For residents of New Jersey who experience seizures, those seizures may be caused by a specific medical condition such as epilepsy or an accident that involves trauma. There is concern over whether seizures can cause permanent brain damage.
What is a seizure?
A seizure occurs in the brain when the nerve cells deliver signals that are abnormal. This can lead to unnatural, jerky movements or complete stillness. A person is usually completely unaware of what’s taking place around them and maybe unresponsive while they are experiencing a seizure. Many people wonder if they can experience a personal injury affecting the brain when they have seizures.
Can seizures cause injuries to the brain?
While injury usually doesn’t occur when a person has seizures, it’s possible for a seizure that’s uncontrolled to cause damage. Over time, if someone experiences continuous uncontrolled seizures, the nerve cells in the brain can suffer damage. A particular area of the brain can be affected. Usually, that area would be the portion of the brain that controls physical movement, emotions, or cognitive abilities.
Most seizures are short and don’t damage the brain’s cells, but one that lasts too long can cause potential damage and lead to personal injury. Seizures that last longer than five minutes require immediate medical treatment and should be considered emergency situations. Those are the type that can lead to brain damage if not promptly treated.
Brain injury was detected in a study from 2018 that looked at people with epilepsy. It was found that individuals with epilepsy experienced a reduction in certain parts of the brain as a result of changes brought on by seizures. Many of the study participants experienced memory issues due to temporal lobe epilepsy affecting the hippocampus. A separate study from 2020 also showed that some study participants experienced brain aging as a result of the same type of epilepsy.
Seizure disorders brought on by accidents can be devastating. You can take action to hold the at-fault party liable for your injuries.