How likely is it to pass epilepsy to your child?

How likely is it to pass epilepsy to your child?

Less than 2 out of 100 people develop epilepsy during their lifetime. If a father has epilepsy, his child’s risk is only slightly higher than usual. If a mother has epilepsy, her child’s risk is still less than 5 in 100. If both parents have epilepsy, their child’s risk is a bit higher than 5 in 100.

Can you catch epilepsy from someone?

Epilepsy is NOT contagious. You simply can’t catch epilepsy from another person. Anyone can develop epilepsy. Seizures start for the first time in people over age 65 almost as often as it does in children.

How long can a child live with epilepsy?

Can my child die from epilepsy? Most children who have epilepsy will live a very full and long life. However, very rarely a child may die from an injury or drowning during a seizure, a very long seizure (60 minutes or longer), or from Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

Can epilepsy ever go away?

While many forms of epilepsy require lifelong treatment to control the seizures, for some people the seizures eventually go away. The odds of becoming seizure-free are not as good for adults or for children with severe epilepsy syndromes, but it is possible that seizures may decrease or even stop over time.

Can epilepsy be passed to children?

The risk of passing epilepsy on to your children is usually low. Epilepsy shouldn’t be a reason not to have children. Medical testing may help people who have a known genetic form of epilepsy understand their risks. If a child does develop epilepsy, remember that many children can get complete control of seizures.

Will my child have more than one seizure?

Most children who have a seizure don’t have another one. Most children who have epilepsy — which by definition means that they’ve had more than one seizure — will outgrow the condition.

Are brothers and Sisters of children with epilepsy more likely to develop?

In recent years, genetic links to some forms of partial epilepsy have been found. Are the brothers and sisters of children with epilepsy more likely to develop it? Their risk is slightly higher than usual, because there may be a genetic tendency in the family for seizures and epilepsy.

What causes epilepsy to be inherited?

Inheriting epilepsy. People can have epilepsy for a number of reasons. Some of these are related to the genes we inherit from our parents. We all have something called a seizure threshold. People with a low seizure threshold are more likely to have seizures than people with a high seizure threshold.