Her preliminary results indicate that the women studied have more seizures in the first few days of their cycles and around the time of ovulation. Also, it is important to note that women's seizure patterns change with puberty, pregnancy and menopause, as hormones change. The last is currently the most widely accepted. Hormones, the Brain, and Epilepsy Approximately 15 billion neurons make up the grey and white matter in the brain. The chemical and electrical transmissions between neurons govern our sensations and reactions.
Seizures are the result of neurons firing too frequently and irregularly.
The ability of neurons to be recruited into this misfiring is the seizure threshold. People with epilepsy have a lower seizure threshold than do others. The limbic system is the most sensitive part of the brain regarding seizures. Heather Edwards theorised that this is because the limbic system contains the highest number of sex steroid receptors. It is believed that fluctuations in the ratio of estrogen to progesterone may affect the number of seizures experienced.