EpilepsyAction

Probably that people don't understand how complex a condition it is. It's not just the one seizure type that most people recognise (tonic-clonic). There are actually over 40 different types.

Possible causes of epilepsy include:

• Brain damage, for example damage caused by a stroke, head injury or infection
• Brain tumours
• Problems with the way the brain developed in the womb
• Genetic factors

But in over half of all people with epilepsy, doctors can’t find a cause. It’s thought that our genes play a part in who does and who doesn’t develop epilepsy. This may explain why some people develop epilepsy with no clear cause. Researchers have found a number of genes linked to particular types of epilepsy.  There are many types that doctors suspect are genetic, but they don’t yet know which genes are involved.

Hi! My colleague Rich (our Social Media Officer who is helping me) out recognises your name. Stress, lack of sleep and missing doses of epilepsy meds are the biggest triggers. Others include drinking lots of alcohol, illness with a high temperature, and for some people monthly periods. We have more info about triggers on our website. Photosensitive epilepsy is something people immediately think of when epilepsy is brought up. It's actually one of the rarest types of epilepsy. Around 3 in every 100 people with epilepsy have photosensitive epilepsy.

One that sticks in my mind is a lady I spoke to who'd been seizure free for several years and had been offered a job as a lifeguard, but at the last minute the pool withdrew the job offer because of her epilepsy. I spoke to her about her rights and how to talk to the employer. She phoned back a few weeks later to say she'd followed my advice and got the job. It was great to hear my advice had made a difference to her life.

Hi. You could talk to your boss about making a care plan that sets out how people can help you during a seizure. Then you could ask them to share the care plan with your coworkers so everyone knows what to do. You could also show them our info about focal (partial) seizures to help them understand.