Epilepsy

Epilepsy
Epilepsy

Epilepsy in children is now said to be the most common neurological condition. More and more children are being diagnosed with having Epilepsy and even in adults it is also one of the most common neurological disorders following Alzheimers and strokes.

Even with all modern research into epilepsy and up to date technology there are still more than one million people including children who are still suffering seizures differing in severity and the side effects from some treatments are a cause for concern. The management of the condition and the treatments of epilepsy is a huge worry for these epilepsy sufferers and recent reports from an epilepsy foundation said that epilepsy costs the nation more than £15billion per year both in unemployment and health care costs.

Epilepsy is the name of a neurological disorder which is used to outline seizures which are a breakdown of electrical activity happening in the brain. If you suffer with constant seizures then you are at risk of having epileptic type fits.

Of the two to three million people that suffer some form of epilepsy in the UK around a staggering thirty percent of these are said to be children under the age of 18 and what is more worrying is that there are still children and adults who are undiagnosed and therefore untreated with their epilepsy.

Epilepsy Seizure (Fit)
Seizure (Fit)

The onset of being epileptic happens either when you are quite young or elderly, however these are not rigid guidelines as any person at any age can suffer epileptic seizures and therefore develop the condition. The stats say that fifteen to twenty percent of children develop the condition earlier than five years of age and almost fifty percent develop the condition before 20 years of age.

The causes of actual epilepsy is not fully understood as a staggering sixty to seventy percent of cases have no clear cause for the condition. The most common known causes are brain tumors, strokes, heavy trauma to the head and severe blows to the head.

There are also less common causes associated with epileptics and these are infections like meningitis and viral encephalitis and lupus erythematosus. Far less common are causes associated with epilepsy from measles, mumps, diphtheria and other conditions that can affect the growing foetus whilst still in the womb.

Self inflicted causes of epilepsy are lead poisoning, long term substance abuse and alcoholism.