Causes of epilepsy

Epilepsy is often caused by various factors. It may be a symptom of an underlying disorder but the reason why some people develop the condition is not always straightforward.

 

A person’s seizure threshold often plays a large part in whether they will develop epilepsy. Seizure threshold is our individual level of resistance to seizures. A person with a low seizure threshold is more likely to suffer a seizure than someone with a high seizure threshold.

 

The causes of epilepsy are divided into two categories:

1. Primary - this is when the condition is a symptom of a genetic disorder. The genetic disorder could have been inherited from one or both parents or it may be due to an individual’s genetic error. An example of such a genetic disorder is a condition known as tuberous sclerosis. For some patients, we believe that there is a more complex genetic basis to their epilepsy. Like the determination of a person’s height is due to many genes, the risk of epilepsy may be due to a number of risk genes coming together in one individual so that they may have a genetic epilepsy even if no close relatives have the same condition.
   
   
2. Secondary - or symptomatic-this is when there is a known structural cause for why the condition has started. Examples of this include head injuries, stroke, tumour, infections of the brain such as meningitis, etc.

 

On the background of the causes noted above, epileptic seizures can be triggered by other factors such as stress, emotional disturbance, sleep deprivation, alcohol etc. These are known as precipitating factors.

 

 

 

 

 

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