The drugs prevent seizures from starting by reducing the tendency of brain cells to send excessive and confused electrical signals. They are highly effective and completely control seizures in the majority (approximately 70%) of patients. The medications treat the symptoms of epilepsy (the seizures), rather than curing the underlying condition. Some patients who only have a single seizure and whose tests do not indicate a high likelihood of seizure recurrence may not need medications. Medications are the initial treatment choice for almost all patients with multiple seizures. Instead, a seizure may occur many months later.Įpilepsy may be treated with antiepileptic medications (AEDs), diet therapy and surgery. Often, seizures do not begin immediately after a person has an injury to the brain. In people age 65 and older, stroke is the most common known cause, followed by degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. For middle-age individuals, strokes, tumors and injuries are more frequent catalysts. Severe head injury is the most common known cause in young adults. Children may be born with a defect in the structure of their brain or they may suffer a head injury or infection that causes their epilepsy. But what is known is that the cause is undetermined for about half of all individuals with epilepsy, regardless of age. The reasons why epilepsy begins are different for people of different ages. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 20 percent of epilepsy patients have intractable seizures - seizures that do not respond to treatment. In addition, 75 percent of people who are seizure-free on medication can be weaned from medication eventually. The Epilepsy Foundation also reports that 70 percent of children and adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy can be expected to enter remission after having gone five years or more without a seizure while on medication. Brain injury or infection can cause epilepsy at any age. Children and adolescents are more likely to have epilepsy of unknown or genetic origin. Reports indicate that more than 570,000 adults over the age of 65 suffer from the disorder. The onset rate starts to increase when individuals age, particularly as they develop strokes, brain tumors or Alzheimer's disease, all of which may cause epilepsy. The Epilepsy Therapy Project notes that 10 percent of people will have seizures in their lifetime.Įpilepsy affects more than 300,000 children under the age of 15 - and more than 90,000 young people in this group have seizures that cannot be adequately treated. Epileptic seizures may be tied to a brain injury or genetics, but for 70 percent of epilepsy patients, the cause is unknown.

If the first seizure occurred at the time of an injury or infection in the brain, it is more likely the patient will develop epilepsy than if the seizure did not happen at the time of injury or infection.Īccording to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy affects three million people in the U.S. If the patients does have two seizures, there is about an 80 percent chance of having more. A person is twice as likely to have another seizure if there is a known brain injury or other type of brain abnormality. Failure to take prescribed anticonvulsant medicationsĪbout half of the people who have one seizure without a clear cause will have another one, usually within six months.The following factors may increase the risk of seizures in people predisposed to seizures: The difference may seem obvious, but there are many degrees of consciousness impairment or preservation. One question that is used to further classify partial seizures is whether consciousness (the ability to respond and remember) is impaired or preserved. Some partial seizures are related to head injury, brain infection, stroke or tumor but, in most cases, the cause is unknown. Hereditary factors are important in partial generalized epilepsy, which is more likely to involve genetic factors than partial epilepsy - a condition in which the seizures arise from a limited area of the brain. Partial seizures begin with an electrical discharge in one limited area of the brain.Įpilepsy in which the seizures begin from both sides of the brain at the same time is called primary generalized epilepsy. Primary generalized seizures begin with a widespread electrical discharge that involves both sides of the brain at once. The difference between these types is in how they begin. Typically, seizures belong in one of two basic categories: primary generalized seizures and partial seizures. Seizures vary so much that epilepsy specialists frequently re-classify seizure types.

Types of seizures and durations