Brain imaging scans can help determine brain conditions such as epilepsy and tumors.
Epilepsy is an often misunderstood physical condition that affects the brain chemistry of a person. A better understanding of the condition helps those who have epilepsy as well as those who may know someone who suffers from epilepsy. It is treatable with drugs, but the condition is ongoing.
What Epilepsy Is
As a nervous system condition, epilepsy is best known for the seizures that it causes. Very few people actually see someone with a seizure today due to preventative treatment, but it is frequently displayed on television or in the movies in one form or another. This imaginary depiction can warp the truth about epilepsy.
Epilepsy manifests itself most visibly with physical seizures. The cause of the seizure is due to a sudden spike in electrical activity in the brain. The Mayo Clinic says epilepsy can be the result of genetics, a injury or an underlying medical condition and frequently the exact cause is not identified. Once it occurs, epilepsy can continue and be triggered by health, diet or a reaction to an environmental trigger.
Epileptic Seizures
The seizure itself is the body's physical reaction to the electrical surge going inside the brain. The seizure tends to be confused with the epileptic condition, but it is only a symptom. Seizures come in varying intensities. They can range from hardly being noticed by the person with the condition or anyone else, to a full-blown body arrest where the subject falls down and thrashes around erratically. The specific electrical activity bursts around the cortex of the brain which in turn affects the nervous system down the spinal cord.
Risk of Occurrence
Once diagnosed with a true epileptic seizure as confirmed by a doctor, approximately 50 percent of such patients will experience another seizure again within a year, according to the Epilepsy website. If the underlying medical reason is a known brain injury, the statistics double in risk probability. After the second seizure occurs, the pattern physically seems to establish itself as an ongoing symptom condition. To confirm these probabilities, doctors will assess a patient via a neurological examination, including a series of tests to determine the presence of epilepsy.
The Seizure Cycle
The Epilepsy website details the epileptic seizure following a three-phase process: the beginning, the middle point, and the end phase.
The beginning comes on with symptoms similar to what migraine sufferers may sometimes feel. There can be some kind of visual aura or heightened sensitivity as the body's nervous system begins to amp up. However, this is not always the case and some sufferers go straight to a middle phase without warning.
The middle phase continues the sensory sensation of the beginning phase and it heightens to a full seizure condition, including physical convulsions. Without a beginning warning the sufferer may suddenly experience the middle phase the same way. This is accompanied by the sudden body control loss.
The end phase is a cessation of the electrical activity and regaining normal body control. It can be very quick or recovery can take a while, depending on individual condition. Awareness comes back similar to a process of waking up and some memory loss during the seizure can occur.
Population Probability
Epilepsy is not restricted to a particular age group. Those who have suffered head injuries such as football players, boxers and motorcycle accident victims seem to experience the condition more. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 2.5 million people in the U.S. receive treatment, which works out to less than 10 people out of every 1,000.
Tags: nervous system, electrical activity, middle phase, body control, Epilepsy website, epileptic seizure