If the doctor says you have epilepsy and recommends treatment, that probably means that you have had more than one seizure and you are likely to have others if something isn't done to stop them. (Some people call them fits, spells, or convulsions.) Your seizures happened because of little bursts of uncontrolled electricity in your brain. This electricity made your body feel different, or made it do things that you couldn't control. If just a part of your body, like an arm or a leg, was moving on its own, that means that the electric signal only reached part of your brain. If the signal went through all of your brain, you probably shook all over or you may have been unconscious for a short time—a few seconds or perhaps several minutes or so.

Topic Editor: Gregory L. Holmes, M.D.
Last Reviewed: 10/24/06