Medical Questions » Epilepsy Questions » Question No. 313
| Question: | What is epilepsy? I have been told that I have it after I had a funny turn in the street, but I don' t understand it. Can you explain this condition? |
| Answer: | Some people are born with epilepsy, while others acquire the disease later in life after a brain infection, tumour or injury. It can affect people in many different ways, and can vary from very mild absences, in which people just seem to loose concentration for a few seconds; to uncontrolled bizarre movements of one arm or leg; to the grand mal convulsion in which an epileptic can thrash around quite violently.
Epilepsy can be explained most easily by an analogy to a computer that develops a short-circuit. Parts of the brain are able to short-circuit after very minor and localised damage. This can stimulate another part of the brain, and then another, causing the responses that we see.
Epileptics have no knowledge of what happens during an attack. They may have a brief warning aura, but then they lose consciousness and wake up some time after the fit has finished, not knowing if they have been unconscious for a few seconds or half an hour.
After the first convulsion, several tests are performed, including an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure the brain waves and find out exactly where the short-circuit exists, and hopefully, what is causing it. Other investigations will include blood tests and a CT (computerised tomography) scan of the brain.
Once diagnosed, treatment can be prescribed and regular blood tests ensure that it is adequate to control the disease.
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