epilepsy causes

     Causes of epilepsy and risk factors (Etiology) 

The causes of epilepsy vary with age.

Crises can occur at a certain stage of life and over time they cease; other causes produce chronic epilepsy. In any case, it should not be forgotten that the appearance of crisis in a person does not always result from an obvious cause-effect relationship.

1.- Heritage Although there is a popular belief that epilepsy is inherited, this is not usually the case. This cause is demonstrated only in certain types of epilepsy, as in the case of tuberous sclerosis, neuro-fibromatosis and lipidosis. On other occasions what can be inherited is a more or less high convulsive threshold that is different in each person. Except in the case of a hereditary neurological disease such as those mentioned above, the genetic factor of predisposition to suffer seizures is VERY LIMITED.

 2.- Congenital developmental errors Hereditary congenital malformations: They include arteriovenous malformations, errors in neuronal migration (lissencephaly-pachygyria) and phacomatosis. - Some congenital malformations present at birth are NOT hereditary, such as deformities suffered by children of mothers who have been subjected to toxic products during pregnancy, or have suffered some type of infection, radiation, etc. Congenital errors of metabolism: Hyperglycemia, D-glycyrrhizidemia, phenylketonuria, ceroidopolipofuccinosis (childhood, juvenile and adult forms), Lafora disease, Huntington's disease, Gaucher's disease, etc.

3.- Brain Anoxia The insufficient oxygen supply to the brain can occur during childbirth (prolonged labor, premature detachment of the placenta), or in childhood. A febrile seizure may be responsible for severe cerebral anoxia and may condition further epilepsy secondary to brain damage. In adults, a cerebrovascular disease produces a focal lesion due to anoxia and epileptic seizures.

4.- Cranio-encephalic trauma (TCE) Brain injury from cranial trauma can cause secondary epilepsy. There are three factors that indicate an increased risk of suffering seizures secondary to a cranio-encephalic trauma: Duration of post-traumatic amnesia. The greater the duration, the greater the risk. Post-traumatic amnesia can last between a few minutes and several weeks or months. The presence of focal neurological signs. The presence of a localized lesion on the cerebral cortical surface. If none of these factors exist, the risk of suffering post-traumatic epilepsy is estimated in 2% of cases. Otherwise, the risk rises to 40%. On the other hand, the appearance of early epileptic seizures, after the trauma (in the first week), further increases the possibility of a secondary epilepsy.

5.- Brain tumors Primary and secondary (breast and lung are the most frequent primary foci when referring to brain metastases).

 6.- Infectious diseases Meningitis of diverse causes, encephalitis, bacterial or parasitic brain abscesses, prion diseases.

7. Acquired metabolic disorders Hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, hypernatremia, chronic renal failure, etc.

 8.- Degenerative diseases of the central nervous system

 9.- Alcohol Chronic consumption can lead to alcoholic epilepsy.

 10.- Toxic Exposure to toxic elements such as lead, mercury, carbon monoxide, etc.