Clonic seizures involve shaking of the limbs in unison.The person may turn blue if breathing is impaired.

Tonic seizures produce constant contractions of the muscles.After the shaking has stopped it may take 10–30 minutes for the person to return to normal. A cry may be heard due to contraction of the chest muscles. Tonic-clonic seizures present with a contraction of the limbs followed by their extension, along with arching of the back for 10–30 seconds.They all involve a loss of consciousness and typically happen without warning. There are six main types of generalized seizures: tonic-clonic, tonic, clonic, myoclonic, absence, and atonic seizures. These are known as automatisms and include simple activities like smacking of the lips or more complex activities such as attempts to pick something up. Unusual activities that are not consciously created may occur. Jerking activity may start in a specific muscle group and spread to surrounding muscle groups-known as a Jacksonian march. In a complex partial seizure a person may appear confused or dazed and cannot respond to questions or direction. These may include sensory (including visual, auditory, etc.), cognitive, autonomic, olfactory or motor phenomena. Focal seizures įocal seizures often begin with certain experiences, known as an aura. When EEG monitoring shows evidence of a seizure, but no symptoms are present, it is referred to as a subclinical seizure. The remaining 40% of seizures are non-convulsive, an example of which is absence seizure. Two-thirds of these begin as focal seizures prior to developing into tonic-clonic seizures. The most common and stereotypical type of seizure is convulsive (60%), typically called a tonic-clonic seizure. The signs and symptoms of seizures vary depending on the type. Many places require people to stop driving until they have not had a seizure for a specific period. Epilepsy affects about 1% of the population at any given time with about 4% of the population affected at some point in time. After one seizure, the chance of experiencing a second is about 50%. Provoked seizures occur in about 3.5 per 10,000 people a year while unprovoked seizures occur in about 4.2 per 10,000 people a year. Up to 10% of people have at least one epileptic seizure. In many, with what appears to be a first seizure, other minor seizures have previously occurred. Typically it is safe to complete the work-up following a single seizure as an outpatient. A first seizure generally does not require long-term treatment with anti-seizure medications unless a specific problem is found on electroencephalogram (EEG) or brain imaging.

Any seizure lasting longer than five minutes should be treated as status epilepticus. Ī seizure that lasts for more than a brief period is a medical emergency. Conditions that look like epileptic seizures but are not include: fainting, nonepileptic psychogenic seizure and tremor. Epilepsy describes brain disease in which there has been at least one unprovoked seizure and where there is a high risk of additional seizures in the future. Unprovoked seizures may be exacerbated by stress or sleep deprivation. Unprovoked seizures occur without a known or fixable cause such that ongoing seizures are likely. Provoked seizures are due to a temporary event such as low blood sugar, alcohol withdrawal, abusing alcohol together with prescription medication, low blood sodium, fever, brain infection, or concussion. Most of the time these episodes last less than two minutes and it takes some time to return to normal. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with loss of consciousness ( tonic-clonic seizure), to shaking movements involving only part of the body with variable levels of consciousness ( focal seizure), to a subtle momentary loss of awareness ( absence seizure). ~10% of people (at one point in time) Īn epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. More than 5 min: Treat as per status epilepticus Less than 5 min: Place person on their side, remove nearby dangerous objects Syncope, psychogenic non-epileptic seizure, migraine aura, transient ischemic attack Unprovoked: Unknown, brain injury, brain tumor, previous stroke īased on symptoms, blood tests, medical imaging, electroencephalography Provoked: Low blood sugar, alcohol withdrawal, low blood sodium, fever, brain infection, traumatic brain injury Generalized 3 Hz spike and wave discharges in EEGįalling, Drowning, Car accidents, Pregnancy complications, Emotional health issues. Epileptic fit, epileptic seizure, fit, convulsions

Types of seizures and durations