Seizures in adults

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that happens when certain nerve cells in your brain misfire. It causes seizures , which can affect your behavior or the way you see things around you for a short time. Seizures are a dramatic manifestation of a serious disturbance in brain activity.

A diverse variety of conditions and disorders can precipitate seizure activity in adults.

Brain injury, brain swelling and increased pressure on the brain as well as chemical imbalances are common causes of adult seizure activity. These seizures may occur in clusters and cause a brief loss of awareness. Tonic seizures cause stiffening of your muscles. Seizures that are caused by problems like these are called provoked seizures, and they do not usually occur again once the problem is remedied. People with provoked seizures are not said to have epilepsy.

Nonepileptic seizures – Nonepileptic seizures look like seizures, but are not caused by abnormal brain activity. Generalized seizures involve the entire brain.

A staring episode is a characteristic sign of absence seizures in adults as well as children. This change can cause dramatic, noticeable symptoms or even no symptoms. It’s important to seek treatment if you have seizures. Learn about key factors health care providers, people with epilepsy, and families should think about when seizures begin in the adult years. About Epilepsy: The Basics.

The causes of seizures in adults with no previous history include epileptic, provoked or non-epileptic kind of seizures. The physician has to conduct multiple tests to diagnose the exact cause of your seizure as few medicines can also cause seizures. Approximately 8- of people will experience an epileptic seizure during their lifetime. Seizures can affect people in different ways, depending on which part of the brain is involved.

Some seizures cause the body to jerk and shake (a fit), while others cause problems like loss of awareness or unusual sensations. They typically pass in a few seconds or minutes. Medical practitioners have identified a few specific factors, which are responsible to provoke the problem of seizures with epilepsy among adults and they are: Skipping doses of regular seizures medication or failing to intake as per the instructions given by the consulted doctor, heavy consumption of alcohol can cause seizure in adults , addiction to ecstasy, cocaine and other similar types of. Breakthrough seizures are more likely with a number of triggers.

Often when a breakthrough seizure occurs in a person whose seizures have always been well controlle there is a new underlying cause to the seizure. Studies have shown the rates of breakthrough seizures ranging from 11–.

Care guide for New Onset Absence Seizures in Adults. Includes: possible causes, signs and symptoms, standard treatment options and means of care and support. However, the incidence of generalized seizures showed a falling trend as the age advanced whereas focal seizures increased in incidence with advancing age. There are six types of generalized seizures.

The most common and dramatic, and therefore the most well known, is the generalized convulsion, also called the grand-mal seizure. In this type of seizure, the patient loses consciousness and usually collapses. It is found in adults as well as children. Absence seizures is one of the types of primary generalized seizures. In this article, we will be concentrating in the absence seizures in adults only.

Sometimes, no cause can be found. This is called idiopathic seizures. They are usually seen in children and young adults , but can occur at any age.

There may be a family history of epilepsy or seizures. If seizures continue repeatedly after the underlying problem is treate the condition is called epilepsy. NYU Langone specialists at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center have expertise in recognizing the many types of epilepsy and seizure disorders affecting adults.