Hormones and Epilepsy in Women and Men…

There’s a dynamic relationship between hormones, brain function, and seizures.

Whether you’re a woman or a man, sex hormones can influence the excitability of nerve cells in the brain and thus influence seizure control.

Hormones generally don’t cause seizures but can influence if or when they happen.

The brain is the seat of the body’s hormones and regulates the release of the major sex hormones — estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

These hormones, in turn, provide feedback to the brain and control the amount of hormones released at different points in time.

The interactions between hormones, epilepsy, and the medications used to treat epilepsy are complex, with interactions which affect both men and women in various ways.

Abnormalities of baseline endocrine status occur more commonly in people with epilepsy.

Research has shown that seizure discharges in certain brain areas can alter the output of hormones from the brain, and sex hormones…