Epilepsy

Epilepsy is perhaps best described as a symptom of a wide range of inherited or acquired neurological disorders that in some fashion create an increased susceptibility abnormal hypersynchrounous and excessive electrical activity in the CNS resulting in epileptic seizures. Roughly 9% of the population will experience an epileptic seizure in their lifetime, however only 3% will be deemed to have epilepsy, the condition being clinically defined as a liability to the recurrence of such seizures and bestowed only on those who have experienced more than one (there is some debate as to a timeframe within which they must occur). Epilepsies are not necesarily chronic, many occuring within discrete periods such as in childhood, others simply showing remmision. Roughly 0.8% of the population are effected by a persiting epilepsy.

Epeleptic seizures may originate from spontaneous activity within a neuron, or due to the concurrent hypersychronisation of activity within a population of neurons. Epelepsy aetiologies may act by increasing the susceptability to either, in a congenital or aquired fashion.

As would be expected from the huge multifunctionality of the brain, epileptic seizures are known to manifest a large range of effects, from the well stereotyped convulsions or "fits", which involve wide cortical areas, to "auras" only perceivable by the effected individual, caused by highly localised excess cerebral activity.

In most instances siezures are self limiting and whilst inconvinient a generally harmless. Certain fatalities are however linked to epilepsy including the induction "status epilepticus" (a state of non remissive seizure), an increased incidence of suicide with a associated depression, trauma due to seizures, and sudden respiratory or cardiac failures (sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy).

Epilepsy is the second most common neurological disorder, 80 new cases being diagnosed a day in the UK alone, and around 50 million people  worldwide being effected. Yet epilepsy remains poorly understood in a large proportion of society and many stigmas surround the condition. Whilst epilepsy does legally occlude individuals from some activities with an increased associated risk, it needn't, and indeed shouldn't, prevent the individual participating fully in all other aspects of life.

This website aims to give an introductory overview of the known and theoretical causes of epilepsy, the forms they can take, their treatments, and the social implications of living with epilepsy, as well as techniques used in its diagnoisis. Information is current as of December 2008.