Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the nervous system. It is not a disorder necessarily something a person is born with. Nevertheless, epilepsy can be a result of genetic defects and can also be inherited through genes. Epilepsy can develop in a person for varied reasons such as illness, infection, injury and even exposure to toxic substances. Epilepsy is often, considered to be the result of an underlying brain disease. However the fact also states that Causes of Epilepsy can be a brain disease. Persons having brain diseases can experience seizures as a symptom of that disease.
Epilepsy can occur in person in the childhood or at any time including old age. Though the proper Causes of Epilepsy is not known, yet certain conditions are taken into consideration for being the causes of epilepsy. The most common causes of epilepsy include tumours and diseases in the brain, genetic or inherited conditions, alcohol, drugs or other potentially toxic substances, head injuries as well as infections which affect the brain such as meningitis. Epilepsy when occurs with a known cause is called symptomatic epilepsy, if it occurs with a little known cause, it is called cryptogenic and when the causes are completely unknown, it is called idiopathic.
Epilepsy is a condition that is caused by abnormal electric impulses in groups of nerve cells (neurons) found in the brain. This neurological disorder is characterized with repeated fits or attacks of unconsciousness which occur with or without convulsions. The seizures that occur can be result of various conditions that include damage resulting from high fever, stroke, toxicity, or electrolyte imbalances. Furthermore, epilepsy connotes that an individual has seizures which recur over time in an unpredictable fashion. Each set of seizure is related with a particular epileptic cause. Causes of Epilepsy are mainly brain chemistry, hereditary causes, head injury, cerebrovascular disease, prenatal injuries and several environmental causes
The most common ages to be affected by epilepsy are those under the age of 18 and those over the age of 65. The causes of Epilepsy can be determined mainly on the basis of the condition of the brain. There is a fine balance in the brain between factors that begin electrical activity and factors that restrict it. Certain systems limit the spread of electrical activity. When a seizure occurs in a person, abnormal electrical discharges can occur and spread to whole groups of neighboring cells at once. However, the reasons of beginning of epilepsy are different for each individual and also for different ages.
One of the major causes of Epilepsy is considered to be mutations in several genes that have been linked to some types of epilepsy. Several genes are considered to have protein subunits of voltage-gated and ion channels and are associated with forms of generalized epilepsy and infantile seizure syndromes. Children are also sometimes born with a defect in the structure of their brain. In addition to that a head injury or infection during birth can cause epilepsy in children. In middle age, strokes, tumors, and injuries are determined to be the common causes of epilepsy.
