Epilepsy (Seizure Disorder) Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment Information on MedicineNet.com

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Epilepsy
(Seizure Disorder)

Featured seizure patient discussions on effective treatments

"i am a 45y/o male. i started having seizures about 20 years ago. i now take keppra and depakote er, these control my seizures better than any thing else i've taken. we don't know the cause of my seizures. i want to tell all of you first if you are taking dilantin and feel weak, or have red rash talk to your doctor now! i must get my, sleep limit my computer time, cannot miss, r mistime my meds, and i learned on this website about large crowds. twice i,ve had petit mals at a casino...no more crowds for me thank you whoever you were."

"I have had seizures or epilepsy since I was 16 years old. I can feel mine coming on most of the time. I set myself in a safe place. I have tried depakote, dilantin, phenobarbital, gabapentin; some others that I have forgot. It is a complicated disease meaning what might be good for you might not be good for me, but I will tell from my stand point, it starts with just looking up or anything in general. It has to do with muscle control, there are a lot of drugs out there that doctors will push on you just to see what the effect is. My choice is Valium."

"I had my first seizure. To make a long story short, I have Seizure Disorder. It took the doctors 4 years in which we experiment with other drugs until we finally tried Keppa. After I get the dosage where it needed to be my seizures are finally under control. I went 4 years without a single seizure, but with me stress is the cause for my break through seizures."

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Introduction

Few experiences match the drama of a convulsive seizure. A person having a severe seizure may cry out, fall to the floor unconscious, twitch or move uncontrollably, drool, or even lose bladder control. Within minutes, the attack is over, and the person regains consciousness but is exhausted and dazed. This is the image most people have when they hear the word epilepsy. However, this type of seizure -- a generalized tonic-clonic seizure -- is only one kind of epilepsy. There are many other kinds, each with a different set of symptoms.

Epilepsy was one of the first brain disorders to be described. It was mentioned in ancient Babylon more than 3,000 years ago. The strange behavior caused by some seizures has contributed through the ages to many superstitions and prejudices. The word epilepsy is derived from the Greek word for "attack." People once thought that those with epilepsy were being visited by demons or gods. However, in 400 B.C., the early physician Hippocrates suggested that epilepsy was a disorder of the brain -- and we now know that he was right.