Epilepsy is a serious and generally recurrent brain disorder. As a matter of fact, brain cells panic and fire off uncoordinated commands to the rest of the body.
Most people know epilepsy in its most ‘spectacular’ sense, as an illness in which the patient suffers from so-called seizures , causing him or her to fall onto the floor, shake uncontrollably, foam at the mouth or urinate.
The ancient Greek believed such a person was possessed by evil forces. And herein lays the origin of the word: ‘epilepsy’ is Greek for ‘being seized’ or ‘being attacked’. In Dutch the term ‘falling sickness’ was frequently used; an inappropriate name, because not every person with epilepsy collapses during a seizure. Similarly, the shaking and foaming at the mouth are not always present either. Fortunately, symptoms are not always this serious.
What is a seizure?
An epileptic seizure can best be described as a sudden storm in the brain. There is a temporary fault in the network of connections between the millions of cells. These brain cells continuously exchange information and normally, this happens in a wonderfully structured way.
In the case of epilepsy patients, large groups of brain cells sometimes start exchanging information with each other at the same time. The resulting chaos of brain signals produces an epileptic seizure.
Fortunately, the brain is capable of restoring itself back to order. Hence, the seizure will always fade away. In some people, however, a seizure lasts substantially longer than in others.
Depending on the location in the brain, various different phenomena occur, which the patient is sometimes, but often not aware of. During a seizure (sometimes also called a fit or an attack) the patient loses control over various bodily functions: some lose control over their muscles, others over their thinking process or their bladder. There are various types of attacks, ranging from an impairment of consciousness, lasting only a few seconds to a major attack with complete unconsciousness. This is the ‘spectacular’ form of epilepsy that is known by most people.
What causes epilepsy?
More than 30% of epilepsy cases are attributed to a lack of oxygen at birth, to serious head injuries, brain tumours, poisoning, infections of the brain, or strokes. Some forms of epilepsy appear to be genetically determined. In most cases, however, the cause is unknown.
Find out how epilepsy patients are diagnosed.
