Epilepsy is a problem in which the brain sometimes sends signals to the body to make it have a seizure. A seizure can happen many different ways, but the most common is called the generalized tonic-clonic, or grand mal seizure. These seizures usually begin suddenly without any warning. When a person has a seizure, they usually first become unconscious, then their muscles tighten and their eyes look upward. Then the person's muscles tighten and relax very quickly and their arms, legs and even their head might jerk. After the seizure ends, the person is very limp and tired. People are usually confused for a while after a seizure.

Children with epilepsy might also have absence seizures. These seizures are often hard to notice because the child might just stare into space for a few seconds. Sometimes the child will also flutter his eyelids, turn his head, or even hum during an absence seizure. The child does not hear what is told to him during the seizure and is not confused afterwards. You can see why this type of seizure might be hard to notice sometimes.

Seizures can be embarassing for children, but they are not usually dangerous. Unless the person is driving a car or doing something else like that when the seizure begins, almost nobody gets hurt during a seizure. Seizures must last for at least 30 minutes before there is a chance of hurting the brain.

Seizures can be caused by many different things. Infections, fevers, damage to the brain after hitting your head very hard, poisoning or some problems in the brain or body that you are born with can cause seizures.

There are a lot of medicines used to treat epilepsy. Some of the most common are valproate (Depakote), phenobarbital (Luminal), phenytoin (Dilantin) and carbamazepine (Tegretol). There are many others. Often, children with epilepsy grow out of their seizures and can stop taking medicine later in their lives.

NOTE: Decisions on individual treatments should always be determined by a physician. The information obtained here is for education only.

Helpful links!

Epilepsy Canada: Kidz Korner - This is a terrific site that explains epilepsy very well. It's got lots of information and is written for kids.

Epilepsy Foundation Kid's Club - This is another excellent site for kids. You can actually enter a teen chat room and write online to other kids with epilepsy!

Center for Epilepsy Education - This is a site designed to teach children about epilepsy. Excellent!

Epilepsy - This adult oriented site details the latest advances in epilepsy reseach.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Home Page - This is a site geared for adults with recent information on epilepsy.