This is called Jacksonian epilepsy. A focal epileptic attack may remain confined to a single area of the brain, but in many instances the strong signals from the convulsing cortex or other part of the brain excite the mesencephalic portion of the brain activating system so greatly that a grand mal epileptic attack ensues as well. Sometimes the person cannon remember his activities during the attack, but at other times he will have been conscious of everything that he had been doing, but is unable to control it. Attacks of this type characteristically involve part of the limbic system, such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, the septum, and the temporal cortex. Epilepsy is not a disease, but a collection of diverse syndromes, some of which are secondary to other brain derangement s, and some which are primary.
Any serious injury can lead to epilepsy.
Why this failure occurs is the subject of current work. The cause or etiology of epilepsy has been studied intently but still remains somewhat unclear. For example, whole tissue samples of epileptic patients showed a trend to higher GABA concentrations. Several neuropeptides, especially the opioid like peptides, ACTH, and some hypothalamic releasing factors, have been found to alter neuronal excitability. This finding has led to the proposal that these peptides may play a role in the pathogenesis of the epilepsies.