Many people have an isolated seizure at some time in their lives. This can happen to anyone if the circumstances are appropriate. This is not the same thing as epilepsy, which means having a tendency to recurrent spontaneous seizures. The information in this leaflet relates to people with epilepsy.
Seizures can take many forms, since the brain is responsible for such a wide range of functions.
If a baby has recurrent febrile convulsions, preventative drug treatment may be recommended. These are not, however epileptic seizures. Not all seizures involve convulsions and many different terms are used. It is important to use terms which describe what is happening during the seizure. A person with epilepsy can experience more than one type of seizure, but the pattern of seizures tends to remain fairly constant in an individual.