Epilepsy is a disorder of the body’s nervous system that current research suggests affects up to two and a half million Americans, with 180,000 new cases being diagnosed every year.

Seizures usually occur when there is an “electrical” disturbance in the brain. The causes of an epileptic seizure are still somewhat mysterious even to medical science, although there are those who believe that those who suffer from epilepsy have a chemical brain imbalance, either having to many or too few “neurotransmitters”, chemicals in the brain that help the brain transmit the electrical signals to a person’s body that to needs to function properly.

Some types of epilepsy have been shown to run in families, and have been traced to a certain abnormal gene. For other patients though the condition appears suddenly, without warning, and for no apparent reason.

Many people their first epileptic seizure as a child or teenager, although there are cases of adult onset. In some cases children seem to “outgrow” their conditions and enter adult hood to never have a seizure again. Others suffer from the condition for their whole lives.

The sight of a patient in the throes of an epileptic seizure can be extremely disturbing to the untrained eye. The victim may be become disoriented and seem to not understand what is going on around them. In many cases they make jerky involuntary movements and may lose consciousness. Most episodes last a few minutes at most, but almost always leave the victim feeling tired, achy and confused.

For some people epilepsy episodes are triggered by a certain stimulus, such as flashing lights or certain medications. Video games have been named as a culprit as well, and most video games sold for console use in the USA today come with a health warning that they may not be suitable for play by those children who have suffered epileptic seizures in the past.

Antiepeltic drugs, taken on a regular basis are the most common treatment for epilepsy these days. For those who suffer from severe seizures that do not respond to medication surgery is sometimes considered. This however is a step that doctors will normally not consider until a number of different medication therapies have shown to be completely ineffective.

Diet modification has been in use for centuries by many people to try to control seizure activity. In the 1920’s a very restrictive diet known as the Ketogenic diet was introduced. It has fallen out of fashion since the introduction of more efficient medications but is being used by some medical professionals these days to try to treat children whose severe epilepsy symptoms do not respond to medication. It is very hard to follow though, as it means the patient can only eat almost all fats, with very little in the way of vegetables or meat allowed. While this may help with the seizures it can also lead to malnutrition and other serious health problems, so its use must be strictly monitored.