10 Facts You Need To Know About Epilepsy

When you’re learning about something as complex as epilepsy, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Trust me, I know! But as with anything, it helps to break the process down into smaller parts that you can digest more easily. That’s why I personally enjoy list-style posts, and find them easier to remember.

So today that’s what I’m going to be doing, by making a list of ten epilepsy facts I think everyone needs to know! Let’s get started…

1 - There Are Many Different Types Of Seizures

When most people think of epilepsy and seizures, they tend to envision a tonic clonic. Because in the rare instances that seizures are represented on tv, these are the types that are normally shown. 

But it’s important to understand that epilepsy is far more complicated than that, and there is a lot of variation from person to person and case to case. Here’s a short list of the types of seizures a person could have.

• Tonic Clonic Seizure
• Myoclonic Seizure
• Absence Seizure
• Simple Focal Seizure
• Complex Focal Seizure
• Secondary Generalized Seizure

2 - Epilepsy Is More Common Than Many People Think

Epilepsy is something that doesn’t really affect you unless you or someone you know has it, for this reason it’s easy to think that epilepsy is rare. But this is untrue. In fact, a little over 1% of the US population has active epilepsy! 

That might seem like a small percentage but it equates to about 3.4 million people, and it’s not even counting people that have had epilepsy in the past but have since been cured. Plus, those numbers are in the US alone. Globally, about 5 million people get diagnosed with epilepsy per year and there are about 50 million active cases worldwide.

3 - A Large Portion Of People That Have Epilepsy Aren’t Getting The Proper Treatment

The World Health Organization’s website states that around 70% of people living with epilepsy could actually be seizure free if they were being diagnosed and treated properly. Considering we live in a day and age with plenty of medical advancements, this is an alarmingly high number.

Part of the issue is that about 80% of people suffering from epilepsy live in low or middle income countries where medical care is harder to come by. Many of them are never even properly diagnosed, but even when they are many of them sadly can’t afford the proper treatment.

4 - Most Of The Time You Can’t Prevent Epilepsy

Whether or not epilepsy can be prevented will vary depending on what caused the epilepsy to begin with, but in general, only about 25% percent of epilepsy cases can be prevented. So that means the majority of people who get this condition, can’t keep it from happening.

Within the 25%, one of the main preventable causes of epilepsy are head injuries.

5 - There Are A Lot Of Stigmas Surrounding Epilepsy

Many people who don’t know the facts about epilepsy, believe some of the common stigmas surrounding it. And there are many stigmas that surround epilepsy! I talked about three of the main ones in depth in this post but for now I’ll summarize a few of them.

Epilepsy being contagious, being caused by demon possession, being a behavioral issue, or being a mental health illness are all things that are thrown around often. These stigmas are a main reason why I think it’s so important that people continue to share the facts about this condition.

6 - Different Epilepsy Patients Will Have Different Triggers

People with epilepsy can have seizures for unknown reasons, but many times people will have certain triggers that can cause them to have more seizures than normal. A lot of triggers are common and shared by a lot of epilepsy patients, and some are more rare.

Common triggers are things like a lack of sleep, too much stress, skipping medication, and consumption of alcohol. But sometimes things like flashing lights, reading a book, or eating a food that contains an allergen can trigger a seizure. I go more in depth on food triggers in this post if you’re interested.

7 - Many Women With Epilepsy Will Have More Seizures Around Their Menstrual Cycle

Speaking of triggers, there is another common one but it only affects women so I thought I’d list it separately. A lot of females with epilepsy will find that they have more seizures at certain points in their menstrual cycle, this is because hormones can play a huge role in triggering seizures.

There may be some treatments to help with this problem, so females who suffer from epilepsy should track their periods and their seizures to see if there’s a correlation. And if there is, talk to their medical provider about possible solutions.

8 - Diet Can Be A Form Of Treatment For People With Epilepsy

Changes in diet can bring about a reduction in seizures for many people with epilepsy, although it will vary from person to person. Sometimes small changes will make a big difference, and sometimes diet won’t shift anything at all. Other times, seizure reduction can only be achieved through a complete change in diet.

Normally this will be in the form of something called the keto diet, and many doctors will actually officially prescribe this diet and help the patient start it. The keto diet focuses on consuming more fat and less carbohydrates. It seems to be an especially effective treatment plan for a lot of children with epilepsy.

9 - Most Seizures Are Not As Dangerous As They Look

I know from first hand experience that seizures can look scary, but most of the time they don’t count as medical emergencies and the person who had the seizure can recover without medical intervention. Even if they had a tonic clonic.

Of course though, epilepsy is a serious thing and seizures shouldn’t be taken lightly. And sadly, sometimes they can pose a health threat to the person having them. In this case, it’s helpful to have people around who know what to do. If you’d like to learn about seizure first aid then check out this post.

10 - We Know Of More Ways To Treat Epilepsy Now Than We Did Fifty Years Ago!

I always like to end everything on a bright note if I can, so I’d like to wrap up this post with a positive fact. And that is, lots of advancements have been made regarding epilepsy and the treatments are far more effective than they used to be. But more research is still being done, which gives me hope that the progress won’t stop here.

Someday, I hope they’ll find a cure for epilepsy. Until then though, I want to keep raising awareness and sharing facts about this condition. And by reading this post you’ve helped with that, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you!