EPILEPSY

The word epilepsy comes from the Greek and means “to be seized” or “to be afflicted with something or be captured by something”. In ancient times epilepsy was also referred to as “Morbus Sacer” or “Sacred Disease”. So epilepsy has been recognised for thousands of years.

Epilepsies are a group of diverse disorders, but what is common to all of them is that seizures occur from time to time, which are usually without any warning sign. They are caused by an electrical disturbance in the brain, but how they manifest clinically is very dependent on which area of the brain is involved. Epileptic seizures are divided into two major groups depending on where in the brain the electrical disturbance starts:

The brain is made up of two halves, (known as hemispheres). Focal seizures, which were formerly known as partial seizures, start in a small part of one hemisphere and affect one side of the body. Although the initial electrical disturbance starts in one localised area, in some patients it may spread to the other side of the brain and become, what is known as a generalised seizure.

Generalised seizures, which were previously known as Grand Mal Seizures, involve the entire brain from the start, and the symptoms are seen on both sides of the body. These are the type of seizures that the general public generally think of when they talk about epilepsy. They can appear to be very dramatic as the patient falls down and suffers from convulsions.

What do epileptic seizures look like?

Epileptic seizures can have very diverse manifestations. They can occur with or without screaming or loss of consciousness, stiffening of muscles, tongue biting, collapsing, turning blue or having convulsions. In fact, they can be so harmless that neither the person affected realises it nor the non-expert notices anything when they directly observe a seizure. Sometimes, the only sign of an epileptic attack can be inattentiveness for five to ten seconds or a brief twitching of one arm.

In fact, there are more than thirty types of seizures and even more forms of epilepsy. Different forms of epilepsy can also involve combinations of several different types of seizures. However, each person affected by epilepsy generally has only one form of epilepsy involving one to three different seizure types. The intervals between the individual seizures can vary from seconds to years or even decades.

Seizures vs Epilepsy

It is also important to understand that epilepsy and seizures are not the same thing. Not everyone with seizures will be diagnosed as being epileptic.

A seizure is an excessive surge of electrical activity in the brain that can cause a variety of symptoms, depending on which parts of the brain are involved and has an obvious cause, such as a high fever, stroke, head injury, some medications, etc.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which a person has two or more spontaneous seizures that occur more than 24 hours apart. So, it is the number of seizures and the fact that there is no directly obvious cause that means that these patients have been diagnosed as epileptic.

Epilepsy is a complex and diverse disorder and for many people the cause of seizures is still elusive even with the methods available today.