What Is The Most Common Cause Of Seizures In Adults – A seizure is a condition in which brain cells malfunction and send electrical signals uncontrollably. This causes symptoms affecting other parts of your brain and body. Anyone can have seizures, but some people may have them more easily for a variety of reasons. Seizures are often treatable, depending on the underlying cause.

A seizure is a medical condition characterized by a temporary, unstoppable surge of electrical activity in your brain. When this happens, the affected brain cells send signals uncontrollably to other people around them. This type of electrical activity overloads the affected areas of your brain.

What Is The Most Common Cause Of Seizures In Adults

This overload can cause a wide range of symptoms or effects. Possible symptoms include abnormal sensations, fainting, and uncontrolled muscle movements. Treatment options, depending on the type of attack, include medications, surgeries, and special diet changes.

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The term seizure comes from the ancient belief in several cultures that seizures were a sign of possession by an evil spirit or demon. However, modern medicine has discovered the truth: everyone can have seizures, and some people may have them more easily than others.

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Understanding the difference between seizures and epilepsy starts with knowing that seizures fall into two main categories depending on why they occur.

Epilepsy is a brain disease that puts you at risk for spontaneous, unprovoked seizures. Health care providers diagnose it when you have two or more unprovoked seizures, or when you have a single unprovoked seizure and have a high risk of having at least one more in the next 10 years. Having just one unprovoked seizure increases the chances of having another. Provoked seizures are not enough for a provider to diagnose you with epilepsy.

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Anyone can have seizures, but some people have health conditions that make them easier to cause. Seizures are also more likely at certain ages. Children are more likely to suffer from seizures and epilepsy, but many survive. The risk of having a seizure or developing epilepsy also begins to increase at age 50 due to conditions like stroke.

Seizures are rare but still well known to most people. In the United States, up to 11% of people will have at least one seizure in their lifetime.

Epilepsy is much less common. Between 1% and 3% of Americans will develop epilepsy in their lifetime.

Your brain contains billions of cells called neurons. These cells transmit and relay chemical and electrical signals to each other. A single neuron in your brain connects to thousands of others, forming communication networks. These networks allow different parts of your brain to work together so you can do things like solve problems, store memories, and move around.

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Seizures occur when a malfunction causes neurons to emit electrical signals uncontrollably. This causes a domino effect, meaning more and more neurons go haywire. The more poorly the neurons function, the greater the effect of the crisis. If these dysfunctions occur often enough, it can affect the functioning of your brain cells and make it easier to have seizures.

If they persist or if the seizures last too long, these electrical malfunctions will damage and destroy your brain cells. When this happens to enough neurons in one part of your brain, it could lead to permanent brain damage. Seizures can also cause serious changes in your blood chemistry as your body tries to deal with the physical effects of the seizures. Chemical changes in your blood can cause permanent brain damage if they last too long (see “Sickness” section below).

The types of seizures depend in part on where they occur in your brain. A healthcare professional can determine where they occurred based on your symptoms.

Status epilepticus occurs when a seizure lasts more than five minutes or when you have more than one seizure without enough time to recover. Status epilepticus is a life-threatening medical emergency because it can cause brain damage or even death.

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Seizures often involve fainting. When this happens, there is a risk of injury from falling or from what you are doing at the time (such as driving or operating machinery).

Many people go through a period where they may feel like a crisis is going to happen. This preparation time, known as the prodrome (which rhymes with “dome”), can sometimes include what is called an “aura.” An aura is actually a symptom of a focal seizure, which only affects one side of your brain.

When focal seizures do not spread, an aura is the only effect of the seizure. When focal seizures spread throughout your brain, an aura feels more like a warning sign that a more serious seizure is about to occur.

Different types of seizures cause different types of symptoms, and describing the symptoms to a doctor can help them diagnose and treat the type of seizures you have. The two main types of seizures are focal and generalized.

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Formerly called “grand mal” seizures, tonic-clonic seizures are generally the most recognizable. They take place in the following phases:

Formerly called “petit mal” seizures, they are more common in children. Absence seizures often resemble a daydream, a “spaced out” or a gaze into the distance (a “thousand-yard stare”). These attacks end quickly with no recovery period needed.

Absence seizures are short-lived, but they can occur dozens or even hundreds of times per day. They are easily confused with a distraction or a sign of learning disabilities.

Focal seizures affect a smaller area of ​​your brain and stay in one hemisphere. These are also known as partial seizures, and auras – when they occur – precede them. Symptoms such as uncontrolled muscle movements can spread to different places on one side of your body, for example from one side of your face to the hand or foot on the same side.

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When a focal seizure spreads to the other side of your brain, it can turn into a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. If you’ve ever had a seizure or know you have epilepsy, you should treat an aura as a warning sign. To protect yourself, you can do the following:

Children may have seizures for any of the reasons above. Fever is one of the most common causes of seizures in children. Other causes include:

No, seizures are not contagious. Although you can spread conditions such as infections that cause them, none will definitely cause an attack. Additionally, some conditions that cause seizures are genetic (you can inherit them or pass them on to your children).

A healthcare professional, usually a neurologist, can diagnose a seizure based on your symptoms and certain diagnostic tests. These tests can help confirm whether or not you had a seizure and, if so, what may have caused it. Genetic testing can also help detect inherited conditions that cause seizures (and sometimes even the most likely type of seizures you might have).

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A key part of diagnosing seizures is determining if there is a focal point – a specific area where your seizures begin. Locating a focal point for seizures can make a huge difference in treatment.

Providers may also recommend testing if they suspect injuries, side effects, or complications resulting from a seizure. Your healthcare professional is the best person to tell you (or someone you choose to make medical decisions for you) what type of tests they recommend and why.

If you have provoked seizures, treating or curing the condition causing your seizures will usually stop them. In cases where the underlying condition is neither curable nor treatable, healthcare providers may recommend medications to try to reduce the severity of your seizures and their frequency.

Providers generally advise against treating early unprovoked seizures. This is because there is no certainty that another one will occur. An exception to this rule is if the person is at higher risk of having another seizure or if they have status epilepticus. Stopping status epilepticus is essential because it can lead to permanent brain damage or death. Health care providers can use your medical history and tests like EEG, CT scan, or MRI to determine if you are at higher risk of having another seizure.

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Treatments for seizures vary widely. Indeed, the treatment of a provoked seizure depends almost entirely on the cause. Treatment for seizures related to epilepsy also depends on the type(s) of seizures you have, why they occur, and what treatments are most effective.

Complications from seizure treatments vary widely depending on the cause, type of seizure, type of treatment, etc. Your doctor is the best person to tell you what side effects or complications are most likely for you. This is because they can give you specific information about your specific case.

You should not try to self-diagnose or treat a seizure. This is because seizures are often a sign of very serious medical problems affecting your brain. If you or a loved one has a first attack, consult a healthcare professional. Your doctor can tell you what symptoms or effects to watch for that might mean you need medical attention after an attack.

If you are with someone who is having a seizure, there is

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