What are brain seizures like?
A seizure is a burst of uncontrolled electrical activity between brain cells (also called neurons or nerve cells) that causes temporary abnormalities in muscle tone or movements (stiffness, twitching or limpness), behaviors, sensations or states of awareness. Seizures are not all alike.
Are all brain seizures epilepsy?
Seizures, abnormal movements or behavior due to unusual electrical activity in the brain, are a symptom of epilepsy. But not all people who appear to have seizures have epilepsy, a group of related disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent seizures.
Is epilepsy a serious condition?
They can cause people to fall and hit their head or suffer a serious injury, too. There are longer term dangers, too. People with epilepsy often have memory problems, or emotional disorders like anxiety or depression, which can be quite disabling. Epilepsy can be devastating in terms of quality of life.
What happens in the brain during an epileptic seizure?
If you measured the electrical activity of all the brain’s neurons you would usually see many neurons firing independently, with no obvious rhythm. During an epileptic seizure, the firing pattern of your neurons changes. This can lead to many neurons generating electrical pulses at the same time, which you experience as a seizure.
When are you more likely to have seizures?
You’re more likely to have a seizure if: if your tumour is in one of the lobes of the cerebrum ( cerebral cortex) or the meninges (the membranes that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord). What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is the tendency to have repeated seizures, so it’s usually only diagnosed after you’ve had more than one seizure.
Can a brain tumour cause seizures or epilepsy?
That may sound like a lot, but it’s important to remember that not everybody who is affected by a brain tumour will experience seizures or epilepsy. For those that do, the symptoms and severity will differ from person to person, so you may not have the same problems as someone with a similar diagnosis and treatment plan.
What is brain tumour-related epilepsy (btrE)?
Epilepsy is the tendency to have repeated seizures, so it’s usually only diagnosed after you’ve had more than one seizure. There are more than 40 types of epilepsy of which brain tumour-related epilepsy (BTRE) is one. In brain tumour patients, seizures may be related to cells around the tumour that have developed abnormally.