The Many Faces Of Epilepsy

Misconceptions, common symptoms and treatment options

- Anna Sharratt

EPILEPSY IS OFTEN misunderstood. Although many people believe that all epileptic attacks involve a violent seizure—with the person falling to the ground and convulsing—the neurological disease takes many different forms.

Ley Sander, medical director of the UK’s Epilepsy Society and professor of neurology at University College London, says that though these “tonic-clonic” seizures—formerly referred to as “grand mal”—are indeed common, there are others. “In fact, there are over 40 different types of seizures,” he adds, which include ones where a person stares blankly and doesn’t respond when talked to, and others that cause the muscles to contract so the body becomes rigid.