Seizures & Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus is a chronic, inflammatory disease which can affect any organ or system in the body.
Although its cause remains uncertain, it is known that lupus is an autoimmune disease: the immune system become overactive and out of control, often attacking healthy tissue. This inflammation gives rise to the symptoms that characterize lupus.
Approximately 50,000 Canadians are living with lupus.
Lupus varies greatly from person to person. Symptoms tend to come and go: at times, the disease may go into remission, only to become active and "flare up" at other times.
Each person develops a unique combination of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe and life-threatening.
Types of Lupus
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
affects many parts of the body
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE)
affects the skin when exposed to the sun
- Subacute Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (SCLE)
affects the skin when exposed to the sun
- Neonatal Lupus
An uncommon form of lupus affecting newborns
- Drug Induced Lupus
Triggered by certain drugs, it goes away when the offending drug is withdrawn.
SLE is the most common form of lupus.
It can affect any adult or child, but develops more frequently in women between the ages of 15 and 45.
Controlling flares is the key in the day to day management of SLE.
Measures must be taken to avoid the triggers of inflammation:
- exposure to the sun,
- excessive fatigue,
- uncontrolled stress,
- poor diet, and
- life style habits (smoking; excessive alcohol use)
are factors which may contribute to flares of lupus.
Lifestyle changes may be necessary to avoid these triggers.
Seizures and Lupus
Between 66% and 75% of seizures associated with lupus are generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
Although not all studies agree, there is consensus that many generalized seizures occur for the first time during an SLE disease flare and often do not recur until another flare.
If residual brain injury occurs during the flare, epilepsy may develop. In many cases, however, these seizures may be part of a temporary process of the flare which lowers the seizure threshold (the point at which a brain will begin to have a seizure). This puts them in the category of "provoked seizures", rather than epilepsy.
Except for rare, coincidental, inherited epilepsy, most seizures in lupus are:
- related to conditions which lower the seizure threshold;
- part of a CNS lupus flare; or
- symptoms of brain injury not resulting from a CNS lupus effect.
