Common Causes Of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the world and affects sixty-five million individuals. One out of twenty-six individuals within the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lives. The main symptom of epilepsy is unpredictable and recurrent seizures. A doctor will diagnose a patient with epilepsy if they have had at least two such seizures that can’t be chalked up to some other cause like low blood sugar. An individual with epilepsy can have several different types of seizures ranging from absence seizures in which they simply stop what they are doing and stare into space for a few seconds to full-blown convulsions. In the old days, individuals used to call absence seizures 'petit mal' seizures and convulsions 'grand mal' seizures.

In about sixty percent of cases, the doctor will not be able to determine a cause for the patient's epilepsy. In the other forty percent, the causes can include the following:

Genetic Factors

Epilepsy can run in families, and some types of epilepsy have been linked to specific genes. In fact, over five hundred genes have been linked to epilepsy. Different genes, however, have different effects. Some genes affect the way neurons communicate with each other, while others increase a patient’s resistance to some medications. Epilepsy can also be a mutation, the result of an altered gene affecting the brain in some fashion. While epilepsy can occur by itself, it can also be part of a syndrome. Many such epilepsy syndromes, like Angelman syndrome or childhood absence epilepsy, are caused by genetic factors.

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