About Epilepsy

Approximately 50 million people in the world have some form of Epilepsy. Approximately 650,000 of these are in the UK. There are around 30 different types of Epilepsy and each type has its own and different debilitating effect on each individual. Many people who live with Epilepsy have seizures whereby the seizure will cause rapid limb movement, this is how most people who are not familiar with Epilepsy would describe an Epileptic event.

However there are other events which can occur for example, absence seizures, where a person may be staring into space and not be aware of anything else around them, they will be still and have very little movement. This can last for a few seconds or minutes or sometimes longer. There are, as mentioned earlier, many other events which do not involve rapid limb movement.

Once diagnosed with Epilepsy, drugs are normally prescribed in the first instance to prevent seizures or events. This is normally successful in 70 percent of cases. However, 30 percent of people continue to have seizures or events which are not alleviated by taking drugs.