Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

Can sports concussions cause a type of epilepsy?

Sat, 04/30/2011 - 11:20
Can sports concussions cause a type of epilepsy? In the last several years or so a new area has appeared on the radar screen - Sports Concussions - and it is growing rapidly. Recently (2011) quarterback Terry Bradshaw said that his memory was affected by repeated sports concussions as a football quarterback and it's now affecting his ability to be a FOX TV sports news analyst. What is surprising is that Bradshaw said he went to an ADHD Clinic for treatment of his memory difficulties/his sports concussions. Does Terry Bradshaw have ADHD or a form of epilepsy (aka paying attention/memory difficulties) or what? Your insights into this emerging field of sports concussions and the many epilepsies? Sports concussions have caused new laws to be written in many states (not all states yet) so it is a big, big area mixing politics and medicine and schools and sports and the many epilepsies, ADHDs, auditory processing disorders, and so on. Your view on the topic of sports concussions and the epilepsies? The general consensus is that for decades the whole topic of sports concussions has been swept under the rug by the powers that be but that has all changed in about the last two years or so.

Comments

Re: Can sports concussions cause a type of epilepsy?

Submitted by Desert Savior on Tue, 2011-05-03 - 01:38

pgd. Hello and the answer to your question is yes.

Any type of head injury has the potential to cause epilepsy especialy for all Contact sports as well as Boxing being one of the most prevalant factors in causeing epliepsy in later life.

As these sports are extreamlay popular there is more of a need to fill these positions then there is a need to protect genral public from the repructions e.g epilepsy so the as we may say the bad side is over looked for the need of the many! Ever herd that before?

Just as in the Days of the Roman's we through your best into the ring without any real knowledge of how much this can cause repucutions in the future or by telling them this is a million to one event or it will never happen to you your to strong, what a load.

But as you might already know there is a lot of money to be made and thats always a big temptation.

But it's even a bigger temtation for coaches when they dont have to put themselfs at risk.

Desert Savior

 

pgd. Hello and the answer to your question is yes.

Any type of head injury has the potential to cause epilepsy especialy for all Contact sports as well as Boxing being one of the most prevalant factors in causeing epliepsy in later life.

As these sports are extreamlay popular there is more of a need to fill these positions then there is a need to protect genral public from the repructions e.g epilepsy so the as we may say the bad side is over looked for the need of the many! Ever herd that before?

Just as in the Days of the Roman's we through your best into the ring without any real knowledge of how much this can cause repucutions in the future or by telling them this is a million to one event or it will never happen to you your to strong, what a load.

But as you might already know there is a lot of money to be made and thats always a big temptation.

But it's even a bigger temtation for coaches when they dont have to put themselfs at risk.

Desert Savior

 

Re: Can sports concussions cause a type of epilepsy?

Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Tue, 2011-05-03 - 10:31

According to brain injury.com "Unfortunately, seizures may develop immediately after an injury to the brain or may develop in delayed fashion, showing up months or years after the initial trauma. Generally speaking, the risk of post traumatic seizures is related to the severity of the injury- the greater the injury, the higher the risk of developing seizures. Even mild to moderate injuries can result in seizures.

There are many kinds of seizures and seizures are not an uncommon condition among persons without head injuries. It is thought that a head injury disrupts the pathways of the brain and that an epileptic seizure can be viewed as a sort of short circuit of the brain's electrical functioning. During the seizure the electrical fields in the brain are overloaded, resulting in seizures.

The most commonly seen seizures related to traumatic brain injury are "generalized" seizures, which are also called "Tonic-Clonic" or "Grand Mal" seizures. The classification of different types of seizures is beyond the scope of this website.

Persons who have had head trauma are twelve times as likely as the general population to suffer seizures . Patients with acute intra cranial hematomas also have a high rate of epilepsy. While there are contradictory studies, the more recent study showed that of 4,232 persons suffering mild closed head injury, 53% had early post-traumatic epilepsy. Approximately 57% of head injured individuals developed epilepsy within one-year of injury. Longer onset epilepsy beginning more than four years after the trauma occurs in 20% of patients who developed epilepsy. It is estimated that 30% of all individuals suffering head trauma developed post-traumatic seizures and 80% of the time they occur within the first 24-months."

Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com

According to brain injury.com "Unfortunately, seizures may develop immediately after an injury to the brain or may develop in delayed fashion, showing up months or years after the initial trauma. Generally speaking, the risk of post traumatic seizures is related to the severity of the injury- the greater the injury, the higher the risk of developing seizures. Even mild to moderate injuries can result in seizures.

There are many kinds of seizures and seizures are not an uncommon condition among persons without head injuries. It is thought that a head injury disrupts the pathways of the brain and that an epileptic seizure can be viewed as a sort of short circuit of the brain's electrical functioning. During the seizure the electrical fields in the brain are overloaded, resulting in seizures.

The most commonly seen seizures related to traumatic brain injury are "generalized" seizures, which are also called "Tonic-Clonic" or "Grand Mal" seizures. The classification of different types of seizures is beyond the scope of this website.

Persons who have had head trauma are twelve times as likely as the general population to suffer seizures . Patients with acute intra cranial hematomas also have a high rate of epilepsy. While there are contradictory studies, the more recent study showed that of 4,232 persons suffering mild closed head injury, 53% had early post-traumatic epilepsy. Approximately 57% of head injured individuals developed epilepsy within one-year of injury. Longer onset epilepsy beginning more than four years after the trauma occurs in 20% of patients who developed epilepsy. It is estimated that 30% of all individuals suffering head trauma developed post-traumatic seizures and 80% of the time they occur within the first 24-months."

Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com

Re: Can sports concussions cause a type of epilepsy?

Submitted by geraldlim on Thu, 2013-09-05 - 05:55
Some doctors said if you have epilepsy that sports could help you on balancing your mind with proper exercise. And I think that mayweather vs alvarez have epilepsy cause of punching their head.

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.