Epilepsy: A Neurological Disorder

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Being a former epileptic child, I have always wondered what epilepsy is, what caused it and how it affects my body? No one in my family has ever been diagnosed with epilepsy, so why me? I may be the unfortunate one in my family, but I am very fortunate to be one of the lucky few children who have been living epilepsy free for 20 years. But there is still one question, I do often wonder about is, could my epilepsy reoccur as I age? I have seen and known people whom have recovered as a child for over 20 years, just to have it reoccur at an older age, from medication side effects or during pregnancy and childbirth. So, what is epilepsy?
According to Mayo Clinic staff on mayoclinic.com, Epilepsy is a “neurological disorder” that is also described as seizures. A seizure occurs when something disturbs the nerve cell activity in one’s brain, which can lead to convulsions, tremors or spasms (twitching of the arms and legs). This means that the brain’s neurons gets overly excited and starts firing electrical impulses in all direction uncontrollably causing the muscles in the body to contract. During a seizure one may lose consciousness, have abnormal sensation or behaviors and feeling of tiredness or exhaustion. There are many forms of seizures and the severities of the symptoms vary from person to person.
Epilepsy affects both children and adults of all ages. Epilepsy is often divided in to two categories: Absence seizures (petit mal) and Tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal) with additional subcategories based on the symptoms of the seizures. What are Absence seizures and Tonic-clonic seizures? According to Marieb and Hoehn, in “Anatomy & Physiology” page 452-53, “Absence seizures, formerly known as petit mal, are mild forms i...

... middle of paper ...

...AVID Y., and Selim R. Benbadis, MD. "Epilepsy and Seizures." Epilepsy and
Seizures. WebMD LLC, 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

Marieb, Elaine N., and Katja Hoehn. "The Central Nervous System: Higher Mental
Functions/Homeostatic Imbalance 12.5." Anatomy & Physiology. 9th ed. Glenview: Pearson Education, 2013. 452-53. Print.

Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 31 May 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. .

"The Brain." The Brain. Epilepsy.com, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. .

"Understanding Epilepsy." Epilepsy Foundation-Causes of Epilepsy. Epilepsy Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. .

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