Epilepsy & Seizures

It may not be possible to prevent epilepsy, since many cases of the disease have no known cause, and others are related to genetics. However, there are risk factors to keep in mind which can reduce the likelihood of, for example, a head trauma accident, or ill health which can lead to an epilepsy-causing condition.

An accident, disease or medical trauma — such as a stroke — that injures the brain or deprives it of oxygen, often causing a small scar in the brain, can result in epilepsy.*

In rare occasions, epilepsy may be caused by a brain tumor. However, in many cases there's no identifiable cause for the disease.

Editor's Note:

"Race" is sometimes mentioned as a risk factor in the development of certain cancers and a number of other diseases. When you read this in a discussion about an illness, note that the explanation seldom refers to anything biological. Instead, it usually refers to behavior, such as eating habits. The kinds of behavior usually mentioned as risk factors are culturally determined. They are not genetic or biological.

A new study at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in July, 2006, found high levels of pesticide exposure in children of migrant workers in eastern North Carolina.

Up to 30 percent of those diagnosed with epilepsy don't actually have the disorder. They have psychological nonepileptic seizures, or psychogenic seizures, that are caused by psychological conditions, not by the abnormal electrical activity in the brain that causes epileptic seizures. These seizures do not respond to anti-convulsant medication.

Pesticide application in the occupied or soon-to-be occupied aircraft cabin and cockpit can be a serious health hazard for crewmembers and passengers. Pesticide exposure can be significant and some crewmembers must work in the sprayed environment regularly and repeatedly.