Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which nerve cells of the brain from time to time release abnormal electrical impulses. These cause a temporary malfunctioning of the other nerve cells of the brain, resulting in alteration of, or complete loss of consciousness. The word epilepsy is derived from the Greek word `epilepsia`, which in turn can be broken into epi- (upon) and lepsis (to take hold of, or seizure). This is a common chronic disorder and is characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Epilepsy is a general term that includes various types of seizures. As the brain is a highly complex electrical system, it consists of several pulses. These pulses move back and forth between nerve cells to produce thoughts, feelings, and memories. An epileptic seizure occurs when these energy pulses come much more rapidly for a short time due to an electrical abnormality in the brain. This brief electrical surge can happen in just a small area of the brain or it can affect the whole brain. Furthermore, the flow of electrical energy can cause changes in a person`s sensations or state of consciousness and uncontrolled movements of certain parts of the body or of the whole body. Epilepsy is also known as a seizure disorder and the seizures vary in severity and frequency, and even in the time of day they occur. Thus, seizures or convulsions are temporary alterations in brain functions caused due to abnormal electrical activity of a group of brain cells.

Seizures are of different types and may vary from the brief lapses of attention or muscle jerks to severe and prolonged convulsions. In addition to that seizures vary in frequency too. The Epileptic Seizures are classified according to the place of the origin in the brain where they arise. There are two main categories of seizures such as partial seizures and generalized seizures. A partial seizure can evolve to a generalized seizure also. Partial or focal seizures arise from an electric discharge of one or more localised areas of the brain. Whereas generalized seizures affect the whole body and take varied forms such as Generalized absence tonic-clonic, Myoclonic seizures, Atonic seizures, Tonic seizures, Though, seizures are symptoms of epilepsy, yet, not all seizures are caused by epilepsy. Seizures are caused for several reasons including conditions such as high fever, a severe head injury and other disorders like diabetes, some heart conditions, and narcolepsy. A drug can also be the origin of seizures.

Epileptic Seizure can be ignited by a variety of stimuli that include lights that flash at a certain speed, the flicker of a television screen or TV monitor, a sudden loud noise or repetitive sounds, alcohol consumption, stress, cigarette smoking, lack of sleep as well as headache. Epilepsy is such a disorder that is more likely to occur in young children or people over the age of 65 years, however, it can occur at any period of time.

Epilepsy is not an inborn disorder. Illness, infection, injury and even exposure to toxic substances play a large part in developing epilepsy in a person. Epilepsy is often the result of an underlying brain disease. Most importantly people who have a brain disease experience seizures as a symptom of the disease. The brain consists of millions of nerve cells, or neurons. Each neurone maintains itself in an electrically charged state. It receives electrical signals from other neurones, and passes them on to others. All the functions of the brain, including feeling, seeing, thinking and moving muscles depend on electrical signals being passed from one neurone to the next. The normal brain is constantly generating electrical rhythms in an orderly way. An individual who is affected by epilepsy finds this order disrupted by some neurone discharging signals inappropriately.

Thus anything that disturbs the normal pattern of activity in the brain generates epilepsy. There are various other factors responsible for the disorder. The cause can be illness, brain damage, or abnormal development of the brain. The most common causes of epilepsy are tumours and diseases in the brain, genetic or inherited conditions, alcohol, drugs or other potentially toxic substances, head injuries and infections which affect the brain such as meningitis.

Epilepsy is of about 40 different types and each has its own combination of seizure type. The Syndromes of epilepsy are divided into localization-related epilepsies, generalized epilepsies, or epilepsies of unknown localization. The classification of Epilepsy depends on the symptoms or it is done through the position in the brain where the symptoms originate. The common types of epilepsy are absence epilepsy, psychomotor epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy, frontal lobe epilepsy, occipital lobe epilepsy and parietal lobe epilepsy. In addition to that there are many other types of epilepsy and each has its own characteristic set of symptoms.

Epilepsy can be treatment by the prescribed medication. Proper treatment can reduce or prevent seizures. This disorder is taken care by neurosurgical operations. The disorder is mainly treated by self help as well as vagus nerve stimulation. Ketogenic Diet also plays a vital role in reducing this chronic disorder. Alternative medicines or complementary therapies such as aromatherapy, acupuncture and reflexology are known to help an Epileptic patient. Whatever may be the syndrome or type of Epilepsy, whatever is its cause, it is always recommended to go for proper diagnosis and get proper treatment.