Sometimes, there’s no obvious reason why a person develops epilepsy.
Some people develop epilepsy because there is an area of their brain that has some kind of damage or scarring. This could have been caused by an accident or illness that happened at any time in the past. The person’s brain may still work in the same way as anybody else’s, but the damaged area could cause epileptic activity to start there.
When epilepsy begins in later life, it’s more usual for doctors to find a cause. For example, you may be recovering from a stroke. Or, you may have had an accident or illness at some time in your life that left some scarring on your brain.
Your doctor or epilepsy nurse should be able to give you information about the possible causes of your epilepsy.
Triggers for seizures
Some people with epilepsy say that certain things make their seizures more likely to happen. These are called ‘triggers’.
Here are some common triggers.
- Drinking too much alcohol
- Illness
- Missing meals
- Not getting enough sleep
- Not taking anti-epileptic drugs as prescribed
- Stress or anxiety
Some prescription drugs can also make seizures more likely. If you take drugs for any other medical condition, your doctor can tell you if they might affect your epilepsy. They can also tell you if they might make your anti-epileptic drugs work less well.
Many people believe that flashing or flickering lights always trigger seizures in people with epilepsy. In fact, flashing or flickering lights only trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. This type of epilepsy usually begins before the age of 20 and only affects a small number of people with epilepsy. It is rare in later life.
We can provide references and information on the source material we use to write our epilepsy advice and information pages. Please contact our Epilepsy Helpline by email at helpline@epilepsy.org.uk.
This information has been produced under the terms of The Information Standard.
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Updated January 2011To be reviewed January 2013
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Comments
very useful information,especially late onset suffers from epilepsy after the age 20 years of age is less likely to be triggered by flashing lights
please can you tell me what this means i had a mri scan of my brain they said they found a low volume in my left temparol lobe they are trying to find out why i am having seizures eeg normal ct normal heart moniterd please can you help thankyou
Hi
Any abnormality in your brain can cause you to develop epilepsy. The MRI is a more sophisticated scan than the CT scan, so that may be why the CT scan was clear. The EEG shows different brainwave patterns. Some of these brainwave patterns are specific to epilepsy. Generally, they only show up if there is some epileptic activity in your brain when the EEG is being done. We're not medical people so we don’t know what ‘low volume’ means. Perhaps your doctor could tell you more about this?
If you would like to talk to an adviser, please contact the Epilepsy Helpline freephone 0808 800 5050 and we will do our best to help you.
Kathy
Advice and Information Team