The body's nerves work like a telephone line, communicating with other body parts using electrical impulses. When these impulses become abnormal or imbalanced, a seizure will occur. The Brain Injury Resource Foundation states there are more than 30 types of seizures that can occur for a variety of reasons. Seizures can last for a few seconds and can be hard to detect, or they can last much longer and impact the entire body, causing the person to lose consciousness and jerk uncontrollably. A seizure's effect on the brain depends in great part on the seizure type, its duration and the rate of recurrence.
Brain Cell Loss
More than 35 epilepsy researchers gathered from eight countries in Rovaniemi, Finland in 2001 for a workshop to answer the question: "Do seizures damage the brain?" The American Epilepsy Society and Elan Pharmaceuticals sponsored the workshop, which was organized by Dr. Tom Sutula, chairman of neurology at the University of Wisconsin, and professor Asla Pitkänen, director of epilepsy research at the A.I. Virtanen institute of Kuopio, Finland. The editor-in-chief of Epilepsy.com summarized the results of this meeting, in which participants concluded that isolated seizures that were extremely brief in duration possibly resulted in some brain cell loss. The consequences of this loss, in terms of brain function, remains unclear.
Partial Seizures Impact Parts of the Brain
Partial seizures tend to occur only in a specific part of the brain. The effects of the seizure on the brain, therefore, will depend on which part of the brain is involved. Generally speaking, the parts of the brain that control facial movements and the senses, such as hearing, smell or sight, are impacted. Stomach discomfort and limb twitching can also occur, which helps give an indication of which part of the brain is involved.
Cognitive Decline
A study published in November, 2005, issue of the journal "Epilepsia" looked at 136 patients with severe intractable epilepsy. Conducted by Dr. P.J. Thompson with the Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy at University College in London and Dr. J.S. Duncan of the Epilepsy Research Group, University Department of Clinical Neurology, Institute of Neurology in London, the study titled "Cognitive Decline in Severe Intractable Epilepsy" concluded that those with high-frequency generalized tonic-clonic, or "grand-mal," seizures, which affect the entire brain, experienced the greatest cognitive decline across several different cognitive functions. Re-occurring partial seizures were associated with memory and "executive" skills decline, but IQ remained unaffected.
