizures. Epileptic seizures may be associated with:
- Loss of consciousness or momentary loss of being aware of your surroundings
- Loss of muscle control or uncontrollable jerking of muscles
- A blank expression as if staring into space
- Confusion, along with difficulty speaking and understanding
- Sensory changes alter a person’s taste, smell, vision, or hearing. Numbness or tingling in arms and legs
- Nausea
- Lip-smacking, chewing, rubbing hands, or finger motions
- Feelings of fear, dread, or anxiety. Thinking something happened already (déjà vu)
- Increased heart and breathing rate
What Causes Epilepsy?
CausesFor some, there is no known cause of epilepsy. In other cases, epilepsy can be due to:
- Genetics. Research has connected certain types of epilepsy to inherited genes. Though genes are only part of the cause of epilepsy, these inherited genes can make a person more susceptible to environmental conditions that can bring on an epileptic episode.
- Head injury sustained during a car accident or fall can result in epilepsy
- Abnormalities in the brain. Stroke is a leading cause of epilepsy in people over 35. In addition, brain tumors or vascular conditions such as arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and cavernous malformations could cause epilepsy.
- Brain infections caused by meningitis, HIV, viral encephalitis, and some parasitic infections are known causes of epilepsy
- Prenatal injuries caused by a mother’s infection, oxygen deficiency, or poor diet can cause cerebral palsy or epilepsy in an unborn baby
- Developmental conditions such as autism
Risk Factors
Risk FactorsDoctors cannot predict whether a person will develop epilepsy in their lifetime. However, risk factors can increase a person’s chance of acquiring this condition.
- Age . Though epilepsy can affect a person of any age, children and older adults are more likely to develop epilepsy
- Family history. Having a close relative, such as a parent or sibling, affected by epilepsy increases your risk for acquiring this condition
- Head injury. A traumatic head injury could trigger epilepsy. Always wear a helmet when participating in skiing, bicycling, or other high-risk sports. In addition, wearing your seatbelt while in a car or a helmet if driving a motorcycle can protect you from head injuries.
- Vascular diseases, which can cause strokes, can lead to brain damage that could bring on epilepsy. Choosing a healthier lifestyle, stopping smoking, eating better, limiting alcohol, and exercising more are ways to avoid vascular diseases and strokes.
- Dementia. Older adults with dementia are at an increased risk for developing epilepsy.
- Brain infections, such as meningitis, can cause the brain or spinal cord to become swollen, increasing the risk of epilepsy.
- Childhood seizures. High fevers can bring on seizures in children. However, this does not mean every child will develop epilepsy later. Children who experience a prolonged seizure due to a fever, a family history of epilepsy, or some other nervous system condition have an increased risk of developing epilepsy.
Trust NewYork-Presbyterian for Epilepsy Care
At NewYork-Presbyterian, we are here to answer your questions about epilepsy and, if necessary, help to guide you on your epilepsy treatment plan. We are well-equipped to deal with pediatric epilepsy. Whether your child has been newly diagnosed with a seizure disorder or has a history of epileptic episodes, we are dedicated to reducing a child’s occurrence of seizures.