Epilepsy can affect anyone, at any age. In the UK around 60,000 people under 18 have epilepsy.

What causes epilepsy?

It’s difficult to say why someone might have epilepsy. Sometimes the reason epilepsy develops is obvious. There may be damage to part of the brain. This could have been caused by a difficult birth, a severe blow to the head or a stroke, for example. Or it could be the result of an infection of the brain such as meningitis.

However, for most people – six out of 10, in fact – there’s no known cause for their epilepsy. 

Sometimes, the tendency to have seizures runs in the family. It’s not necessarily epilepsy itself that is inherited, but a low trigger point or ‘seizure threshold’. Everyone has a seizure threshold: people with a low seizure threshold are more likely to have seizures than someone with a high seizure threshold.

• More information about inheriting epilepsy
  

Dealing with epilepsy

‘You have epilepsy’. How did you feel when you heard those words? Hearing your doctor say those words may have been a shock, even if you were expecting it.

It can take a while to come to terms with a diagnosis of epilepsy – not just for you, but for your friends and family as well. It’s common to feel a wide range of mixed emotions - sometimes good, sometimes bad.

• You might feel relief (that you finally know what’s happening to you).
• You might worry about going out on your own in case you have a seizure or worry about how other people will react to your epilepsy.
• You might feel angry, or refuse to accept that you have epilepsy. Your friends and family may also find the diagnosis difficult to accept.
• Friends and family might become over-protective of you.  This may make you feel resentful or frustrated.

Having epilepsy isn’t always easy. On the other hand, you might find that epilepsy hardly interferes with your life at all, especially if your seizures are well controlled. Learning more about the condition can help you come to terms with it. You might also find that talking about your epilepsy helps. You could talk to your parent or carer, doctor, nurse or to an adviser on the Epilepsy Helpline, freephone 0808 800 5050.

You could also talk to other young people live with epilepsy, to share experiences and for support. You can find ways to contact other young people with epilepsy on the meeting other people page.

Image courtesy of istockphoto.com/A-Digit