What Causes Seizures

Though the elderly are more vulnerable to seizures, even infants and children are not left outside its vicious grip. Multitudes of nerve cells are housed inside our brain. These neurons perform the task of transmitting electric impulses. Impulses are like communication channels that make connections to other parts of our brain. So, the inflow of communication to the other parts is essential to perform even the minutest gesture we make. You can imagine what would happen if these impulses fail to perform their task. An error in the transmission of the impulses is what causes seizures. The onset of a seizure could be triggered by a head injury, degenerative diseases, genetic disorders or other brain malfunctions. Here's some information about the causes and symptoms of seizures in children and adults.

Symptoms of Seizures

Seizures could be categorized into generalized and partial seizures. Generalized seizure occurs when the entire brain produces these electrical impulses. If you happen to observe a person getting a generalized seizure, you would have witnessed the following symptoms. There could be loss of consciousness, muscle stiffness, sudden jerky movements or convulsions. To any observer, the sporadic jerks might seem like electric shocks. The person could eventually collapse. The person suffering from a seizure might injure himself/herself due to a bad fall. The loss of control could lead to tongue biting or urinary incontinence. Generally, it is advised to keep a soft folded cloth between the tongue and teeth to avoid injury to the tongue. Partial seizure is caused when the anomaly in the electrical impulses is produced by a part of the brain. The symptoms include jerks, spasms, emotional disturbances, memory issues, strange sensory sensations and repetitive movements.

Seizures in Adults

Degenerative Disorders
Generally, the possible causes of seizures in adults involve degenerative disorders. Diseases like tuberous sclerosis, neurofibromatosis, phenylketonuria, Sturge-Weber syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease are known to cause seizures.

Brain Infections and Disorders
Sometimes, a structural damage could be caused in your brain due to a brain injury or the development of a brain tumor. Limited oxygen supply to the brain, intracranial hemorrhage or onset of a stroke could also lead to misfiring of electrical impulses. If you have been diagnosed with brain infections, that could also mark an increased frequency of seizure attacks. Infections like AIDS, tetanus, rabies, meningitis, malaria, abscess, syphilis or viral encephalitis could be responsible for causing seizures. Brain edema is another condition which is capable of causing seizures. Fluid could accumulate in the brain and hamper the functioning of the brain and electrical impulses.

Other Disorders
Sometimes, organs other than the brain might be responsible for causing seizures. Unhealthy habits might be affecting the metabolism. A metabolic disorder might consequently lead to kidney or liver failure. Abnormally high percentage of sugar and sodium in our blood could play the culprit. Another cause could be blood being deficient in sugar, magnesium or calcium. So, if you are diagnosed with hypocalcemia, hypoglycemia, aminoacidurias or hyponatremia, you could experience seizures.

Effect of Alcohol and Sedatives
A word of advice to those addicted to drugs or alcohol. If you have made a decision to quit drugs or alcohol, sudden withdrawal from the addictive substance might cause seizures. The chances of seizure would depend on how heavy your intake of the substance has been. Thus, excessive intake of alcohol, sedatives, cocaine or other toxins might give an invitation to seizures. Lack of sleep, stress, smoking and other lifestyle related issues could also be common causes of seizures.

Seizures in Children and Infants

Children could suffer from febrile seizures. The common causes of infections in children are genetic disorders, cerebral palsy, migraines, psychiatric issues, head trauma, meningitis, metabolic disorders, bleeding inside the brain and effects of certain drugs. Onset of infections accompanied by fever can make the child more susceptible to simple partial seizures. Thus, if your child has contracted chickenpox or an ear infection, he might be at a risk. Look out for unusual symptoms like lip smacking and jerky movements. If the child becomes very silent and looks blank, it might be an absence seizure. These could last for a few seconds. But, it leaves the child completely unaware of his surroundings. The child would have no clue as to what happened during the seizure. Status epilepticus, another type of seizure could last longer than 30 minutes. The child could have repetitive seizures. It occurs mostly to children who are younger than 2 years. This could be severe, so medical help might be very essential to restore normalcy. Infants could suffer from neonatal seizures that generally occur within 28 days of birth. Seizures could lead to breathing problems or weird movement of the eyeballs. So, these warning signals might indicate that your little one might be having a seizure.

Treatment of Seizure

Now that you know what causes seizures, let's move on to the treatment. Well, the diagnosis of the underlying cause should be the first step. Doctors usually conduct a brain MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis. If you have been diagnosed with any brain disorder or any other medical condition that is a cause of seizures, follow the treatment plan chalked out by your doctor. Ensure that you take all the medicines on time. If your condition stabilizes, the seizure attacks may stop. If the seizure disorder itself is the main problem, visit a doctor and start taking medicines for preventing seizure attacks. Consult a doctor if you suffer from any side-effects like dizziness, fatigue, vision problems, nausea or sleep disorders. Depending on the severity and frequency of seizures, brain surgery might be an option. The surgical removal of the diseased part might prevent seizures.

This was some information on the causes, symptoms and treatment of seizures. So, if you have been facing this problem, get yourself medically examined and follow the doctor's advice. Take all possible precautions to avoid seizure attacks.