A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. It can cause changes in your behavior, movements or feelings, and in levels of consciousness. Having two or more seizures at least 24 hours apart that aren't brought on by an identifiable cause is generally considered to be epilepsy.
There are many types of seizures, which range in symptoms and severity. Seizure types vary by where in the brain they begin and how far they spread. Most seizures last from 30 seconds to two minutes. A seizure that lasts longer than five minutes is a medical emergency.
Seizures are more common than you might think. Seizures can happen after a stroke, a closed head injury, an infection such as meningitis or another illness. Many times, though, the cause of a seizure is unknown.
Most seizure disorders can be controlled with medication, but management of seizures can still have a significant impact on your daily life. The good news is that you can work with your doctor to balance seizure control and medication side effects.
With a seizure, signs and symptoms can range from mild to severe and vary depending on the type of seizure. Seizure signs and symptoms may include:
Temporary confusion
A staring spell
Uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs
Loss of consciousness or awareness
Cognitive or emotional symptoms, such as fear, anxiety or deja vu
Doctors generally classify seizures as either focal or generalized, based on how and where abnormal brain activity begins. Seizures may also be classified as unknown onset, if how the seizure began isn't known.
Focal seizures
Focal seizures result from abnormal electrical activity in one area of your brain. Focal seizures can occur with or without loss of consciousness:
Focal seizures with impaired awareness. These seizures involve a change or loss of consciousness or awareness that feels like being in a dream. You may seem awake, but you stare into space and do not respond normally to your environment or you perform repetitive movements. These may include hand rubbing, mouth movements, repeating certain words or walking in circles. You may not remember the seizure or even know that it occurred.
Focal seizures without loss of consciousness. These seizures may alter emotions or change the way things look, smell, feel, taste or sound, but you don't lose consciousness. You may suddenly feel angry, joyful or sad. Some people have nausea or unusual feelings that are difficult to describe. These seizures may also result in difficulty speaking, involuntary jerking of a body part, such as an arm or a leg, and spontaneous sensory symptoms such as tingling, dizziness and seeing flashing lights.
Symptoms of focal seizures may be confused with other neurological disorders, such as migraine, narcolepsy or mental illness.
Generalized seizures
Seizures that appear to involve all areas of the brain are called generalized seizures. Different types of generalized seizures include:
Absence seizures. Absence seizures, previously known as petit mal seizures, often occur in children and are characterized by staring into space or by subtle body movements, such as eye blinking or lip smacking. They usually last for five to 10 seconds but may happen up to hundreds of times per day. These seizures may occur in clusters and cause a brief loss of awareness.
Tonic seizures. Tonic seizures cause stiffening of your muscles. These seizures usually affect muscles in your back, arms and legs and may cause you to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.
Atonic seizures. Atonic seizures, also known as drop seizures, cause a loss of muscle control, which may cause you to suddenly collapse, fall down or drop your head.
Clonic seizures. Clonic seizures are associated with repeated or rhythmic, jerking muscle movements. These seizures usually affect the neck, face and arms on both sides of the body.
Myoclonic seizures. Myoclonic seizures usually appear as sudden brief jerks or twitches of your arms and legs. There is often no loss of consciousness.
Tonic-clonic seizures. Tonic-clonic seizures, previously known as grand mal seizures, are the most dramatic type of epileptic seizure and can cause an abrupt loss of consciousness, body stiffening and shaking, and sometimes loss of bladder control or biting your tongue. They may last for several minutes.
When to see a doctor
Seek immediate medical help if any of the following occurs:
The seizure lasts more than five minutes.
Breathing or consciousness doesn't return after the seizure stops.
A second seizure follows immediately.
You have a high fever.
You're experiencing heat exhaustion.
You're pregnant.
You have diabetes.
You've injured yourself during the seizure.
If you experience a seizure for the first time, seek medical advice.
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Causes
Nerve cells (neurons) in the brain create, send and receive electrical impulses, which allow the brain's nerve cells to communicate. Anything that disrupts these communication pathways can lead to a seizure. Some types of seizure disorders may be caused by genetic mutations.
The most common cause of seizures is epilepsy. But not every person who has a seizure has epilepsy. Sometimes seizures may be caused or triggered by:
High fever, which can be associated with an infection such as meningitis
Lack of sleep
Flashing lights, moving patterns or other visual stimulants
Low blood sodium (hyponatremia), which can happen with diuretic therapy
Medications, such as certain pain relievers, antidepressants or smoking cessation therapies, that lower the seizure threshold
Head trauma that causes an area of bleeding in the brain
Abnormalities of the blood vessels in the brain
Autoimmune disorders, including systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis
Stroke
Brain tumor
Use of illegal or recreational drugs, such as amphetamines or cocaine
Alcohol misuse, during times of withdrawal or extreme intoxication
COVID-19 virus infection
Complications
Having a seizure can sometimes lead to circ*mstances that are dangerous for you or others. You might be at risk of:
Falling. If you fall during a seizure, you can injure your head or break a bone.
Drowning. If you have a seizure while swimming or bathing, you're at risk of accidental drowning.
Car accidents. A seizure that causes loss of either awareness or control can be dangerous if you're driving a car or operating other equipment.
Pregnancy complications. Seizures during pregnancy pose dangers to both mother and baby, and certain anti-epileptic medications increase the risk of birth defects. If you have epilepsy and plan to become pregnant, work with your doctor so that he or she can adjust your medications and monitor your pregnancy, as needed.
Emotional health issues. People with seizures are more likely to have psychological problems, such as depression and anxiety. Problems may be a result of difficulties dealing with the condition itself as well as medication side effects.
A Déjà vu feeling (you feel like you are experiencing something that has occurred before) Intense fear and panic. 'Pins and needles' sensation in certain parts of your body. Jerky movements in of the arm, leg, or body.
Seizures symptoms vary and can include a sudden change in awareness or full loss of consciousness, unusual sensations or thoughts, involuntary twitching or stiffness in the body or severe stiffening and limb shaking with loss of consciousness (a convulsion.)
Seizures in adults with no seizure history can be caused by a number of factors ranging from high blood pressure, drug abuse and toxic exposures to brain injury, brain infection (encephalitis) and heart disease.
An aura or warning is the first symptom of a seizure and is considered part of the seizure. Often the aura is an indescribable feeling. Other times it's easy to recognize and may be a change in feeling, sensation, thought, or behavior that is similar each time a seizure occurs.
The most commonly used medications are benzodiazepines because they get into the bloodstream quickly to start working on the brain to stop the seizure. They include: Diazepam - given orally (if the person is awake), as a nasal spray - Valtoco.
A simple partial seizure can cause: a general strange feeling that's hard to describe. a "rising" feeling in your tummy – like the sensation in your stomach when on a fairground ride. a feeling that events have happened before (déjà vu)
Seizures can result from severe imbalances in electrolytes due to dehydration. Dehydration can reduce the amount of blood in the body, which can put strain on the heart and cause shock.
Non-epileptic seizures (NES) are characterized by events that resemble epileptic seizures but are not caused by epileptic activity in the brain. Some non-epileptic events are thought to have a psychological basis. The seizure may also be a symptom of something else, or may even be completely harmless.
Once the seizure is over, Kadiwala recommends the patient be taken to the emergency room to rule out any serious medical problems. “Anyone who experiences their first seizure should be taken to the ER right away,” he explains. “The purpose of an ER visit is to rule out any immediate or life-threatening.
If this is your first seizure, your doctor may want to do some scans to look at the structures in your brain. A common form of imaging is MRI. Your doctor may also want to assess how the naturally occurring activity in your brain is functioning. To do this, an EEG is performed.
It isn't common for epilepsy to go away on its own.
Long-term, recurring seizures usually can be controlled with treatment, which often includes taking medication. About 70 percent of people with epilepsy can control their seizures with medications or surgery.
Seizure length can vary. Most epileptic seizures last up to a few minutes, with some taking only a few seconds to pass. Provoked seizures and PNES may last longer. Seek emergency medical care for seizures that last 5 minutes or more or an episode that involves multiple short seizures within 5 minutes.
A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than 1 seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes is called status epilepticus. This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.
For example, if you have a mild seizure, you may stay conscious. You might also feel strange and experience tingling, anxiety, or déjà vu. If you lose consciousness during a seizure, you won't feel anything as it happens. But you might wake up feeling confused, tired, sore, or scared.
Stress and anxiety can cause the physical symptoms of a seizure that are not caused by abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the brain. These seizures are known as Non-Epileptic Seizures (NES). Stress is also a trigger for people who have been diagnosed with epilepsy.
Epilepsy can start at any age, but usually starts either in childhood or in people over 60. It's often lifelong, but can sometimes get slowly better over time.
Absence seizures involve brief, sudden lapses of consciousness. They're more common in children than in adults. Someone having an absence seizure may look like he or she is staring blankly into space for a few seconds. Then, there is a quick return to a normal level of alertness.
Missed medication, lack of sleep, stress, alcohol, and menstruation are some of the most common triggers, but there are many more. Flashing lights can cause seizures in some people, but it's much less frequent than you might imagine.
Do not hold the person down or try to stop his or her movements. Do not put anything in the person's mouth. This can injure teeth or the jaw. A person having a seizure cannot swallow his or her tongue.
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is used to check for unusual electrical activity in the brain that can happen in people with epilepsy. During the test, small sensors are attached to your scalp to pick up the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other.
A seizure is a medical condition where you have a temporary, unstoppable surge of electrical activity in your brain. When that happens, the affected brain cells uncontrollably fire signals to others around them. This kind of electrical activity overloads the affected areas of your brain.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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