Epilepsy and the brain?

Question

I have epilespy and use to have seizures from the time I was a baby till 8 or 9 years old. I heard this and seen this on tv that if you have seizures that small parts of the brain that was cause them would be like a gray color, Is that true?

Answer 1

Don't believe everything you see on tv. Parts of everyone's brain are naturally gray...hence the term, gray matter. Did you know that some seizures are diagnosed based on being "witnessed" because testing comes back normal? Most often, seizures are detected by abnormal changes in an EEG which is a tracing of brain activity and has nothing to do with visualizing brain color or heat sensing. Unless something very new has been discovered that I am not aware of, there is nothing to indicate color changes of the brain related to seizures. Thermal scanning can be used to detect the presence of a brain tumor however.

There is no evidence that the average seizure has any lasting effect on the brain. Many people with epilepsy have had hundreds of seizures in their lives, without any noticeable changes in their alertness or intelligence. . Rarely, seizures that last an unusually long time, or a series of non-stop seizures may produce changes in the brain that can affect the brain's abilities, but this is an uncommon occurrence.