Epilepsy, a seizure disorder, is a neurological condition that affects the firing of neurons in the brain. Seizures occur when an abnormal transmission of electrical signals takes place. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, 3 million Americans suffer from some type of epilepsy, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. While there are a variety of seizure types, they all fall into one of two categories: partial seizures and primary generalized seizures.
Simple Partial Seizures
Simple partial seizures will vary according to each person, but they all have one common characteristic: Those who experience this type of seizure remain conscious and are able to recall all the events of the seizure. These types of seizures generally last for 2 minutes or less and are categorized according to the symptoms you display.
Psychic seizures may change how you feel or think and can interfere with your ability to speak or write. You may also experience problems with memory.
Sensory seizures affect your senses, causing you to hear, taste or see things that are not present. You may suffer actual pain or hallucinate while the seizure is in progress.
Motor seizures affect your muscles and can cause involuntary movement of your fingers, hands, legs and arms. In some cases, your entire body may become stiff.
Autonomic seizures may cause strange feelings in various areas of your body, such as your stomach, chest or head. You may notice a change in your breathing or begin sweating for no apparent reason.
Complex Partial Seizures
Unlike simple partial seizures, complex partial seizures will begin in one area of the brain and then spread to affect a larger area. These seizures will often cause a lapse in memory and/or consciousness, but your eyes typically remain open for the duration of the seizure. You may repeat words or phrases, and, in some cases, do something embarrassing, such as strip your clothes. During milder episodes, you may just appear to be daydreaming, unresponsive to the goings-on around you.
Secondarily Generalized Seizures
According to Dr. Orrin Devinsky of Epilepsy.com, these types of seizures occur in more than 30 percent of patients who are diagnosed with partial seizures. Although these seizures may begin as a partial seizure, they quickly spread throughout your brain, resulting in secondarily generalized seizures. The initial partial seizure typically lasts for a short time before the convulsions and loss of consciousness caused by the generalized seizure take place. The convulsions may last between 2 and 5 minutes.
Myoclonic Seizures
Falling under the category of primary generalized seizures, myoclonic seizures are characterized by brief jerking or twitching motions of your muscles. In most cases, they affect the upper body, such as your arms, shoulders and neck. They may also cause you to stutter when speaking.
Myoclonic seizures typically take place soon after waking up and occur in a series of muscle twitches. Depending on your actual diagnosis, you may suffer only from myoclonic seizures, or they may be a part of your diagnosis. This means you may start with myoclonic seizures that lead to a tonic or tonic-clonic episode.
Tonic-clonic Seizures
Another type of primary generalized seizures, tonic-clonic seizures are perhaps the most serious and frightening of all seizure types. During this type of seizure, you will lose consciousness and fall if you are standing or sitting. Your entire body stiffens while your teeth clench tightly together as you convulse uncontrollably. Tonic-clonic seizures may last between 1 and 5 minutes; if it proceeds any longer, medical help should be sought.
It is not uncommon to lose control of bodily functions or to bite your tongue or cheek during these episodes. Once the seizure is finished, it may take another 5 minutes before you are aware of your surroundings and realize what just took place. Your body will feel weak and almost immediately you will fall into a deep sleep because of the fatigue the seizure causes.
