What Happens In A Person’s Brain When They Have Seizures?
The convulsive attacks They are one of the most characteristic and recognizable symptoms in a wide variety of cases. The tremors that run through the entire body, as well as the altered states of consciousness (or even the loss of it) are the classic characteristics of the seizure, and the fact that these affect the entire body and psychological processes suggests that behind this symptom is an abnormal functioning of the nervous system.
Specifically, seizures are due in part to changes in the firing patterns of neurons located in the brain
Seizures can be due to various causes, including high fever, degenerative brain diseases, or functional failures that produce epileptic seizures. However, beyond the specific cause, seizures are caused by a characteristic pattern of neuronal activity This neuronal activity is recognizable by the rhythms with which various neurons send electrical signals to other networks of nerve cells. Seizures occur because there are neurons acting abnormally in the brain, which produces alterations in consciousness and tension and relaxation of muscle groups.
What is this pattern of activity?
Basically, it is many neurons firing electrical signals at the same time In a normal situation in which the person remains conscious, encephalogram readings show a pattern of activity with few ups and downs, because there are no large groups of neurons coordinated with each other to transmit information at the same time. However, during seizures, the encephalogram reveals large spikes of electrical activity that contrast with moments of little activity.
All this happens in a very short time, and is captured in the typical tremors of a person with convulsive seizures. Just as tremors are actually the repeated tension and relaxation of muscles, something similar happens in the brain: neurons coordinate to send discharges together, but they also do so at times when they do not send electrical signals. Hence, spikes of activity appear in the encephalogram readings: at a given moment, the effect of many nerve cells activating at the same time is not so compensated by the non-activation of other neurons, with which the general electrical activation moves away. of the average.
But seizure attacks are not only characterized by having many neurons coordinated with each other. Furthermore, each of these neurons is firing signals at a higher frequency than usual In other words, the nerve cells are in a clear state of excitement for the duration of the crisis.
At the same time, these synchronized neurons responsible for the abnormal functioning cause more and more neurons to begin to obey them and activate at the same time, thereby magnifying the effects of the seizure each time. As the seconds go by, there will be more and more neurons in a state of constant excitation and coordinated with each other, although fortunately cases of seizures due to seizures do not usually last indefinitely.
And while we sleep…
As a curiosity, It seems that something similar happens in the moments of dream in which we are not aware of anything while when we dream, the results shown by encephalograms are very similar to those of a waking person.
However, these cases have already been foreseen by evolution and mechanisms have been established so that we are not forced to have seizures while we sleep.
