Introduction: Understanding the Science Behind Seizures
To understand “Why is epilepsy a brain disorder”, let us understand what it is. Epilepsy is a lifelong nervous disorder characterized by seizures—a brief, fleeting loss of muscular control and action capability involving behavior, movement, sensation, or feeling of consciousness. I.e., brain electrical activity goes totally out of whack even for a brief period. Seizures may be extremely variable and vary extremely from phase to phase from minimal fleeting loss of consciousness or tremoring of one or two muscles to convulsion and unconsciousness. Although anyone can acquire epilepsy, it most often starts in childhood or adulthood.
It is hard to research epilepsy because epilepsy is a seizure disorder—an complex neurological disease that has a profound impact on the daily living, mental status, and social functioning of a patient. Epileptics are stigmatized, excluded from school or work, and are treatment-resistant.
It has been approximated that the World Health Organization (WHO, 2023) approximated epilepsy as a condition that affects 50 million individuals globally and that it is among the most prevalent neurological conditions globally. It is still not very well known to the general public. Following are the arguments that point towards epilepsy as a brain disease and these are being presented here in this essay, i.e., its neurologic causes, how it interferes with normal brain function, and how brain abnormalities are both cause and generators of symptoms.
What is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a brain disease that consists of recurring, unprovoked seizures. They result from irregular flow of electrical impulses in the brain that interferes with its usual functioning. Epilepsy is a chronic non-infectious brain condition whose characteristic is recurring epileptic convulsions in persons of any age group, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also employ the term epilepsy in describing an epileptic brain condition that generates seizures involving behavior, movement, sensation, or consciousness.
They consist of a variety of types of seizures, which are traditionally categorized as focal and generalized seizures. Focal seizures begin from a discrete point in the brain and can cause physical movement or sensory change with or without preservation of consciousness. Generalized seizures abruptly arise in both brain hemispheres and result in loss of consciousness, muscle stiffening, or convulsion.
Severe epilepsy diagnosis is two unprovoked seizures with a period of greater than 24 hours between them, as defined by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). Except for other seizure disorders, no underlying cause of head trauma, infection, or drug dependency for the classic epilepsy seizures existed. Now lets begin our search on Why is epilepsy a brain disorder?
How the Brain Normally Works?
Brain is one of our quite sophisticated organs which controls everything that we are able to move, think, feel, and even breathe. It rests upon a vast grid of nerve cells named neurons, sending chemical as well as electrical information to themselves. The brain and nervous system are made up of neurons. A neuron transmits and receives messages through special synaptic connections. When stimulated, the neuron releases an infinitely small quantity of electrical impulse. The impulse moves down the neuron and induces the release of the neurotransmitters, the chemicals across the synapse and carrying the message to the second neuron.
This chemical and electrical talking is being transmitted a million times per second in attempting to facilitate sufficient communication among different components of the brain. You don’t need to be alone when completing something as mind-numbingly boring a task as a mathematical problem for an equation, threat response to possibility, or walk during the middle of noon; coordinated electric broadcasts in attempting to perform best is how the brain works. In a normal brain, this electrical process is tightly regulated. But if something goes awry with the process—like some random firing or bursting of the signals—it results in a seizure. Learning about how epilepsy interferes with brain function starts with getting familiar with this normal process.
What Happens in the Brain During Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a pathological, excessive, spontaneous, or synchronous brain neuron discharge that interferes with normal brain electrical activity. Rather than releasing contained messages, the neurons start releasing them spontaneously in groups. Seizure is caused by uncontrollable bursts of electricity produced by this, interfering with the way the brain has to work.
These pauses can take place in the majority of areas of the brain, but some are more common. Temporal lobe, to use and store memory and emotion, will be experienced by temporal lobe epilepsy. Johns Hopkins Medicine talks about how the hippocampus, a structure way down inside the temporal lobe, is hurt every day with this kind of epilepsy. Scarring or damage to, the hippocampus can make it susceptible to generating abnormal electricity.
The area of movement and decision-making, the frontal lobe, is also an area well known to be the site of seizure activity. Control of a motor function, speech, emotional response, or consciousness can occur following a seizure depending upon the area of abnormally conducting electrical activity within the brain. Seizure activity may persist on as focal or proceed to engage the rest of the brain, extending its sphere even further. Insomnia, mild fluctuation in light, terror, or certain drugs can enhance the likelihood of seizure activity. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) explains how such patterns of aberrant activity in fact retard thought. Consciousness, and response and thus render epilepsy a chronic neurologic illness.
Causes and Risk Factors: The Brain Connection
Epilepsy illness is also a result of many other illnesses which happen in the brain’s structure or have a direct impact on its function. The abnormal electric discharges of the neurons due to genetic mutations are some of the leading causes. Spontaneous and/or inherited mutations alter brain function so that one becomes susceptible to seizures. They are spontaneous and/or inherited mutations in several genes.
Head injuries or brain injury due to accidents or falls are some other noteworthy risk factors. Brain tissue injury forms regions of abnormally hyperexcitable electric activity. And these can transform into seizures of epilepsy in the future. Infectious diseases like meningitis or encephalitis induce inflammation. And that can lead to delayed brain tissue scarring and thereby cause the development of epilepsy.
Why It’s Believed To Be a Brain Disorder?
Why is epilepsy a brain disorder? this questions haunts everyone. People are still not aware why we consider it a brain related issue. Epilepsy is a disease of the brain ancient people are saying it since ages. Since it entails in itself an inference of association with pathological and aberrant brain anatomy. Epilepsy is assigned its rightful place under systematic diagnostic categorization such as International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a neurological disorder. This is in agreement with scientific consensus that epilepsy is a consequence of deficiencies at the brain level.
Epilepsy as a brain condition could be diagnosed only with the assistance of diagnostic equipment such as EEG (Electroencephalogram) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). EEG can monitor the electrical activity of the brain and usually registers abnormal spikes or waves within, or between seizures. MRI will identify structural brain lesions such as tumors, scarring, or malformation resulting in seizures.
Also, with advanced brain mapping methods, researchers discovered abnormally linked and active brains in epilepsy patients during interseizure periods. Replication of results in imaging research, studies, and clinical practice contribute to the evidence that epilepsy is a brain disorder.
Cognitive and Psychological Impact of Epilepsy
Epilepsy is not just the physical impact. It also has a significant impact on higher-order cognitive functions such as learning, attention, and memory. Frequent seizures and abnormal electrical activity put a strain on the brain’s learning and memory function. Particularly in children and chronic epileptics.
Psychologically, epileptics are susceptible to psychiatric and emotional illness. Depression, anxiety, and psychosis are scarcely rare comorbidities. These affective distresses are secondary to either the neurologic impact of epilepsy itself or medication side effects. Or public stigma and fear of accommodation with the presence of a chronic illness. Epilepsy & Behavior Journal and Neuropsychologia research is that these mood and memory distresses have the potential to substantially impair quality of life and contribute to epilepsy morbidity.
Advances in Neuroscience: Brain Imaging and Epilepsy
The neuroscientific and technological advances of the last few decades have also increased our knowledge about epilepsy. New techniques such as fMRI and PET scans enable us to localize seizure foci by imaging abnormally functioning brain. Neuroimaging also revealed structural gray and white matter changes that accounted for how epilepsy engages brain networks over time.
Sometimes the surgery is encouraging, and excision of seizure-impacted brain tissue with surgery is highly effective in the form of lobectomy of brain, in combination with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). There was one article in 2020 from the New England Journal of Medicine, which documented the way that epilepsy surgery benefited seizure control, as well as cognition, long-term. This again indicated the brain-based character of the disorder as well as the value of the specific therapy.
Treatment: Targeted Brain Activity
You can also treat epilepsy by simply stabilizing runaway brain activity. Most are anti-seizure medications (ASMs), which calm the electrical activity that causes seizures by changing the brain’s chemistry. They soothe overactive cells and stabilize neurotransmitters, reducing the frequency and number of seizures in most patients. Brain surgery like a lobectomy disables the area of the brain that is causing the seizures. Brain stimulation treatments like responsive neurostimulation (RNS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS) place electrical currents into silent brain activity.
The Big Picture: Mastering a Brain Disorder
Why is epilepsy a brain disorder? As seizures are just part of the life with epilepsy. The patient also has to bear social stigma and myths labeling him as evil. Epilepsy impacts daily safety, limits driving, and impacts school and work. Advocacy gains and research advances are swelling public support groups and awareness. Groups are making public awareness and good policy. From the pathologic electrical activity to the structural lesion, the brain is the prime mover in the disease. More awareness, early detection, and treatment are the needs to enhance the quality of life of the patients with epilepsy.
