1 Epilepsy – A Brief Overview

Epilepsy is a neurological condition in which an individual experiences chronic abnormal bursts of electrical discharge in the brain. These seizures can cause a variety symptoms depending on the areas of the brain affected. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include complete or partial loss of consciousness, loss of speech, uncontrollable motor behavior, and/or unusual sensory experiences. From various studies worldwide6, 20, 22, 24, 26, approximately 0.5 % of the population is reported to be affected by active epilepsy. It is also important to dispel a common myth that epilepsy and seizures are the same thing. Although seizures are the primary symptom of epilepsy, they can have other causes, such as high fever, malignant hypertension, or drug abuse. In these cases, the seizures stop when the condition improves, whereas seizures in epilepsy are a chronic long-term condition. Another common myth is that epilepsy occurs only in children. Although much media coverage focuses on epilepsy in children, people of all ages can be affected by epilepsy. Epileptic seizures are caused parts of the brain eliciting abnormal electrical activity. The region of seizure generating tissue, or the epileptogenic focus, can be due to structural abnormalities that disrupt normal neural circuitry. These abnormalities may be genetic, cause