About Victor's Epilepsy

The Basics

• Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of the nervous system.
• It affects people of all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds.
• Almost 3 million Americans of all ages are living with epilepsy.
• Every year, nearly 200,000 Americans will develop seizures and epilepsy for the first time.
• Epilepsy can develop at any time of life, especially in early childhood and old age.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Victor Newman has been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, one of many types of epilepsies.

The temporal lobes, one on each side of the head, just above the ears, are the sites of one of the most common forms of epilepsy. Complex partial seizures with automatisms (unconscious actions), such as lip smacking or rubbing the hands together, are the most common seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Seventy-five percent of patients also experience simple partial seizures which may include such features as: a mixture of thoughts, emotions, and feelings that are hard to describe; sudden emergence of old memories or feelings of strangeness in familiar surroundings; hallucinations of voices, music, smells, or tastes, and feelings of unusual fear or joy. While partial seizures dominate, approximately half the people with temporal lobe epilepsy have generalized tonic-clonic seizures as well.

The seizures characteristic of temporal lobe epilepsy often begin in the deeper parts of the temporal lobe (part of the limbic system) which control emotions and memory. Memory problems may develop over time in people with this syndrome. Treatment is with medication or surgery, or in some cases, VNS therapy.

Want to know more? Visit our online forum, eCommunities, and type in the search term "TLE" or "temporal lobe" to read comments from people with epilepsy. Joining the discussions is free and open to all!

More In-Depth Information About Temporal Lobe Epilpesy

Our partner, Elsevier Publishing has provided selected articles from Epilpesy and Behaviour for anyone wishing more in-depth information about Temporal Lobe Epilpesy:

Temporal lobe epilepsy as a model to understand human memory: The distinction between explicit and implicit memory (PDF)

Memory for famous faces and the temporal pole: Functional imaging findings in temporal lobe epilepsy (PDF)

Recognition of emotion with temporal lobe epilepsy and asymmetrical amygdala damage (PDF)