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What is the difference between "Genetic Epilepsy" and "Brain Epilepsy"?

Mon, 01/22/2018 - 14:20
Hello, my name is Jason Kern. I am a 10th-grade student at Clark Montessori Jr. & Sr. High School. I had a sister by the name of Kayla who was born with Epilepsy caused by brain damage. She died in 2012, and I now want to know more about this disorder. My biology teacher recently assigned me the project of studying a genetic disorder. My choice was Epilepsy. At first, I thought that Epilepsy inherited genetically was the same as Epilepsy inherited through brain damage. Now that I know that the two are caused by two different methods (which I should've known in the first place), it's making me wonder if there's a difference between the two. Is there a difference between behavior/symptoms between "Genetic Epilepsy" and "Brain Epilepsy", if any?

Comments

genetic epilepsies are in one

Submitted by Amy Jo on Mon, 2018-01-22 - 15:11
genetic epilepsies are in one’s genes. epilepsy due to brain damage occurs later and isn’t in your genes, either in the formation of the brain, e.g. migrational problems, or some later incident like a head injury triggering epileptogenesis.So genetic epilepsies include the types of epilepsies that can be passed down in families BUT also include de novo gene mutations. Not only that there isn’t a certain gene always responsible for genetic epilepsies as it can be more complicated than that.check out www.epilepsygenetics.net

genetic epilepsies are in one

Submitted by Amy Jo on Mon, 2018-01-22 - 15:28
genetic epilepsies are in one’s genes. epilepsy due to brain damage occurs later and isn’t in your genes, either in the formation of the brain, e.g. migrational problems, or some later incident like a head injury triggering epileptogenesis.So genetic epilepsies include the types of epilepsies that can be passed down in families BUT also include de novo gene mutations. Not only that there isn’t a certain gene always responsible for genetic epilepsies as it can be more complicated than that.check out www.epilepsygenetics.net

epilepsy due to damage used

Submitted by Amy Jo on Mon, 2018-01-22 - 15:28
epilepsy due to damage used to be called symptomatic (not sure about current jargon). symptomatic epilepsy are more likely to be refractory, aka not respond to drug treatment. surgery is often a good treatment approach for some patients but there are a lot of ways to have damage and one can’t always take the damaged part out.genetic epilepsies were often called idiopathic (idiopathic ‘of unknown cause’ was not the meaning, knowledgeable people were pretty sure they were genetic but the science hadn’t caught up, info about genetics is increasing at a rapid pace).there are a lot of variations between epilepsies. most people do not find out why they have epilepsy.genetic epilepsies do not mean you’ll see seizures right away, they often start at certain developmental points so it might not be apparent until in later childhood years. nor are genetic epilepsies all benign, some are devastating encephalopathies or can have lasting impacts after seizures abate.

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