Is epilepsy hereditary? Experts say this

Epilepsy is actually epilepsy or seizures, which are actually the same disease. The formation of epilepsy is related to heredity. If either parent suffers from epilepsy, the child is very likely to inherit epilepsy.

Epilepsy, which is now commonly known as epilepsy, is a chronic disease that affects brain function. Its condition is very complicated and difficult to treat. Therefore, people are very afraid of this disease and even think that it is incurable. They are very negative about it, let alone getting married and having children. Patients with this disease are worried about passing it on to their children, so they dare not get married and have children. It is true that the incidence of epilepsy in families with a clinical history of epilepsy is higher than that in healthy families, but the specific inheritance rate is still unclear. In addition to genetic reasons, the onset of epilepsy is also related to other factors, such as the external environment, one's own physical condition, psychological factors, etc.

Clinical data show that the number of patients suffering from epilepsy has increased significantly in recent years, and more and more people are threatened by this disease. In addition, experts say that epilepsy has a certain possibility of being inherited, which can cause great damage to the body and mind of epilepsy patients. While their own bodies are harmed and suffering, they are also worried about whether the disease will be passed on to their next generation. Many patients lose their right to be parents for fear of such serious consequences, which is undoubtedly adding insult to injury.

There is no doubt that epilepsy is hereditary, but not all types of epilepsy will be passed on to the next generation. Generally speaking, the chance of inheriting primary epilepsy is relatively high. If both husband and wife have primary epilepsy and both have a family history of the disease, the chance of the next generation suffering from the disease will be as high as 20%-35%. Therefore, it is better not to have children in this case.

However, the probability of inheritance depends on the relationship with the patient. Among direct relatives, the closer the blood relationship with the patient, the greater the possibility of inheritance. If the relationship is more distant, the heritability will be greatly reduced. Therefore, the probability of inheritance from parents to children is naturally not very high. Compared with the situation where a gene is inherited from parents to children, the probability of a gene being inherited from grandparents to grandchildren is obviously smaller.

In addition, we also need to look at the children's seizure threshold, because whether a disease is hereditary is determined by both internal and external factors. Even if there is a family history of genetic diseases, if children have a high threshold for onset and low susceptibility, they will not easily develop the disease. If the attack threshold is relatively low and it is easily affected by genetic factors, the possibility of getting the disease is very high even if it is inherited from the previous generation.

Getting married and having children is everyone's right, and this is no exception for patients with epilepsy. However, many people believe that epilepsy is hereditary and that people cannot get married or have children, as it will have an impact on future generations. In fact, this statement is wrong, because epilepsy is somewhat hereditary, but not all epilepsy is hereditary. Some epilepsy patients can have children through treatment.