Seizures in Alzheimer's Disease

Older man forgetfully looking out the window

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People with Alzheimer's disease are estimated to have anywhere from a two- to six-fold increase in the risk of seizures compared to the general population. Over the course of the disease, anywhere from 10 percent to 26 percent will experience some form of seizure, both apparent and non-apparent, according to research from the Baylor College School of Medicine. While it is still unclear which mechanisms trigger seizures, there are certain characteristics that can place an individual at higher risk.

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Knowing What to Do When Someone Has a Seizure

Symptoms

A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. While we tend to associate them with convulsions, seizures can sometimes manifest with subtle symptoms, such as changes in behavior, movement, feelings, or levels of consciousness.

Among the two most common types of seizure seen in people with Alzheimer's:

  • Partial complex seizures are those in which you become unaware of your surroundings and engage in unconscious actions such as fumbling, lip-smacking, wandering, or picking at clothes.
  • Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are characterized by all-body convulsions and are often accompanied by the abrupt loss of consciousness and/or bladder control.

Time Matters

Most seizures last anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes. A seizure lasting longer than five minutes is referred to as status epilepticus and is considered a medical emergency.

Having two or more seizures is classified as epilepsy.

Causes

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting over 6 million Americans. Alzheimer's causes the progressive and irreversible deterioration of cognitive function, manifesting with the loss of memory and the gradual decline in the ability to think or reason. The disease is most commonly seen in the elderly and is believed to affect anywhere from 4 percent to 12 percent of people over age 65.

Alzheimer's disease is caused by the gradual accumulation of a protein, known as beta-amyloid, in the brain. As the protein molecules begin to stick together, they create lesions (plaques) that interrupt the nerve pathways central to cognitive and motor function.

While it may seem reasonable to assume that the seizures are triggered by the degeneration of the brain, evidence strongly suggests that it is related more to beta-amyloid itself.

Beta-amyloid is actually a fragment of a larger compound known as an amyloid precursor protein (APP). As APP is broken down, certain byproducts are released into the brain which can overexcite—and effectively overload—nerve pathways. As the disease progresses, the accumulation of these byproducts can cause nerve cells to fire abnormally, triggering seizures.

Risks Factors

Beyond the biochemical causes of Alzheimer's-related seizures, there are other factors that can place a person at an increased risk . Among them:

  • Early-onset Alzheimer's is associated with an increased likelihood of seizures, although the seizures themselves tend to develop in later-stage disease.
  • Mutations of the presenilin 1 (PSEN1) and presenilin 2 (PSEN2) genes are associated with the hyperproduction of APP. These genetic mutations are passed through families and, according to research from the Columbia University Medical Center, can increase the risk of seizures by 58 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

The severity of seizures also appears closely linked to the advancing stages of Alzheimer's. People in residential care facilities tend to be the most severely affected (although it is possible that the seizures are simply recognized in an institutional setting where they may be otherwise missed at home).

Diagnosis

Not everyone with Alzheimer’s disease will experience seizures. Of those who do, seizures can be difficult to diagnose since the behaviors one presents can often mimic those of the disease itself. This is especially true with partial complex seizures.

The diagnosis of Alzheimer's-related seizures is often an inexact science and one that may require input from a specialist known as epileptologist.

EEG and Other Diagnostic Tools

While an imaging study known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) can be used to confirm seizure activity, it has its limitations. An EEG measures electrical activity in the brain and, as such, can only definitively diagnose seizures if abnormalities occur during the test. As a result, only between 3 percent and 10 percent of Alzheimer's-related seizures are diagnosed with EEG alone .

With that being said, an EEG can sometimes detect abnormal electrical activity, known as epileptiform discharges, 24 to 48 hours after a seizure. If recurrent seizures are suspected, the healthcare provider may recommend a wireless EEG in which a headset is worn for 24 to 72 hours to provide ongoing monitoring of brain activity.

While neuroimaging studies, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can detect changes in the brain consistent with Alzheimer's, they cannot tell us whether those changes are consistent with seizures. The same applies to genetic blood tests, which are more useful in supporting a diagnosis rather than making one.

Screening Questionnaire

Due to the limitations of the EEG and other lab-based tools, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's-related seizures is largely dependent on a seizure screening questionnaire. The contents of the questionnaire can vary but typically evaluate your risk based on:

  • Your medical history, including family history
  • Current or past medication use
  • Suspected seizure events, including a description of symptoms

Based on your responses, the epileptologist can use an algorithm to determine your seizure risk. A positive questionnaire result paired with abnormal EEG can deliver an accurate diagnosis in nine out of 10 cases.

Less definitive cases may still be treated presumptively, particularly in infirm or elderly people in whom a seizure may pose serious health risks.

Differential Diagnoses

While seizures are often missed in people with Alzheimer's disease, a type of seizure, known as an absence seizure, is sometimes misdiagnosed as early-stage Alzheimer's. An absence seizure is one in which an individual will suddenly "blank out" and wander aimlessly, a behavior referred to as amnestic wandering.

To differentiate between amnestic wandering with Alzheimer's and amnestic wandering with epilepsy, healthcare providers may need to perform a physical exam, neuroimaging studies, EEG, and other tests to determine whether there are any signs of cognitive decline.

Since epilepsy can occur independent of Alzheimer's, the healthcare provider may explore other explanations for the seizures, including:

  • A stroke or transient ischemic attack ("mini-stroke")
  • Meningitis or encephalitis
  • Migraines
  • Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
  • Vitamin B12 deficiency

Treatment

The treatment of Alzheimer's-related seizures typically involves the use of anticonvulsant medications such as Depakote (valproic acid), Neurontin (gabapentin), and Lamictal (lamotrigine).

Other anticonvulsants should be used with caution as they may enhance the symptoms of dementia. These include Dilantin (phenytoin), which can impair memory and mental speed; Gabatril (tiagabine), which can affect verbal memory; and Topamax (topiramate), for which 40 percent of users experience significant memory and verbal impairment.

Even Tegretol (carbamazepine), considered a backbone epilepsy therapy, is associated with a deterioration of mental speed and movement time. A dose adjustment can sometimes alleviate these effects.

Current Research

Some researchers have hypothesized that there is an inherent, rather than incidental, the association between Alzheimer's disease and seizures, specifically undetected or "silent" seizures. Unpinning the theory is the inference that seizure control may alleviate some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

This is evidenced in part by a 2017 study published in the journal Nature in which investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston evaluated the brain function of two older women who had Alzheimer's, neither of whom had a history of seizures. Both were selected because they had unusually dramatic swings in Alzheimer's symptoms.

While early EEG studies using scalp electrodes showed no evidence of seizures, electrodes inserted into the brain through the base of the skull confirmed that both women, in fact, had frequent spikes in electrical activity consistent with seizures.

Following the diagnosis, both women were placed on anti-seizure medications. While one woman had to stop treatment due to intolerable side effects, the second had an almost total elimination of her diagnosed symptoms (garbled speech, confusion) after one year. The only lapse occurred, interestingly, when she forgot to take her seizure medication.

Based on this experience, if future subjects with Alzheimer's are confirmed to have silent seizures, as the researchers believe, it is very possible that Alzheimer's may one day be controlled with medication. Future research will hopefully provide greater insight into this fascinating and relevant theory.

A Word From Verywell

Because seizures are often silent in people with Alzheimer's, it is important to speak with your healthcare provider if you even suspect they are occurring. There is increasing evidence that epilepsy is being underdiagnosed in this population of adults, particularly those who are elderly, homebound, and infirm.

Among some of the clues to look for:

  • Fluctuations in behavior or mental status, often occurring in spells
  • Infrequent rather than routine bedwetting
  • Sudden but subtle signs such as twitching and blinking

By identifying epilepsy early, it may possible to control the seizures and mitigate some of the ups and downs that characterize Alzheimer's disease.

9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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Additional Reading

By Reza Shouri, MD
Reza Shouri, MD, is an epilepsy physician and researcher published in the Journal of Neurology. Dr. Shouri has always been fascinated with the structure and function of the human brain.