Spells or Seizures?

QUESTION: My 70-year-old father has begun having spells. It's pretty
frightening, as he never suffered with them before. We would feel better if
we knew more. What causes them?
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ANSWER: "The child is father of the man," and we seem to be on a track toward
childhood physiologically in our life process. Spells or seizures occur as
frequently in the population over 60 as they do in infants under 1 year. Of
course, the causes are different. Seizures in the elderly population spring
from ailments of aging: an increased tendency toward stroke and other
vascular accidents; an inability to maintain normal bodily stability; brain
tumors; infections; and the increased dependency on medication coupled with a
greater sensitivity to drugs. First let's zero in on the exact type of
seizure your dad is experiencing. If they are very frequent, your father
might have epilepsy, if they involve a complete stoppage of blood supply to
the brain, they are called syncope in medicine. Barring these two
possibilities, the common spells of the elderly involve either a part of the
brain, partial seizures involve no loss of consciousness. Generalized
seizures can begin with a partial seizure that becomes generalized. As we
discussed earlier, the cause of the seizure must be discovered.
Cerebrovascular disease, brain tumor, infection may be the cause. A drug
reaction, alcohol or drug withdrawal may also be at fault. The causes can be
determined only through extensive testing, including EEG. If a cause can be
found in your father's case, then treatment is geared to that cause. If the
cause is discovered to be brain tumor or stroke, then the seizures will
reoccur and not only the cause must be treated, but also the seizures
themselves. A good anticonvulsant drug is usually recommended for stopping
the seizures, and usually the success rate is good. So your father should be
under the care of a physician, knowledgeable in geriatrics, who will treat
both the cause of the seizure and the seizure itself.