If I had a seizure, do I have epilepsy?

If I had a seizure, do I have epilepsy?

Charles Ribak, Ph.D. (Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, UC Irvine School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: What causes a seizure?; If I had a seizure, do I have epilepsy?; Are people with epilepsy more creative? and more...

No, in fact, there are many more people who have a single seizure than people with epilepsy. A single seizure could be caused by drinking too much alcohol, for example, and then withdrawing. Sleep deprivation can cause a person to have a seizure. Some kind of a toxin may also cause a seizure. But as I mentioned earlier, one seizure is not epilepsy.