Epilepsy: What is it?

Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and causes seizures. Electrical activity is happening in our brains all the time, as networks of tiny brain cells send messages to each other.

These messages control all our thoughts, movements, senses, and body functions. A seizure happens when there is a sudden, intense burst of electrical activity, or misfire, in the brain. This causes the messages between cells to get mixed up. The result is an epileptic seizure. These things have lots of names like fits, seizures, funny turns, and attacks.