1. Aura Symptoms Are Frequently Present
If you've ever had a migraine, a seizure aura is very similar. During an aura, which is actually a simple-partial seizure episode preceding the tonic-clonic phase, you may experience déjà vu, sudden emotional swings, feelings of dizziness or olfactory changes. After having several of these experiences, you should be able to tell when a seizure episode is approaching. It's helpful to alert family members and friends of your aura symptoms, so they can also be on the lookout for impending episodes.
2. Muscle Rigidity Accompanies Loss of Consciousness
Following the aura, tonic-clonic seizures progress to the complex partial stage, indicating that the electronic activity has spread to both sides of the brain. This type of seizure, also referred to as a grand mal episode, is the textbook example of what many people picture when they hear the word seizure.
As you begin the clonic stage of an episode, your body muscles will begin to stiffen. You may even make squealing or groaning sounds as your abdominals and respiratory muscles contract involuntarily. Tonic patients often experience jaw tightening, drooling and a momentary lack of oxygen before muscles relax and give way to the clonic stage of the seizure. It is likely that you'll lose consciousness during this stage, remembering nothing about the seizure period.
3. Rigidity Is Followed by Rapid, Rhythmic Jerking
During the clonic portion of the episode, the muscle contractions release suddenly, and your body begins to jerk and shake from the elbow, hip and knee joints. These movements range from small twitches to violent spasms, depending on the duration and severity of the seizure. Your eyes may roll back into your head, and you will probably bite your tongue during this portion of the episode. In addition, the clonic phase frequently results in injuries due to uncontrolled impacts or flailing.
4. Bladder and Bowel Control May Be Lost
One of the most difficult, embarrassing parts of tonic-clonic seizures is a loss of bladder or bowel control. As your body relaxes after your clonic jerking, the decreasing muscle tone makes it difficult to retain urine and feces.
5. A Postictal Period Follows the Seizure
Tonic-clonic seizures are exhausting for patients and terrifying for onlookers and family members. After your seizure subsides, you can have feelings of postictal fatigue that last for a couple of days, and you may want to sleep for long periods. Upon waking from a tonic-clonic episode, you may feel disoriented, confused and amnesic, and a headache may begin due to a buildup of intracranial pressure experienced during the seizure. For severe seizure sufferers, a postictal period of depression may even follow tonic-clonic episodes.
