What’s the difference?

EPILEPSY AND SEIZURES

Many people equate having a seizure with having epilepsy, but they aren’t the same thing at all...

A seizure is a sudden loss of consciousness and falling to the ground, possibly with jerking movements of the body, limbs, head and neck. The seizure may continue for a few minutes and the patient remains unconscious for some time afterwards.

When they regain consciousness they may have no memory of what happened but their bodies may ache from the jerking.

A seizure is caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain, possibly due to a blood clot as in a stroke, or a high temperature as in convulsions in infants with a febrile illness.

Epilepsy is a condition where recurrent seizures are caused by abnormal electrical discharges from a particular point in the brain – for example, temporal epilepsy where the focus is in the temporal lobe of the brain.

There are two main types of epilepsy – major and minor. In major epilepsy the seizures are as described above. In minor epilepsy, or petit mal, the person may simply be ‘absent’ for a few moments but not lose consciousness or jerk.

There are many treatments available to control epilepsy so that sufferers can lead a normal life.