Seizures are a symptom of epilepsy. Epilepsy is the underlying tendency of the brain to produce sudden bursts of electrical energy that disrupt other brain functions. Having a single seizure does not necessarily mean a person has epilepsy. High fever, severe head injury, lack of oxygen -- a number of factors can affect the brain enough to cause a single seizure.

The concept of the epilepsy scar or gliosis is a reasonable way to explain the cause of epilepsy to a patient, but gliosis does not produce seizures. Damaged neurons produce seizures. These epileptic cells form the epileptic focus that may or may not be structurally different from surrounding tissue. The process of surgical incision is a different process. When the cortex of the brain is divided by incision, the line of injury is well demarcated and neurons are either transected or unaffected.

There are a number of things a person with epilepsy can do that may help reduce the number of seizures that occur. They include: Report changes or additions to the medication regimen, especially changes made by a doctor other than the doctor treating epilepsy.

Most people who have a seizure do not have epilepsy. Called an "acute symptomatic seizure," these are often caused not by brain dysfunction or injury, but by some other factor affecting the brain such as overwhelming infection or metabolic disturbance, a reaction to prescription or over-the-counter medication or stimulant recreational drugs, severe sleep deprivation, or intoxication with or withdrawal from alcohol.

Seizures can be of two major types - convulsive or non-convulsive. The following are the most common forms of the disorder. A convulsive seizure (also grand mal or a generalized tonic clonic seizure) happens when the whole body is suddenly swamped with extra electrical energy. It often starts with a hoarse cry caused by air being suddenly forced out of the lungs. The person may fall to the ground unconscious. The body stiffens briefly, and then begins jerking movements.

How is grief treated? Taking a pill seems pointless; my doing so is not going to bring my love back to life.

Epilepsy is a chronic medical condition produced by temporary changes in the electrical function of the brain, causing recurrent seizures which affect awareness, movement, or sensation. "Recurrent" is a key word because a dog who has an isolated seizure does not have epilepsy. Also note that epilepsy is not a disease but rather a neurological disorder that affects the brain and shows itself in the form of seizures.

The terms epilepsy and seizure are often confined. On the one hand, a seizure is the resulting behavior or set of behaviors, characterized by an apparent alteration of responsiveness and/or, sensory, or autonomic dysfunction, caused by excessive neuronal discharges in the brain. A seizure is a single event. Epilepsy is recurrent seizure activity resulting from a primary discharge of aberrant neurons within the brain. The causes of seizures are numerous.

No, epilepsy is never contagious. You cannot catch epilepsy from someone else and nobody can catch it from you.

In about seven out of ten people with epilepsy, no cause can be found. Among the rest, the cause may be any one of a number of things that can make a difference in the way the brain works. For example, head injuries or lack of oxygen during birth may damage the delicate electrical system in the brain.

The doctor's main tool in diagnosing epilepsy is a careful medical history with as much information as possible about what the seizures looked like and what happened just before they began. A second major tool is an electroencephalograph (EEG). This is a machine that records brain waves picked up by tiny wires taped to the head. Electrical signals from brain cells are recorded as wavy lines by the machine.