Any healthy brain can develop an epileptic seizure. This involves a qualitative change in the rhythm of the brain, which can lead to unconsciousness with muscle cramps.
Fever, too little sleep or excessive use of harmful stimulants (such as alcohol) can promote such attacks. If seizures develop repeatedly and even without such provocation factors being present, the condition is called epilepsy.
The cause of these seizures is a predisposition to rhythm changes, which is either genetic or an expression of an acquired disease. This is why epilepsy particularly often begins in the first years of life (in children with a predisposition) or after the age of 60 (in older people with acquired brain diseases).
Epilepsies are neurological diseases with an extremely varied appearance. For this reason, we do not usually speak of epilepsy, but of epilepsies. Depending on which part of the brain is affected by the change in rhythm, seizures with comparatively minor symptoms (such as tingling on one side of the body), moderate attacks (speech disorders, short "mental pauses") or major seizures ("grand mal", falling fits) can result.
A prerequisite for successful epilepsy treatment is a detailed and careful diagnostic. For this, we carry out extensive further tests in addition to a detailed anamnesis and clinical examination. Of particular importance is the EEG (electroencephalography), with which we record the rhythm of the brain and evaluate it for signs of epilepsy disposition.
Once the diagnosis has been made, treatment of epilepsy with medication is usually started. If this does not lead to success, a number of other treatment methods are available, but these do not easily replace drug treatment. We offer our expertise in epilepsy treatment not only to our in-patients, but also in our epilepsy out-patient department.