The primary symptom of all types of epilepsy is recurrent seizures. The way their seizures surface can give you the indications or signs to look out for:

• Loss of Consciousness: Common for tonic-clonic or absence seizures.
• Uncontrolled Jerking Movements: Movement affecting the arms, legs, or whole body.
• Staring Spells: In case of absence seizures, patients often appear to stare into space for a moment and be unresponsive.
• Confusion or Disorientation: After a seizure, confusion or disorientation gradually makes way for a postictal confusion phase.
• Strange Sensations: One may feel unusual sensations, like numbness, dizziness, or tingling, right before or during a seizure.
• Memory Loss: Complex partial seizures can directly affect our memory.

Note: All seizures don’t cause convulsions or loss of consciousness. Sometimes symptoms may be as subtle as a brief lapse in awareness.

Epilepsy can develop for many reasons, though sometimes the cause remains unknown. Common causes include:

• Genetic Factors: Epilepsy maybe hereditary, since our genes can influence our nervous system’s internal wiring.
• Brain Injury: Trauma from accidents, falls, or other injuries often create a ripple effect, which ends up in epilepsy. The timing however, maybe far from the initial injury.
• Infections: Meningitis, encephalitis, or neurocysticercosis of the brain can trigger epilepsy.
• Stroke: Strokes in older people damage the brain tissue leading to epilepsy.
• Developmental Disorders: Conditions such as autism or neurodevelopmental delays may increase the likelihood of epilepsy.
• Brain Tumors: Tumors affecting the brain can provoke seizures and epilepsy.
• Prenatal Injury: Injuries during birth, such as lack of oxygen supply to the brain, may lead to epilepsy later in life.

• Injury During Seizures: Falls, bumps, or accidents can occur if a seizure happens unexpectedly, leading to injuries like fractures or head trauma.
• Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP): Though rare, SUDEP can occur in individuals with poorly controlled seizures, particularly in tonic-clonic seizures.
• Cognitive Impairment: Frequent or severe seizures can affect memory, learning, and cognitive functions.
• Mental Health Issues: The anticipation of an episode and inability to contain it triggers anxiety, depression, or social isolation due to its unpredictability.