What is epilepsy?

Epilepsy is currently defined as a tendency to have recurrent seizures (sometimes called fits). A seizure is caused by a sudden burst of excess electrical activity in the brain, causing a temporary disruption in the normal message passing between brain cells. This disruption results in the brain’s messages becoming halted or mixed up.

The brain is responsible for all the functions of your body, so what you experience during a seizure will depend on where in your brain the epileptic activity begins and how widely and rapidly it spreads. For this reason, there are many different types of seizure and each person will experience epilepsy in a way that is unique to them.

• More information about different types of seizures

What causes epilepsy?

Sometimes the reason epilepsy develops is clear. It could be because of brain damage caused by a difficult birth; a severe blow to the head; a stroke; or an infection of the brain such as meningitis. Very occasionally the cause is a brain tumour. Epilepsy with a known cause is called ‘symptomatic’ epilepsy. For most people - six out of ten, in fact - there is no known cause and this is called ‘idiopathic’ epilepsy. 

How is epilepsy diagnosed?

There is no conclusive test for epilepsy, although tests such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) – which records brainwave patterns - can give doctors useful information. Epilepsy should be diagnosed by a doctor with specialist training in epilepsy. An epilepsy specialist will use their own expert knowledge, along with test results and the patient’s or witness’s accounts of the seizures, to make the diagnosis.

Because epilepsy is currently defined as the tendency to have recurrent seizures, it is unusual to be diagnosed with epilepsy after only one seizure. In the UK around one in 20 people will have a single seizure at some point in their life, whereas one in 103 people have epilepsy.

• More information about how epilepsy is diagnosed

Treatment of epilepsy

Epilepsy is usually treated with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). They act on the brain, trying to reduce seizures or stop seizures from happening. Lots of people with epilepsy find that when they take their AEDs properly, they have fewer or no seizures.

• More information about anti-epileptic drugs

If AEDs don’t work very well for a person, there are some other treatments that may be helpful. These include brain surgery, vagus nerve stimulation and the ketogenic diet.

• More information about brain surgery
• More information about vagus nerve stimulation
• More information about the ketogenic diet