Explainer | What is epilepsy? Its causes, treatment, triggers and seizures, how it affects the body, and the story of one mother who had no warning signals
- One in 10 people have at least one seizure in their lifetime. For mother-of-three Frances Charters, her first came at age 28, and for no apparent reason
- November is Epilepsy Awareness Month. About 70 per cent of patients can be managed reasonably by drugs, an expert says, but some people are drug-resistant
One in 10 people have at least one seizure in their lifetime, according to the American Academy of Neurology. Around 50 million people globally are estimated to live with epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases in the world, according to the World Health Organization. But, of those, 70 per cent could live seizure-free if they were properly diagnosed and treated – like Frances Charters.
The mother of three and founding head of a school in Tanzania was 28 when she suffered her first seizure – with no warning signals, and no apparent reason for it. There was no history of epilepsy in the family, nor had she recently hurt her head.
There are lots of causes of epilepsy, including a head injury, genetics, viral or bacterial infections, and metabolic disorders. Seizures could result from your immune system turning on you – or they could occur for a completely unknown reason. The prevalence of epilepsy in Hong Kong is about 1 per cent of the general population, or 60,000 to 70,000 cases, says Dr Richard Chang Shek-kwan, honorary assistant professor in neurology at the University of Hong Kong.
Charters’ initial seizures were diagnosed as the consequence of malaria or a viral infection. But the cause proved to be structural: the casing around the wiring in her brain is thinner than normal, and apparently always had been.
But why then were her first seizures as an adult, and not years before? Her doctors believe they were brought on by a severe lack of sleep, stress and essentially not looking after herself, she says.