Types of Seizures? Symptoms and Treatment

What is the seizure?

The seizure is an out of control electrical disturbance occurs in the brain and it occurs suddenly in the people. Due to this situation, people can change their behavior, movements, feelings, experiences, and levels of consciousness. Sometimes wherever you have two or more seizures or a tendency to have recurrent seizures then it is called “epilepsy”. The range of seizure is in severity. One thing is always rememberable for you that the signs of a seizure always depend on the type of seizure.

Three phases of seizure in people:

  • Beginning
  • Middle
  • End

Causes of Seizure

The main cause of seizures is epilepsy. It is not necessary that every person has a seizure. So that sometimes seizures can occur due to high fever and that can be associated with an infection like meningitis. Tumors or blood clots, lack of sleep, low blood sodium are also the causes of Seizures.

What Happens During a Seizure?

  • There are various forms of seizure and it also affects different kinds of people in different methods. And there are various things that can occur during a seizure. 
  • There are various parts of a seizure and all are not visible. And each person with seizures will not have every stage.
  • Generally, the seizure is a sudden burst of electrical activity in the brain. And these types of uncontrolled activity can produce a physical convulsion, abnormal behavior, and even loss of consciousness.
  • The electrical outburst in the brain is called an electrical storm.
  • Basically, the first symptom of seizure is an aura or it is also called a warning. Therefore it is considered a part of the seizure. And it is not essential that everyone has an aura.
  • The middle period of seizure is regularly called the ictal phase. And it is also correlated with the electrical seizure activity in the brain.
  • Whenever the seizure is done one of the postictal phases occurs. And due to this period is called the recovery period after seizure.
  • The best thing about seizure is some people recover immediately but some of the people can take minutes to hours to feel like their usual life.

Types of Seizures

The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) is generally classified as the 3 types of seizures and that is given below:

  • Generalized onset seizures
  • Focal onset seizures
  • Unknown onset seizures

Generalized onset seizures

Generalized onset seizures work on both sides of the brain and groups of cells simultaneously. Therefore it affects your brains and cells more. Here are some common types of Generalized onset seizures: 

  • Absence seizure also called petit mal
  • The tonic-clonic seizure also called grand mal
  • The atonic seizure also called drop attacks
  • Myoclonic seizure
Absence seizure or petit mal

An absence seizure is a type of seizure that lasts for only a few seconds and sometimes it can be you do not memorize someone. And due to this seizure, you seem disconnected from others around you. And don’t respond to them. You can blink repeatedly into space, and your eyes can roll back in your head. And these types of seizures are most common in children that are under 14.

Tonic-clonic or grand mal seizures

The most important thing about tonic-clonic seizures is whenever your body stiffens, jerks, and shakes, and lose your consciousness. And sometimes it happens that you lose control of your bladder or bowels. Ang generally they usually last 1 to 3 minutes. Due to this tonic-clonic seizures, people can get the problem lead to breathing or also can bite your tongue or cheek.

The atonic seizure or drop attacks

Due to this atonic seizure people muscles suddenly go limp. And head may lean forward. Sometimes you are holding anything then you surely might drop it. And in case if you are standing then you might fall. So it usually lasts less than 15 seconds. Some kind of people that have Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and another kind of epilepsy. And it is called Dravet syndrome and is more likely to have this kind of seizure.

Myoclonic seizure

During the myoclonic seizure, your muscles suddenly jerk.  And feel like that you have been shocked. And it can begin in the same part of the brain as an atonic seizure. And some people have both types of seizures such as myoclonic and an atonic seizure.

Focal Onset seizure

Generally, the focal term is used instead of your muscles suddenly jerk as if you’ve been shocked.he part to be more accurate whenever talking related where seizures start. And the focal seizures can always start on one side or group of cells on one side of the brain. And the two types of focal onset seizure are as follows:

  • Focal Onset Aware Seizure
  • Focal Onset Impaired Awareness
Focal Onset Aware Seizure

If someone is awake during a seizure. So it is called a focal aware seizure. And focal onset aware seizure is also called a simple partial seizure.

Focal Onset Impaired Awareness

Sometimes a person is getting confused or awareness is affected in some way during a focal seizure. So that it is called a focal impaired awareness seizure.

Unknown onset seizures

Sometimes the starting of a seizure is not known then it is called an unknown onset seizure. The main cause of this seizure is also called an unknown onset seizure because if it is not witnessed and also seen by anyone. 

The best example of unknown onset seizures is whenever seizures happen at night in people or in a person who lives always alone. So he has no idea about the seizure that occurs in the brain. So if anybody has unknown onset seizures then after some time can get treatment as a generalized or focal seizure.

Symptoms of a seizure

People can get experience with both kinds of seizure-like generalized and focal seizures at the same time. And the symptoms of seizures can last anywhere from a few seconds to 15 minutes. And also change the thoughts and emotions and awareness, sensory.

Some of the common symptoms that occur before the seizure:

  • Smells
  • a sudden feeling of fear
  • Sounds
  • Tastes
  • a change in vision
  • Visual loss
  • Panic (often negative or scary feelings)
  • a jerky movement of the arms and legs that may cause you to drop things
  • Racing thoughts

Some of the physical changes can be performed before the seizure such as lightheaded, Headache, often a rising feeling from the stomach to the throat, and tingling in the part of the body.

Some of the common symptoms that occur during the seizure:

  • Loss of awareness
  • Confused, feeling spacey
  • Periods of forgetfulness 
  • Daydreaming
  • Loss of consciousness, unconscious
  • Unable to hear
  • Sounds maybe strange
  • Unusual smells 
  • Unusual tastes
  • Loss of vision 
  • Blurry vision
  • Flashing lights
  • Formed visual hallucinations 
  • Numbness, tingling, or electric shock-like feeling in your body, arm
  • Out of body sensations
  • Feeling detached
  • Body parts feel 
  • The feeling of panic, fear, impending doom
  • Pleasant feelings

Some of the physical changes can be performed during the seizure-like difficulty talking, unable to swallow, repeated blinking of eyes, lack of movement or muscle tone, losing control of urine, sweating, change in skin color, biting of the tongue, heart racing, repeated non-purposeful movements, appear larger than normal and many more.

Some of the common symptoms that occur after the seizure:

  • Slow to respond or not able to respond right away
  • Sleepy
  • Confused
  • Memory loss
  • Difficulty talking
  • Feeling fuzzy
  • Feeling depressed
  • Scared
  • Anxious
  • Frustrated,
  • Embarrassed
  • Ashamed

Some of the physical changes can be performed after the seizure-like thirsty, upset stomach, may feel tired, getting a headache, may have injuries, such as bruising, cuts, broken bones, general weakness,  lose control of bowel and many more.

Treatment of Seizure

There are some of the beneficial herbs like chamomile, passionflower, and valerian that can make AEDs more effective and calming. Never used these kinds of herbs such as ginkgo, ginseng, and stimulating herbs containing caffeine and ephedrine. Therefore these seizures are worse for seizures. You can always use anti-seizure medications in seizure and surgery and other therapies are also included in it. Sometimes maybe anti-seizure medications are not effective for the people. So that some of the other treatment is available at your home and these are personal safety, seizure first aid and so on.

Here some of the medications that can be used in the treatment of Seizures:

  • Carbamazepine
  • Phenytoin 
  • Valproic acid 
  • Oxcarbazepine
  • Lamotrigine
  • Gabapentin 
  • Topiramate
  • Phenobarbital

 Some of the important tips that can help to reduce your risk of having a seizure:

  • Always ignore alcohol and drugs.
  • You can learn about hassle-free management and relaxation techniques.
  • Get plenty of sleep each and every night

Some of the foods that are good for seizures:

  • Atkins diet
  • Bacon
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Mayonnaise
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Nuts
  • Cheeses
  • Fish
  • hamburgers

Conclusion

The above information is most beneficial and useful for people that haven’t knowledge about seizures. Children get to experience pain as part of a simple seizure. Some of the big causes for the seizures and all are most effective for the people. Getting more details about seizures, its types, symptoms, and treatment, then visit here. We hope this blog will be helpful for you and If you have any queries and suggestions then you can let us know by commenting below!

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