With numerous types of epilepsy and a variety of different kinds of epileptic seizure, underwriting for customers living with the condition can be troublesome. Vanessa Leyland fills in the gaps.
Epilepsy is caused by a misfire of electrical currents in the brain. The word originates from the Greek 'epilepsia' meaning taking hold or seizing. The cause is unclear, and almost all epilepsy is known to be non-hereditary. However, it was once thought to be passed down through generations and a law passed in 1734 constituted epilepsy to be a legal impediment to marriage. The law was absolved in 1969. Epilepsy can be due to brain damage from head injury, trauma during birth, drug intoxication, disease such as meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the brain) or encephalitis (in...
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