Eli5 how come you don’t usually die from regular seizures but the risk of death is way higher when it comes to alcohol and benzo withdrawal seizures? Also what is a seizure?

Question

Eli5 how come you don’t usually die from regular seizures but the risk of death is way higher when it comes to alcohol and benzo withdrawal seizures? Also what is a seizure?

In: 66

Answer 1

Imagine Christmas lights turning on in sequence, from left to right, from top to bottom. This is your brain.

Now imagine the timer messed up and all of those lights appear to be randomly blinking. This is your brain on seizures. The lights firing for breathing are still blinking.

Now imagine the first set of lights, all nicely controlled. Except a drunk person just stumbled through the wiring. Now some are blinking, some are not. And no matter how much you mess with the timer, the wide spread damage to the system is preventing it from working correctly. This is your brain on withdrawal seizures.