Abstract
Hormonal factors and their influence on the course of epilepsy are so far an obscure chapter in this neurologic disease. What is epilepsy indeed? The expression epilepsy comes from the Greek ?epilonbanein? which means ?to seize?, ?to attack?.
The word thus means an ?attack? or ?a disease with fits?. There are many diseases with fits that are therefore called epilepsy.
Generally, this disease is connected with many prejudices. Since ancient times, people have believed in a supernatural origin of this disease or obsession by demons.
This idea has been abandoned in the civilized world but the disease is still stigmatized. It is believed that it is an incurable mental illness, leading to loss of mental abilities and is hereditary.
The following isolation of patients is then much worse than the disease itself. Epileptic fits can occur in any period of life but we differentiate two basic peaks of its occurrence ? till 20 years of age or in old age.