health

Because of the way a person appears during or after an attack, others
sometimes mistakenly believe the person is drunk, drugged, or mentally
ill. Epileptic seizures have different symptoms or characteristics depending
on where the seizure begins in the brain and how the electrical discharge
spreads across the brain. Epileptic seizures fall in two categories:
generalized seizures and partial seizures.

Generalized seizures
Generalized seizures affect nerve cells throughout
the cerebral cortex (the cauliflower-like outer portion of the brain),
or across all of the brain. The most common generalized seizures are:

• Generalized tonic-clonic seizure (formerly called grand mal).
  Erin had this kind of seizure at her party. During the tonic phase of
  this seizure, people often lose consciousness, drop to the ground,
  and emit a loud cry as air is forced through their vocal cords. In
  the clonic phase, body muscles can contract at once or in a series of
  shorter rhythmic contractions. Usually, this kind of seizure lasts for
  about one or two minutes, and a period of exhaustion (called the
  postictal state) follows before the individual regains consciousness.
  Afterward, the individual may be sleepy and possibly have a headache.
  Incontinence often occurs during this type of seizure.
  
• Absence seizure (formerly called petit mal). Loss of consciousness
  in this seizure is often so brief that a person does not even change
  positions. The person may display a blank stare, rapid blinking, or
  chewing movements. Facial or eyelid muscles may jerk rhythmically.
  Absence seizures often are genetic and occur mostly in children.

Partial seizures
Partial seizures are contained within one region of
the cerebral cortex. Types of partial seizures include the following:

• Simple partial. In this type of seizure, the strong and rapid bursts
  of electrical energy are only located in one part of the brain. The
  patient is awake and alert during the seizure. Symptoms, which vary
  depending on what area of the brain is involved, may include jerking
  movements in one part of the body, emotional symptoms such
  as unexplained fear, or an experience of abnormal smells or nausea.
• Complex partial. In this type of seizure, a person loses awareness of
  surroundings and is unresponsive or only partially responsive, because
  the seizures affect the part of the brain that controls awareness. An
  individual with this type of seizure may experience a blank stare, chewing
  movements, repeated swallowing, or other random activity. After
  the seizure, the patient has no memory of it. In some cases, the person
  who has had the seizure may suddenly become confused, begin to
  fumble, to wander, or to repeat inappropriate words or phrases.

Other seizures
There are two other types of mild seizures:

• Febrile seizures. Two to five percent of children ages three months
  to five years of age have convulsions caused by a sudden spike in
  body temperature often from an infection. Simple febrile seizures—
  the most common form—last from a few seconds to ten minutes
  and stop on their own. Complex febrile seizures last more than fifteen
  minutes. They may occur more than once in 24 hours and
  may also be confined to one side of the child’s body. Children commonly
  outgrow febrile seasures.
  
• Jacksonian seizures. Named for British neurologist John
  Hughlings Jackson (1835–1911), in Jacksonian seizures, abnormal
  electrical activity in a localized area of the brain causes brief alterations
  in movement, sensation or nerve function. Seizures of this
  type typically cause no change in awareness or alertness and are
  temporary and swift.