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Epilepsy Research Paper

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Epilepsy Research Paper

People most often associate violent twitching, falling to the floor and drooling with epilepsy. However the described event is only one kind of an epileptic seizure, which is called a tonic-clonic seizure. There are many other kinds of seizures, and each has different sets of signs and symptoms.

During generalized seizures the whole brain is affected and the initial symptom is loss of consciousness. This category includes such seizures as absence seizure, myoclonic seizure, and atonic attack. Those seizures affect the whole body and brain of the patient, and are much more serious than partial or focal seizure, which only affects one muscle or one part of the body, …show more content…

Epilepsy is the disorder with many possible causes. Anything from a mild illness to brain damage can cause and individual to have a seizure. Research suggests that genetic abnormalities may be some of the contributing factors to epilepsy. Some types of epilepsy have been traced to a defect in a specific gene. Many other types of epilepsy tend to run in families, which suggests that genes influence epilepsy. Any type of brain disease can cause epilepsy; it also can develop as a result of brain damage from other disorders. For example, brain tumors, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease often cause epilepsy because they change the way brain usually works. Strokes, heart attacks, and other conditions that deprive the brain of oxygen also can sometimes cause epilepsy. Other more rare causes of epilepsy are prenatal injuries that come about from poor nutrition or maternal infections; poisoning by lead or carbon monoxide; or overdose of prescription antidepressants or street drugs.

There are still many patients for whom the cause of their epilepsy cannot be identified (idiopathic epilepsy). In such cases, the theory most commonly accepted is that this epilepsy is the result of an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain causing them to have convulsions and those seizures can be

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