Epilepsy medicines - Epilepsy Action
Epilepsy medicines. The main treatment for epilepsy is taking epilepsy medicines. They are also known as epilepsy medication, anti-seizure medications (ASMs) or anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). They don’t cure epilepsy, but try to prevent seizures from happening. They do this by changing the levels of chemicals in the brain that control ...
Tonic-clonic seizures - Epilepsy Action
Tonic-clonic seizures are the type of epileptic seizure most people recognise. In the past they were called grand-mal seizures. Tonic-clonic seizures can have a generalised onset, meaning they affect both sides of the brain from the start. When this happens, the seizure is called a generalised tonic-clonic or bilateral convulsive seizure.
EEG tests for epilepsy - Epilepsy Action
An electroencephalogram (EEG) records activity in the brain. Your brain constantly produces tiny electrical signals. During an EEG test, small sensors, called electrodes, are placed on your scalp. The electrodes are connected by wires to an EEG machine. Electrodes are attached using a special glue or paste.
Absence seizures - Epilepsy Action
Typical absences. If you are having a typical absence seizure, you will suddenly stop what you are doing for a few seconds, but will not fall. You might appear to be daydreaming or ‘switching off’. People around you might not notice your absence seizure. Your eyelids might flutter and you might have slight jerking movements of your body or ...
First aid - Epilepsy Action
When someone is having a seizure it’s important to stay with them until the seizure is over and they are fully recovered. Look for an epilepsy identity card or identity jewellery – it may give you information about their seizures and what to do. Most people with epilepsy don’t need an ambulance when they have a seizure.
Focal seizures - Epilepsy Action
Focal aware seizure. During a focal aware seizure, you stay fully aware of what’s happening around you, even if you can’t move or respond. This type of seizure used to be called a simple partial seizure. Some people with epilepsy use the word ‘aura’ to describe the feeling they get that warns them they’re about to have a tonic-clonic ...
Sleep seizures - Epilepsy Action
Sleep and epilepsy affect each other in a 2-way relationship. Tiredness and lack of sleep can be a seizure trigger for some people, and having seizures can lead to poor sleep and tiredness. If you have a seizure during your sleep, it may affect your sleep for the rest of the night by making your sleep lighter and causing you to wake up more often.
Stress and epilepsy - Epilepsy Action
Stress can sometimes contribute to people developing epilepsy in the first place. This is more likely if your stress is severe, lasts a long time, or has affected you very early in life. In very young children, stress affects the development of the brain. In older people, long-term stress can change the way the brain works.
About seizures - Epilepsy Action
Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and causes frequent seizures. Electrical activity is happening in our brains all the time, as networks of tiny brain cells send messages to each other. These messages control all our thoughts, movements, senses and body functions. A seizure happens when there is a sudden, intense burst of ...
What is epilepsy? - Epilepsy Action
Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain, causing repeated seizures. Anyone can have a one-off seizure, but it doesn’t always mean they have epilepsy. People are usually only diagnosed with epilepsy if their doctor thinks there’s a high chance they could have more seizures. Epilepsy can start at any age and there are many different types.