What You Should Know About Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain. What a patient with epilepsy experiences during a seizure will depend on what part of his/her brain that epileptic activity starts, and how widely and quickly it spreads from that area. Consequently, there are several types of seizures and each patient will have epilepsy in his/her own unique way.

There three types of seizures:

• Idiopathic – meaning they is no cause for the seizure.
• Cryptogenic – meaning the doctor might think there is a cause, but cannot get to actually what the cause is.
• Symptomatic – meaning the doctor knows what the cause is.

There are three descriptions of a seizure, depending on which part of the brain it started:

• Partial seizures – meaning the epileptic activity takes place in one part of the patient’s brain.
• Generalized seizure – meaning both of halves of the body have epileptic activity. The patient’s consciousness is lost during the seizure.
• Secondary Generalized seizure – meaning the epileptic seizure started as partial but then spread to both halves of the brain. As this development occurs, the patient loses consciousness.

Symptoms of Epilepsy

• A convulsion with no temperature
• Short memory confusion
• Feeling like you will faint after a bowl movement. Also accompanied by tiredness
• Unresponsiveness to instructions and questions for a short while
• Becoming stiff for no apparent reason
• Falling for no apparent reason
• Sudden blinking without no stimuli
• Unable to communicate for a short while
• Chewing for no apparent reason
• Repetitive movements that seem inappropriate
• Becoming fearful and panicking for no apparent reason
• Change is smell, sound and taste
• Jerking your body