Warning Signs of Seizures

<p>When it comes to epilepsy or seizures, a lot of people may imagine spasticity of hands, arms, legs, or convulsions. But do you know? There are actually many other types of seizures depending on the positions and malfunctions of electrical activity in the brain. Often, a patient and people surrounding him/her may not be aware of such epilepsy symptoms. As a result, by the time epilepsy is directly treated… a severe incident or accident caused by seizures may have occurred.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #00826a;"><strong>Epilepsy is categorized by seizures into 2 types: </strong></span></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #00826a;"><strong>Type 1 &#8211; Partial seizures</strong></span></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #00826a;">Partial seizures are caused by malfunctions of brain electrical activity for only a portion of the brain. They are divided into 2 subcategories as follows.</span></h2>
<ul>
<li>Simple partial seizures – symptoms depend on which area of the brain electrical activity is affected. For example, if the activity starts in the motor cortex, it may cause twitching in the face, arms, and legs on the opposite side (Jacksonian seizures). If the activity involves the sensory cortex, symptoms affecting feelings, emotions, or memory may occur, such as hallucinations, smelling unusual things, hearing things, feeling related to something before experiencing it (déjà vu), being easily feared, or startled.</li>
<li>Complex partial seizures or psychomotor seizures are most commonly found in adults. They are difficult to treat and usually last no longer than 3 minutes. Although, individuals may seem to be conscious during the seizure…, they are actually unaware of their surroundings and unable to respond to words or general orders. Automatism and repetitive behaviors may be found, such as repetitive chewing, inattentively grabbing objects, or repeating the same words. A patient may have no recollection of the event. He/she may be confused or have a headache after seizures. Post-seizure symptoms may last for minutes or hours.</li>
</ul>
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<h2><span style="color: #00826a;"><strong>Type 2 &#8211; Generalized seizures</strong></span></h2>
<p>Generalized seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity throughout the entire brain. A patient usually experiences loss of consciousness. This type of seizure can be further divided into several subcategories as follows.</p>
<ul>
<li>Absence or Petit mal seizures are mostly found in children. Symptoms involve staring, being 5-10 seconds disconnected from their surroundings, eyelid twitching or lip licking. The symptoms will disappear in more than 40% of the patients when they are in their teens. However, others still experience twitching as an adult. Normally, a patient has no recollection of a seizure event, which may happen a number of times in one day, affecting children’s learning efficiency at a school.</li>
<li>Myoclonic seizures are characterized by sudden and brief muscle jerks, which may happen in a single or multiple incidents. The shock-like, twitching jerks occur in any part of muscles or split seconds.</li>
<li>Clonic seizures involve rhythmic jerking muscle contractions, causing twitching in arms, neck, and face. Symptoms are similar to those of myoclonic seizures but last longer for 1-2 minutes.</li>
<li>Tonic seizures are characterized by sudden muscle stiffness or rigidity of the entire body, leading to a loss of consciousness. A patient bears a risk of falling to the ground if standing when the tonic seizure starts.</li>
<li>Tonic clonic seizures, so-called grand mal seizures, are mostly known among the public as “Lom Ba Moo or circular blowing wind”. There are 2 phases of the symptoms, which start with muscle stiffness, whole-body twitching, and sudden loss of consciousness. Some patients may experience enuresis, biting of the edge of the tongue or bulge of the cheek, which can cause canker sore. This type of seizure can last for 1-5 minutes.</li>
<li>Atonic seizures result from a sudden loss of muscle tone, causing the individual to collapse or drop. These seizures can lead to falls and injury.</li>
</ul>
<p>Do not be complacent if these malfunctions happen. Even though epilepsy may not have direct fatal complications, it can indirectly lead to severe accidents in a patient. Hence, accurate diagnosis of the epilepsy cause is essential for proper personalized treatment planning… and for returning to the life you dream of.</p>
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Epilepsy may not be fatal but it can lead to injuries and accidents.

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