Q.Hi!

My name is Sadrah.

My brother in-law is a softball player — baseball I guess that’s what you call it in the US?

When he was 16 years old, the back of his head was hit by a ball quite hard and he fainted for about 5 minutes. It was about 10 years ago. Since then he has symptoms of epilepsy.

My father in-law took him to lots of doctors and a neurologist and they all came up with the same thing: EPILEPSY.

My question is: Can it be cured?

Please reply and let me know if you have new development on this disease — is it a disease?

Could I ask you one more favor? I need a url address of the information Center for Autism.

A.You do not have to be born with epilepsy. It can develop later in life from head injuries like the one your brother in law experienced. Severe head injuries can damage the brain and leave a scar that later on produces recurring seizures (epilepsy). Another name for this is symptomatic epilepsy – that is, the epilepsy is a symptom of damage to the brain. Many things, in addition to head injuries, can produce these symptoms, including severe infections that affect the brain, like meningitis or encephalitis.

The most widely prescribed treatment for this type of epilepsy is regular use of seizure-preventing drugs. If the drugs fail to control the seizures, or there are severe side effects, surgery to remove the damaged area of the brain may be recommended. Epilepsy surgery is successful in most but not all cases.

Medication may still have to be taken afterwards to maintain control. Surgery will only be tried if the area to be removed is limited in size and does not control other vital brain functions like speech, vision, or memory.