Epilepsy is most prevalent among young children and senior citizens, but anyone can be afflicted with the disease at any time during their life. References to it were recorded as far back as Babylonian times and it was Hippocrates who first theorised that epilepsy was indeed a brain disorder. Those afflicted were often shunned or charged with being possessed by demons or the devil. Many others were locked in mental institutions for the rest of their lives. Even today with the ongoing research, treatments and information available about epilepsy, it s a disease that still baffles and frightens many people.
Epileptic attacks happen because of abnormal wiring within the brain.
Neurons located in the brain are responsible for sending electrochemical impulses to other neurons, glands and muscles that control movement, thought, and emotion. In a normally functioning brain, neurons fire about 80 times a second. When they re damaged, or for some reason behave in an abnormal way, the result is an epileptic seizure. Now the neurons send as many as 500 messages per second. Seizures may occur only once in while, once or twice a day, or sometimes hundreds of times a day, depending on the type of epilepsy diagnosed.