Do seizures cause permanent damage?

Long-term effects
Usually, a seizure does not cause any lasting damage to the brain. However, having many seizures, or having seizures that are particularly severe, may cause a person to become more forgetful or find it difficult to concentrate. People with epilepsy have an increased risk of developing depression.
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Are seizures damaging to the brain?

Most types of seizures do not cause damage to the brain. However, having a prolonged, uncontrolled seizure can cause harm. Because of this, treat any seizure lasting over 5 minutes as a medical emergency.
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What damage is caused by seizures?

Isolated, brief seizures are likely to cause negative changes in brain function and possibly loss of specific brain cells. This is not true for all forms of epilepsy, however, and is likely to be highly dependent upon the type of seizure and the specific cause of the epilepsy.
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Can you fully recover from a seizure?

Ending: As the seizure ends, the postictal phase occurs - this is the recovery period after the seizure. Some people recover immediately while others may take minutes to hours to feel like their usual self.
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Can Absence seizures cause long term damage?

Absence seizures are most common in children and typically don't cause any long-term problems. These types of seizures are often set off by a period of hyperventilation.
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Risks of Continued Seizures – Mayo Clinic



How long can a seizure last before brain damage?

A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than 1 seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes is called status epilepticus. This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.
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How serious are seizures?

Generally speaking, a generalized tonic-clonic seizure lasting 5 minutes or longer is a medical emergency. If seizures can't be stopped or repeated seizures occur one right after another, permanent injury or death can occur.
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What are the long term effects of seizures?

Usually, a seizure does not cause any lasting damage to the brain. However, having many seizures, or having seizures that are particularly severe, may cause a person to become more forgetful or find it difficult to concentrate. People with epilepsy have an increased risk of developing depression.
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What are the chances of having a second seizure?

The chance of another seizure can range from 16% to 61%, depending on the circumstances surrounding the seizure and results of a neurological exam or other tests.
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Do people remember seizures?

In focal aware seizures (FAS), previously called simple partial seizures, the person is conscious (aware and alert) and will usually know that something is happening and will remember the seizure afterwards. Some people find their focal aware seizures hard to put into words.
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Can a seizure change your personality?

Importance of Mood Disorders

Mood disorders in people with epilepsy are very important and can greatly impact a person's daily activities and quality of life. These feelings may be present most of the time, or appear just before, during, or after a seizure. Some people become depressed, others may be irritable.
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Do seizures affect intelligence?

Patients showed significantly lower IQ scores and linguistic abilities than controls. The components prolonged seizures/febrile convulsions and seizure frequency/number of antiepileptic drugs both contributed significantly to the IQs' observed variance.
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How many seizures is too many?

A person is diagnosed with epilepsy when they have had two or more seizures. A seizure is a short change in normal brain activity. Seizures are the main sign of epilepsy.
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Can brain damage reversed?

While damage to the brain cannot be reversed, functions affected by TBI can be recovered thanks to the brain's natural ability to rewire itself. To help you better understand recovery after traumatic brain injury, this article will discuss: Is traumatic brain injury permanent?
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How long does it take to recover after a seizure?

Some people feel better after an hour or 2, but for some people it can take several days to feel 'back to normal'. Some people find they have temporary weakness or can't move part of their body after they've had a seizure.
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Do seizures show up on MRI?

Does epilepsy show up on MRI scans? No, not necessarily. An MRI scan can help your doctor understand some of the possible underlying structural causes of your seizures. However, for many people there is no structural cause behind their epilepsy and so the brain scan comes back 'normal'.
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Can you drive if you only had one seizure?

Seizures are unpredictable, and even a small one at the wrong time can lead to an injury or death. The best solution, if possible, is to get them under control. In most states, you must be seizure-free for anywhere from 6 months to a year before you'll be allowed to drive.
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What causes seizures in adults out of nowhere?

Anything that interrupts the normal connections between nerve cells in the brain can cause a seizure. This includes a high fever, high or low blood sugar, alcohol or drug withdrawal, or a brain concussion. But when a person has 2 or more seizures with no known cause, this is diagnosed as epilepsy.
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Should you go to the hospital after a seizure?

Most seizures last between 30 seconds and two minutes and will not require any emergency medical attention. However, if someone is experiencing a seizure that lasts longer than two minutes, or they lose consciousness and it does not come back right after the seizure, you should call 911 right away.
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Do seizures shorten life span?

Reduction in life expectancy can be up to 2 years for people with a diagnosis of idiopathic/cryptogenic epilepsy, and the reduction can be up to 10 years in people with symptomatic epilepsy. Reductions in life expectancy are highest at the time of diagnosis and diminish with time.
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Does epilepsy shorten your life?

Epilepsy can shorten life, but most of the time it does not. Be aware of risks and take sensible precautions, but do not let the risks put you into a state of constant worry. Consult with your doctor for specific information about your risk factors for injury due to seizures.
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Do seizures get worse with age?

The incidence of any type of seizure increases substantially over the age of 60, commonly due to other neurological conditions such as dementia or stroke.
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Are seizures painful?

In general, the actual experience of having a seizure does not hurt. Pain during seizures is rare . Some types of seizures make you lose consciousness.
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What is the most serious complication of a seizure disorder?

Possible Complications

Difficulty learning. Breathing in food or saliva into the lungs during a seizure, which can cause aspiration pneumonia. Injury from falls, bumps, self-inflicted bites, driving or operating machinery during a seizure. Permanent brain damage (stroke or other damage)
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What does seizure medication do to the brain?

Anti-seizure medicines work by reducing the abnormal electrical activity in the brain that is causing the seizures. Different medicines do this in different ways, and some work better for certain kinds of seizures than others.
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