There are many types of epilepsy with different symptoms and treatment responses. Some people experience aurae like dizziness before seizures, allowing them to prevent injury. The most common type involves generalized seizures across both sides of the brain causing muscle spasms and loss of consciousness. Epilepsy can be caused by head injuries, tumors, strokes, blood vessel issues, birth defects, or infections. Diagnosis involves a medical history and sometimes EEGs, MRI, CT, or PET scans to examine the brain, though results are not always conclusive. Treatment generally involves antiepileptic drugs to control seizures, which reduce abnormal neuronal firing and neurotransmitter effects but can cause side effects like drowsiness.

2. There are many kinds of epilepsy, and people

with different types behave differently and also
respond to different treatments. Some people
have some warning that they are about to have
a seizure because they have a physical reaction
such as feeling dizzy or because they hear
something. This is called an aura, and acts as a
warning that they are about to have a seizure.
They can then do something to keep from
injuring themselves such as sitting down.

3. In the most common type of epilepsy, people

have what are called generalized
seizures, where neurons behave in uncontrolled
ways on both sides of the brain. The seizure will
begin in one area of the brain and spread all
across the brain. With seizures, people have
muscle twitches, convulsions (a kind of
spasm), and lose consciousness. After the
seizure, the person will not remember having it.

4. Epilepsy may be caused by head injuries (so it is

important to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle
or playing baseball!), brain
tumors, stroke, plaque build-up in arteries
(known as arteriosclerosis), brain injuries that
occur before birth such as an infection or a lack
of oxygen to the brain, and infections after birth
such as meningitis or encephalitis. In many
cases, the cause of the epilepsy is not known.

5. Diagnosis of Epilepsy
A doctor will diagnose epilepsy by asking about how often the

person has seizures, when they first occurred, what the
seizures are like, if the person knows when they are about to
have a seizure and how they know, and if there was anything
like a head injury that might have been the cause of the
seizures. Sometimes a doctor will use an
electroencephalogram (EEG; discussed in the next lesson) to
help with diagnosis. People with epilepsy may show large
spikes in their brain waves, though people without epilepsy also
sometimes have brain waves that might look like those of
someone who does have epilepsy, so an EEG doesn’t always
work to make a diagnosis. Other ways to look at the brain such
as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography
(CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) may be used to
examine the brain and try and diagnose epilepsy. All of these
brain imaging methods are discussed in the next lesson.

6. Brain wave of someone with epilepsy having a seizure. You can see the spikes in the brain waves
at the number 10 on the slide that indicates the seizure.

7. Treatment for Epilepsy
People with epilepsy often take medications called

antiepileptic drugs to control their seizures, though
seizures may stop with no treatment at all. Antiepileptic
drugs do not cure epilepsy, but they do control
symptoms in most people with epilepsy. These drugs
work by reducing the abnormal way some neurons fire
and they may change the way neurotransmitters that
cause seizures work. The problem is that most of
these drugs have side effects, so the amount of the
drug has to be carefully controlled so that there are
fewer side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, and
nausea but the seizures are still kept under control.