Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder (neurological disorder) in which the nerve cell activity in your brain is disturbed, causing a seizure during which you experience abnormal behavior, symptoms and sensations, including loss of consciousness.
Seizure symptoms vary. Some people with epilepsy simply stare blankly for a few seconds during a seizure, while others repeatedly twitch their arms or legs.
The seizures occur because of a sudden change of electrical activity in the brain - there is an overload of electrical activity in the brain. This causes a temporary disturbance in the messaging systems between brain cells. During a seizure the patient's brain becomes "halted" or "mixed up"
Types of seizures
There are three descriptions of seizures, depending on what part of the brain the epileptic activity started:
Generalized Seizure - both halves of the brain have epileptic activity. The patient's consciousness is lost while the seizure is in progress.
Secondary Generalized Seizure - the epileptic activity started as a partial seizure, but then it spread to both halves of the brain. As this development happens, the patient loses consciousness.