Seizure causes
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Causes
- Secondary seizures
- Hypoxia
- Metabolic abnormalities
- Infection
- Cerebrovascular etiologies
- Drug effects, withdrawal, intoxication
- Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
- Febrile seizures in children
- Structural lesions
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Nonepileptic seizures
- Disorders of sugar metabolism
- Organic acidemias
- Glycogen storage diseases
- Disorders of amino acid metabolism
- Urea cycle disorders
- Peroxisomal disorders
- Mitochondrial disorders
- Rasmussen's encephalitis
Unprovoked seizures are often associated with epilepsy and related seizure disorders. Causes of provoked seizures include:
- Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a treatable medical condition that can cause seizures, headaches, and brain hemorrhages. An MRI can quickly confirm or reject this as a cause.
- Head injury
- Intoxication with drugs
- Drug toxicity, for example aminophylline or local anesthetics
- Normal doses of certain drugs that lower the seizure threshold, such as tricyclic antidepressants
- Infection, such as encephalitis or meningitis
- Fever leading to febrile convulsions (but see above)
- Metabolic disturbances, such as hypoglycaemia, hyponatremia or hypoxia
- Withdrawal from drugs (anticonvulsants and sedatives such as alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines)
- Space-occupying lesions in the brain (abscesses, tumors)
- Seizures during (or shortly after) pregnancy can be a sign of eclampsia.
- Binaural beat brainwave entrainment may trigger seizures in both epileptics and non-epileptics
- Stroke may cause seizures, with embolic strokes more likely to present with seizures; cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a rare type of stroke, is more likely to be accompanied by seizures than other types of stroke
- Multiple sclerosis sufferers may rarely experience seizures
Some medications produce an increased risk of seizures and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) deliberately sets out to induce a seizure for the treatment of major depression. Many seizures have unknown causes.
Seizures which are provoked are not associated with epilepsy, and people who experience such seizures are normally not diagnosed with epilepsy. However, the seizures described above resemble those of epilepsy both outwardly, and on EEG testing.
Seizures can occur after a subject witnesses a traumatic event. This type of seizure is known as a psychogenic non-epileptic seizure and is related to post-traumatic stress disorder.