Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which concerns abnormal electrical signals in the central nervous system, particularly the brain (controlled by the grey matter). Affecting people of all ages and is in fact very common (about 1 in every 100 Canadians). It often comes about as unpredicted and recurring seizures which can trigger difficulty to inhale, coughing and loss of breath (respiratory system), it also comes hand in hand with muscle convulsions in different parts of the body (musculoskeletal system) but the symptoms are different from person to person and vary greatly by intensity. During a seizure, the brains' neurons send large amounts of messages to the brain, very fast which temporarily interferes with the brains activity. People are diagnosed after they've has more than 1 seizure stemming from the brain, unrelated to other reasons like alcohol withdrawal or low blood sugar. The seizures can range from a multitude of reasons like a brain injury or it can be passed down through family, many people are diagnosed when they are infants or when they're seniors. Seizures can be classified into two groups, generalized which affects the whole brain or focal which only affects one part. Many people with epilepsy receive treatment by medicine which helps 2/3 people affected by the disorder. The difference between seizures and epilepsy is that epilepsy is a brain disorder which makes someone more vulnerable to a seizure. Most of the seizures related to epilepsy range in differences and can often be as small as a muscle twitch, they're usually followed by a small period of confusion if the seizure was more intense or fatigue/mood change. All in all epilepsy is a disorder which affects many people in very different ways (convulsions, loss of breath etc,), lasts for different amounts of time, but can be curable and treated with medicine.
