Diet and lifestyle play a bigger role in causing seizures than you might realize
If you or a loved one has experienced a seizure, you know how scary they can be. The uncontrolled jolting, stiffening of the body, and even loss of consciousness can be unnerving under the best of circumstances but can also become life-threatening if one happens at problematic moments such as while swimming or driving a car.
As frightening as they can be, seizures are also more common than many people realize. One person in 10 is likely to have a seizure in their lifetime, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Here's what seizures are, how they happen, and what treatment you can expect to receive if you experience one.
What is a seizure?
A seizure is a sudden and abnormal burst of electrical activity that triggers different bodily responses - with each response being determined by where in the brain the electrical activity occurs, explains Dr. Jerry Shih, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the UC San Diego School of Medicine in California.
Seizures that occur in one's frontal lobe, for instance, can affect memory, problem-solving skills, and one's ability to speak. Seizures that occur in one's temporal lobe can change emotions and hearing; and ones that occur in the parietal lobe can impact sensory communication related to touch, sight, talking and nonverbal cues, he explains. Sometimes the occipital lobe is also affected, which can affect a person's vision.
Seizures that impact specific areas of the brain these ways are known as partial seizures - while generalized seizures can affect more than one brain structure at a time or occur throughout the entire brain.
Along with altered functions associated with each affected area of the brain, seizures can manifest with a range of physical changes such as sudden jerking of the head, arms, or legs; drooling; loss of bladder control; muscle spasms; altered or heightened awareness; stiffening of the body; full-body convulsions; loss of consciousness; or staring spells - the latter of which being known as absence seizures.
While most seizures last anywhere between 30 seconds and two minutes, sometimes a seizure can last longer. It's important to note that a seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, however, is considered a medical emergency, per Mayo Clinic.
After a seizure is over, "some people will have residual effects of sleepiness, fatigue, or confusion that can take minutes to hours to resolve," says Shih.
If a person has two or more seizures within 24 hours of each other, the individual is usually diagnosed with epilepsy - which is defined "as a brain disorder characterized by recurring unprovoked seizures," says Shih.
What causes seizures?
Seizures can be the result of many different things since "any insult to the brain - whether it is experiencing a head injury or a metabolic imbalance - can cause one," says Dr. Vladimir Shvarts, a neurologist and director of the epilepsy division at Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona.
He explains that common reasons people have seizures include strokes, brain tumors, brain lesions, and infections such as meningitis. "About a quarter of patients suffering from seizures are born with genetic predispositions that lower their seizure thresholds," he adds, "and these patients usually start having seizures in their childhood, adolescence, or in young adulthood."
Diet and lifestyle can also play a part. "Very low levels of sodium in the body, extreme sleep deprivation, very low blood sugar or alcohol withdrawal can trigger sporadic seizures," says Shih. Other times, the cause of a seizure is not known.
How are seizures treated?
If you experience a seizure, it's important to meet with a doctor or specialist to rule out anything concerning. Shvarts explains that many seizures are benign and won't require any or prolonged treatments. "But most seizures will need to be treated with anti-seizure medications," he says. "Anti-seizure medications can be very effective and can control the condition in about two-thirds of people diagnosed with epilepsy, says Shih.
For everyone else, anti-seizure medicine may only help reduce the intensity and frequency of seizures, "but may not be enough to stop their seizures completely," says Shvarts. He says surgical options are sometimes recommended to help such individuals. These options may include resective or laser surgeries and implantable neuromodulation devices such as a vagal nerve stimulator, deep brain stimulator, or responsive nerve stimulator.
Beyond surgery, Shih says that electrical stimulation to different areas of the brain or nervous system may also prevent or interrupt excessive electrical activity associated with seizures. Specialized diets, hormonal treatments, avoiding sleep deprivation, management of stress levels, or making sure you don't skip meals can also be helpful.
"These factors do not cause epilepsy," cautions Shih, but paying attention to them "can lower your threshold for the brain to go into a seizure."