by 
Anonymous
ANSWERS: 4
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Epilepsy stems from dozens of causes: genetics, heredity, brain tumours, viral infections, head trauma from accidents or falls, alchoholism, Alzheimer’s disease, trauma during birth, strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, AIDS, poison or environmental conditions, nicotine from cigarette smoke, overmedicating from certain types of drugs, hormonal changes and even lack of sleep. Epilepsy is also associated with other disorders like autism, TB, and cerebral palsy. This is one reason why the disease is often difficult to diagnose, and why, for some, it remains such a confusing disease. Source: http://www.essortment.com/all/causesofepilep_rloq.htm +5
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Here's the very short answer: short circuits in the brain.
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From Wikipedia, "An epileptic seizure is a transient symptom of excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain." I interpret this as a complicated way of saying that things in the brain go haywire, and a person has a seizure - either too much or too little brain activity. Note that one does not necessarily need to have epilepsy to have an epileptic seizure.
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I did my PhD in epilepsy genetics. There are over 40 distinct conditions that are put under the umbrella term of epilepsy. Each one is a distinct illness and can have a number of causes which maybe very different to any of the other epilepsy conditions. But broadly speaking epilepsy is hyperexcitability of certain neuronal pathways. This is what leads to the neurological symptoms that people associate with epilepsy.
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