WHY DO SEIZURES OCCUR? WE DON’T REALLY KNOW WHY A SEIZURE OCCURS
WHY DO SEIZURES OCCUR? WE DON’T REALLY KNOW WHY A SEIZURE OCCURSThe truth is that we don’t really know why a seizure occurs. We understand much about how the brain works and what a seizure is, how it happens, but not always why. We can explain how single cells fire, how they communicate with other cells, and a lot about the chemical and electrical makeup of neurons. We know that a cell’s function is affected by its chemical environment. We know, for example, that oxygen and glucose (sugar) are required to keep neurons healthy and working; with insufficient oxygen or glucose cells may fire abnormally and cause a seizure. Lack of blood supply to a part of the brain, such as after a stroke, can cause seizures by reducing the oxygen and chemicals necessary to keep these nerve cells functioning normally. Significant changes in important body chemicals such as calcium and magnesium can cause seizures; so can a lack of certain vitamins. These chemical changes may provoke a disturbance in the brain, or a single seizure, by influencing the threshold for firing, but they rarely cause epilepsy.A high fever, a blow to the head, or an infection of the brain such as meningitis or encephalitis, can provoke an isolated seizure by causing sufficient disruption of surrounding cells. But most seizures are the result of the interaction between the fiery speaker and the crowd, between the provocation to the brain and the surrounding neurons.*13\208\8*
