FAQs About Epilepsy

What is epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain that is characterized by recurrent seizures. The seizures are the result of sudden excessive electrical discharges in nerve cells in the brain. These discharges may affect the whole brain or just part of it.

Seizures can vary, including short lapses of attention, uncontrolled movements, odd sensations, loss of consciousness, or severe and prolonged convulsions. Seizures can also vary in frequency. In some people with epilepsy, seizures happen only occasionally; for others, it may happen up to hundreds of times a day.

Just because someone has one seizure does not necessarily mean that they have epilepsy. Epilepsy is defined by two or more unprovoked seizures.

More Information:
Epilepsy Fact Sheet
Seizure Types and First Aid

How many people have epilepsy?

Epilepsy is far more common that most people realize. About 40,000 people in BC and 300,000 people in Canada have epilepsy.

Anyone can develop epilepsy at any age. About 1 in 100 people will develop epilepsy in their lifetime.

Epilepsy is usually diagnosed in childhood or in the senior years. 1 in 12 people will have at least one seizure in their lifetime.

There are more than twice as many people with epilepsy in Canada as the number of people with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and cystic fibrosis combined.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy and, “epilepsy is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide with no age, racial, social class, national, nor geographic boundaries.”

What should you do when someone is having a seizure?

Knowing proper seizure first aid will greatly help someone having a seizure. It may even save their life. Here are things you can do:

1. Stay calm

2. Protect the person from injury 
    - cushion their head 
    - move hazardous objects away 
    - loosen anything tight around their neck 
    - remove their glasses

3. As soon as possible, gently turn the person onto their side

4. Stay with the individual until consciousness is fully regained

5. Be sensitive and supportive, and ask others to do the same

Never put anything in a person’s mouth during a seizure. Doing so may break their teeth or block their airway. A person cannot swallow their tongue during a seizure.

Do not restrain or hold the person down during a seizure.

An ambulance should be called if a seizure lasts for more than five minutes, for repeated seizures, for a first time seizure – no known history, or if a person is injured, pregnant, or has diabetes.

Many seizure types such as absence seizures or complex partial seizures that usually involve relatively brief episodes of unresponsiveness don’t require any specific first aid measures. Instead, stay with the person, move objects out of their way, guide them away from danger, and repeat any information they may have missed.  After the seizure, talk gently to comfort and reassure the person.

More information:

First Aid Poster
Seizure Types and First Aid

What causes epilepsy?

In about 70% of cases, no known cause can be found. Among the rest, it may be any one of a number of things that can make a difference in the way the brain works, such as:

• injury to the brain before, during, or after birth

• infections that damage the brain (meningitis, encephalitis, etc.)

• disturbance in blood circulation to the brain (stroke and other vascular problems)

• brain tumors

• genetic or hereditary abnormalities

• malformation of the brain

• degenerative diseases

There is no cure for epilepsy. Treatments such as medications can control seizures in some people, but about 30% will still have seizures. This highlights the need for more epilepsy research for effective treatments and a cure.