What’s the difference between convulsions, seizures and epilepsy?

What’s the difference between convulsions, seizures and epilepsy?

A convulsion involves uncontrolled, jerky muscle movements and altered consciousness. But people often use the terms convulsion and seizure interchangeably. People also tend to use the word convulsion to refer to a tonic-clonic seizure.

Seizures result from abnormal electrical activity from cells in your brain. You can have a seizure without having any symptoms. Healthcare providers refer to this as an EEG seizure (picked up during EEG tests). Most of the time, seizures present with a variety of different symptoms that are described above. Seizures are a symptom of epilepsy, but not all seizures are caused by epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a neurological disease defined by having multiple, ongoing seizures. Epilepsy can be a life-long condition.