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What is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. It’s also called a seizure disorder. When a person has two or more seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy.
A seizure happens when a brief, strong surge of electrical activity affects part or all of the brain. One in 10 adults will have a seizure sometime during their life.
Seizures can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. They can have many symptoms, from convulsions and loss of consciousness to some that are not always recognized as seizures by the person experiencing them or by health care professionals: blank staring, lip smacking, or jerking movements of arms and legs.
About one in 100 people have epilepsy. In most cases, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific cause, but head injuries, brain tumors, strokes, certain viral infections, and prenatal or birth difficulty can increase the risk of developing seizures.
Nationally, about 2.7 million people have some form of epilepsy. Thirty percent of them are children under the age of 18. Approximately 181,000 new cases are reported each year. A large number of adults and children have undetected or untreated epilepsy. On a global basis, three-fourths of people with epilepsy receive no treatment for their seizures.
- Epilepsy is a chronicneurological condition characterized by seizures that recur over time. A seizure is a brief disturbance in the electrical activity of the brain that causes temporary changes in movement, awareness, feelings, or behavior.
- Dependingon thepart of the brain that's involved, a variety of different seizure types can result.
- Seizures persist despite treatment and are intractable for 20to 25 percent of individuals suffering with epilepsy.
- The most common prescribed treatment for epilepsy is daily medication.
- In some patients, vagus nerve stimulation treatment may reduce the frequency of seizures.
- Brain surgery may be performed if seizure activity is confined to a limited area of the brain that can be safely removed without significantly impacting personality or function.
- The ketogenic diet has been successful for some children when medications have failed.
- Epilepsy is prevalent among other disability groups such as autism (25.5%), cerebral palsy (13%), Down syndrome (13.6%), and mental retardation (25.5%). For people with both cerebral palsy and mental retardation, the prevalence of epilepsy is 40%.
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