"There are over 40 different types of seizure.  A seizure occurs when communication between brain cells  (neurons) is suddenly, temporarily disrupted."

• A person with epilepsy can experience more than one type of seizure (the modern name for a ‘fit’) but the pattern of seizures remains fairly constant.  It is individual.

• In recent years the medical names given to various types of seizure have changed, for example, a tonic-clonic seizure used to be called a grand-mal and an absence seizure was known as a petit-mal.

• Epilepsy mostly happens ‘out of the blue’ but there are certain factors known as triggers that can set off a seizure in some people.  The most common triggers include stress, photosensitivity, lack of sleep, late nights, illness, hormones, diet and drugs.

• Keeping a written record of seizures can be very helpful and a seizure diary in which dates, times, and severity of seizures can be recorded, is a convenient way to do this.  

• Seizures are known as either generalised or partial.  Seizures experienced during sleep can be either generalised or partial.

• At the outset of a generalised seizure, a large part of the brain is immediately involved.

• The type of seizure that most people think of in connection with epilepsy is tonic-clonic. If a person is standing, they will become rigid and fall to the ground.  The arms and legs will jerk and breathing may be laboured.  Sometimes too there is bladder incontinence.

• A period of drowsiness, confusion, headache and sleep often follows.  When a person comes round there is no memory of what has happened.  Recovery times vary. If one tonic-clonic seizure follows another without a person regaining consciousness (status epilepticus), or the seizure lasts more than a few minutes, an ambulance must be called.

• There are other types of generalised seizures, for example tonic, atonic, and myoclonic.

• An Absence seizure is also generalised and can often be unnoticed as a person appears to be just daydreaming for a few seconds.  There is often just a brief interruption of consciousness without any signs, except perhaps for a fluttering of the eyelids.

• A partial seizure involves a distinct area of the brain and the nature of the seizure is determined by the function of the part of the brain that is involved.  

• Partial seizures are basically of two types and sometimes known as ‘focal’  -  simple partial and complex partial.

• Consciousness is not impaired in simple partial seizures and the seizure may be limited to rhythmical twitching of all or part of a leg or arm or unusual sensations such as pins and needles in a distinct part of the body, sweating, nausea, or disturbances of perception and memory, such as things seeming larger or smaller, or a feeling of having been somewhere before (deja-vu). This may last for several seconds or minutes.

• Simple partial seizures can progress to complex partial seizures, sometimes referred to as a temporal lobe epilepsy, or to a generalised seizure. When this happens the early symptoms can serve as a warning and are known as an aura.  A person will then not be aware of the surroundings or of what he or she is doing and may behave strangely by plucking at clothes, swallowing repeatedly, or wandering around as if drunk.  These actions are known as automatisms.

• Status epilepticus is the term used to describe a prolonged seizure or a series of seizures that happen without any recovery in-between.  It is fairly rare but is a medical emergency that requires urgent medical treatment to stop the seizures.

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Published on: 2007-05-18 (3644 reads)