Handout 1

Health and Social Care Introduction to Epilepsy – HANDOUT 1

Some Facts 1 in 20 people will have a seizure in their life time.

At least 1 in 131 people have epilepsy in the UK with 75 new cases diagnosed daily.

50 million worldwide have epilepsy making it the most common serious neurological condition globally.

 Epilepsy is a physical condition  It can affect anyone at any age without warning or apparent cause  There are many different causes, about 30 different epileptic syndromes and over 38 different seizure types  It can go into remission as suddenly as it started or last a life time

 A person can have more than one type of seizure  Types of seizure can change  Over time  With drug treatment

Epilepsy can be defined as: “A neurological condition causing the tendency for repeated seizures of primary cerebral origin”

Health and Social Care ­ Introduction to Epilepsy – HANDOUT 1

Health and Social Care Introduction to Epilepsy – HANDOUT 1

Physical Causes Head injury from accidents, brain trauma, stroke, brain parasites, infections or diseases (such as cerebral malaria), scars on the brain and brain tumours.

In young children:  Head trauma and/or lack of oxygen during birth  Prolonged febrile convulsions  Brain malformations and/or ‘birthmarks’ on the brain cause seizures to start early in life or later on Genetics Some people suffer from epilepsy because of a genetic pre­ disposition.

Idiopathic epilepsy is thought to have a genetic cause, for example.

Also ­ a ‘low seizure threshold’ can be inherited in a small number of cases.

Health and Social Care ­ Introduction to Epilepsy – HANDOUT 1