UNDERSTANDING EPILEPSY
What is epilepsy?
What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a common neurological condition in which a person has a tendency to have recurring seizures.
Our every thought, feeling or action is controlled by brain cells that communicate with each other through regular electrical impulses. A seizure occurs when sudden uncontrolled bursts of electrical activity disrupt this regular pattern. Communication between cells becomes scrambled and our thoughts, feelings or movements become momentarily confused or uncontrolled.
While seizures can be frightening, in most instances they stop without intervention. Once the seizure is over the person gradually regains control and re-orients themselves to their surroundings, generally without any ill-effects. The majority of people diagnosed with epilepsy will have their seizures controlled with medication.
Download the Seizures & Epilepsy brochure here.
Who gets epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a common condition in our community and can develop at any age, regardless of gender, ethnic group or intellectual ability.
Research suggests that 4 percent of the Australian population will develop epilepsy at some stage in their lives.
Epilepsy was once considered a disorder of the young, as it was believed that most people experienced their first seizure before the age of 20. However, research now indicates the highest incidence of new onset epilepsy occurs in people over the age of 65. This rapidly growing demographic group is subject to the kinds of cerebrovascular, respiratory and cardiac events that can lead to permanent brain damage and a tendency to have recurrent seizures.
Do we know what causes epilepsy?
While we can be encouraged by the breakthroughs that are happening in genetic medicine and the genetic insights that are being developed around epilepsy, we also have to admit that in most cases there is simply no known cause. We do not know why many people have recurrent seizures.
There is so much that is not known about seizures and about this major chronic disorder we call epilepsy that the World Health Organization has added its weight to the contention that epilepsy is arguably the world's most stigmatised, misunderstood and under-resourced of all health conditions. (WHO Global Campaign: Out of the Shadows, 1997)
It is estimated nearly 10 percent of the population will have a seizure at some time during their life, but only about one third will have a seizure recurrence and eventually be diagnosed with epilepsy. In addition, not everyone who has recurrent seizures will necessarily be diagnosed with epilepsy. There are seizures that are not epileptic in origin such as those that result from excessive alcohol intake, diabetes and a range of other health conditions.
Is epilepsy inherited?
Many factors can contribute to the onset of epilepsy including brain infections, head injuries and strokes. We are learning more each day about the genetic causes of epilepsy.
Epilepsy is a common disorder and frequently within an extended family more than one person may have seizures. Sometimes there's a family history of seizures, including febrile (fever-provoked) seizures, epilepsy or seizures in childhood that later went into remission. Absence and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy are examples of epilepsy syndromes that tend to run in families and are known to have a genetic basis.
Some epilepsies are due to abnormal genes, in some instances as a result of a single gene abnormality. In most cases a specific pattern of inheritance of epilepsy within the family cannot be determined but if it could be it might offer great hope for a solution. As genetic medicine moves forward in leaps and bounds for other conditions we hope that epilepsy is not left behind. Unlike the simpler genetics of many conditions involving dominant and recessive genes, the genetics involved with epilepsy are far more complex.
Some of the most important work in epilepsy and genetics is being done in Australia and if you get the opportunity to have your own family's epilepsy history added to the data that is being collected, you will be contributing to an important area. The search for genetic information is, in fact, a search for solutions - solutions that could help you and anyone else related to you who is living with epilepsy.
If you have a history of epilepsy in your family, if you are one of twins (whether or not your twin has epilepsy), if you have cousins or other relatives with epilepsy, you may be able to help. The Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria can give you information about the centres undertaking this research.
Is it epilepsy?
Some people have episodes that look a lot like seizures but after further investigation are found not to be epileptic in origin. Some people refer to these events as pseudoseizures but in the medical field they are often referred to as non-epileptic seizures or NES.
Most people diagnosed with this condition aren't deliberately expressing seizure-like behaviour. These events are understood to be emotionally generated and therefore require different treatment to seizures that occur in epilepsy.
Do not be afraid to raise the issue of NES with your doctor. An admission to an epilepsy unit for video EEG recording of your events is the most useful way to determine with certainty whether your seizures are epileptic or non-epileptic in origin. There may be ways these seizures distinguish themselves from those that are physiologically generated and it is possible for you to be having both kinds. It is also increasingly clear that you might be able to learn to distinguish between them and learn strategies to manage them.
In the majority of cases, people diagnosed with NES don't have epilepsy, even though they may have been treated for this for some time before getting a more accurate diagnosis and helpful treatment from a skilled psychologist or psychiatrist.
Syncope (blackout, faint or collapse) can often be mistaken for a seizure. Sometimes when people faint, they can make jerking (tonic or myoclonic) movements for a short time, which can be mistaken for a seizure unless a careful history is taken of the event. This occurs due to the temporary reduction in blood supply to the brain. A tilt table test that checks the body's response to sudden changes in blood pressure and heart rate can identify those with a tendency to fainting, ruling out epilepsy as the cause.
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Support Nyah and families just like hers by donating to our Christmas Appeal. We need to raise $181,000 to support programs like our emergency medication training.
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Nyah was born with Sturge Weber syndrome, it usually presents with a port wine birthmark and neurological complications. Seizures, often unpredictable and prolonged usually begin early in life.
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