Epilepsy seizures

An epileptic seizure happens because of a disruption of the electrical activity in the brain.

Seizures can vary enormously because the brain does such a huge range of jobs. The type of seizure depends on where in the brain this burst of electrical activity happens.

Types of epilepsy seizure

Everyone’s epilepsy is unique to them, but there are two main types: generalised seizures which includes tonic clonic, absence, myoclonic or atonic, or focal (or partial) seizures which affects specific areas of the brain.

NB Young Epilepsy are currently reviewing our information portfolio which will be updated in October 2023.

In this section

More information about epilepsy

Epilepsy syndromes

A syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms which, if they occur together, can suggest a particular condition

Epilepsy & contraception

It is important that all teenagers are given information about the effects of AEDs on contraception and pregnancy before they become sexually active

Causes of epilepsy

The causes of epilepsy generally falls into three groups; genetic, structural/metabolic or unknown

Diagnosing epilepsy

Getting a diagnosis of epilepsy can often take some time. Only until there have been two or more seizures that a diagnosis of epilepsy will be considered

Epilepsy treatment

The main aim of treating epilepsy is to improve the person's quality of life by preventing seizures but also causing minimum side effects