In all, about one percent of the United States population has epilepsy – roughly 2.8 million people. And, every year, 200,000 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed in America. The cause of seizures is usually not known. Sometimes it is inherited. Sometimes it is due to a head injury or a brain defect like a tumor. Most times the cause is a mystery. But, one thing is absolutely certain: You CANNOT catch epilepsy from someone else.

Anyone can develop epilepsy at any time. Again, we don’t always know why. Sometimes people who have seizures when they are young grow out of them. Sometimes they start happening when you get older.

Epilepsy is treatable and seizures in many cases are controllable. Most times, epilepsy is controlled through medication. Other forms of treatment include a special diet (mostly for kids) or a kind of epilepsy “pacemaker” implanted in the chest to sends signals to help the brain regulate its electrical signals. For some, though, their seizures are resistant to everything else but brain surgery.

Controlling seizures through medical means is certainly very important, but someone is epilepsy has other challenges in their lives that may stop them from coming out of the shadows. These challenges are where we come in. We can help make their lives easier, and that’s mostly what this website is all about. We’ll talk about that next…

To learn more about Epilepsy, you can visit the Epilepsy Foundation website.