Ten triggers of seizures
Nerve cells in the brain create, send and receive electrical impulses, which allow the brain’s nerve cells to communicate. Anything that disrupts these communication pathways can lead to a seizure. About eight to 10 per cent of people will have a seizure during their lifetime. Milliam Murigi tells us why this happens.
1. Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a brain disorder that happens when certain nerve cells in your brain misfire. It is the most common cause of seizures.
However, not every person who has a seizure has epilepsy.
Epilepsy is characterised by recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement that may involve a part of the body (partial) or the entire body (generalised) and are sometimes accompanied by loss of consciousness and control of bowel or bladder function.
Stronger seizures can cause spasms and uncontrollable muscle twitches, and can last a few seconds to several minutes.
During a stronger seizure, some people become confused or lose consciousness. Afterward you may have no memory of it happening.
2. High fever
High fever above 38 degrees’ Celsius causes febrile seizures. These seizures usually last for a few minutes and stop on their own.
Febrile seizures can look serious, but most stop without treatment and don’t cause other health problems.
The fevers that trigger febrile seizures are usually caused by a viral infection such as meningitis, influenza, among others.
3. Sleep deprivation
Lack of enough sleep (sleep deprivation) is the second most common trigger of seizures. In some cases, it has been responsible for the only seizure a person ever suffers.
A lack of sleep has a major impact on how the brain functions. With lack of sleep, brain cells became “sluggish” and neural communication is impaired.
4. Hyponatremia (Low blood sodium)
Low blood sodium is common in older adults, especially those who are hospitalised or living in long-term care facilities.
A low sodium level has many causes, including consumption of too many fluids, kidney failure, heart failure, cirrhosis, and use of diuretics (water pills).
Severe hyponatremia can cause seizures, coma and even death. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, can also result in seizures.
The cause is an inadequate supply of glucose to the brain. When brain glucose levels are sufficiently low, seizures may result.
5. Head injury
Traumatic brain injury accounts for almost five per cent of all individuals who experience epilepsy and seizures.
Within the first year following an accident involving head injury, the risk of seizure is 12 times as great in the general population.
6. Stroke or heart attack
If you have had a stroke, you have an increased risk for having a seizure. A stroke causes injury to your brain.
The injury to your brain results in the formation of scar tissue, which affects the electrical activity in your brain. Disrupting the electrical activity can cause you to have a seizure.
You’re more likely to have a seizure if you’ve had a severe stroke, a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke) or a stroke in part of the brain called the cerebral cortex.
The best thing is that your risk of having a seizure lessens with time after your stroke.
7. Brain tumour
In brain tumour patients, seizures may be related to cells around the tumour that have developed abnormally.
Or they may be due to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain caused by the tumour.
Both of these can interfere with the normal electrical activity in the brain.
8. Cocaine
All forms of cocaine use can cause seizures within seconds, minutes, or hours after it is taken.
Seizures caused by cocaine are uniquely dangerous and may be associated with heart attacks, disrupting the heart’s normal rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia), and death.
They can even occur in someone who has never had a seizure before. If you have epilepsy, you definitely should avoid cocaine.
9. Alcoholism or alcohol withdrawal
Alcohol abuse is a major precipitant of status epilepticus. Status epilepticus is quite rare, however, it is very serious, with US John Hopkins University saying it is “a seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, or having more than one seizure within a five minutes’ period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episode.
This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.
Also, a sudden alcohol withdrawal without help can lead to seizures. Alcohol-related seizures appear six to 48 hours after the last drink in individuals who chronically use excessive amounts of alcohol.
10. Covid-19
While seizures and status epilepticus have not been widely reported in the past five months since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, patients with coronavirus may have hypoxia, multiorgan failure, and severe metabolic and electrolyte disarrangements; hence, it is plausible to expect clinical or subclinical acute symptomatic seizures to happen in these patients.
