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What is a seizure? If someone has a seizure, does that hateful they endure from epilepsy?

A seizure is a a sudden surge of electrical activity in the encephalon that normally affects how a person appears or acts for a short time. Many dissimilar things can occur during a seizure. Whatever the brain and body can practice ordinarily can also occur during a seizure. The occurrence of a seizure in the presence of some astute precipitating physiological disturbance does not hateful that it will ever happen after the precipitating cause has resolved. When seizures recur without whatsoever obvious precipitant or cause, then a person may exist considered to take epilepsy.

What happens during a seizure?

Seizures have a beginning, centre, and end. Not all parts of a seizure may exist visible or easy to split from each other. Every person with seizures will not have every stage or symptom described below. The symptoms during a seizure usually are stereotypic (occur the same way or like each time), episodic (come and go), and may be unpredictable.

Starting time

Some people are aware of the beginning of a seizure, mayhap every bit much as hours or days before it happens. On the other hand, some people may non exist aware of the showtime and therefore accept no alert.

Prodrome

Some people may experience feelings, sensations, or changes in behavior hours or days before a seizure. These feelings are generally not role of the seizure, but may warn a person that a seizure may come. Not everyone has these signs, but if they do, the signs tin can help a person modify their action, make sure to have their medication, use a rescue treatment, and take steps to prevent injury.

Aura

An aura or alarm is the first symptom of a seizure and is considered function of the seizure. Often the aura is an indescribable feeling. Other times it'southward piece of cake to recognize and may be a alter in feeling, sensation, idea, or beliefs that is similar each time a seizure occurs.

The aureola can also occur alone and may be called a focal onset enlightened seizure, simple fractional seizure or partial seizure without change in awareness.
An aura tin occur before a change in awareness or consciousness.
However, many people have no aura or alert; the seizure starts with a loss of consciousness or awareness.

Common symptoms before a seizure

Awareness, Sensory, Emotional or Thought Changes

Déjà vu (a feeling of being at that place before just never have)
Jamais vu (a feeling that something is very familiar but it isn't)
Smells
Sounds
Tastes
Visual loss or blurring
"Strange" feelings
Fear/panic (often negative or scary feelings)
Pleasant feelings
Racing thoughts

Physical Changes

Light-headed or dizzy
Headache
Nausea or other breadbasket feelings (frequently a rising feeling from the stomach to the throat)
Numbness or tingling in part of the torso

Center

The middle of a seizure is often called the ictal phase. It'due south the period of fourth dimension from the first symptoms (including an aura) to the end of the seizure activity, This correlates with the electric seizure action in the brain. Sometimes the visible symptoms final longer than the seizure activity on an EEG. This is because some of the visible symptoms may be aftereffects of a seizure or not related to seizure activity at all.

Common symptoms during a seizure

Awareness, Sensory, Emotional or Thought Changes

Loss of awareness (ofttimes called "blackness out")
Confused, feeling spacey
Periods of forgetfulness or memory lapses
Distracted, daydreaming
Loss of consciousness, unconscious, or "pass out"
Unable to hear
Sounds may be strange or different
Unusual smells (frequently bad smells similar burning prophylactic)
Unusual tastes
Loss of vision or unable to see
Blurry vision
Flashing lights
Formed visual hallucinations (objects or things are seen that aren't actually there)
Numbness, tingling, or electric shock like feeling in body, arm or leg
Out of body sensations
Feeling detached
Déjà vu (feeling of beingness there earlier only never have)
Jamais vu (feeling that something is very familiar just information technology isn't)
Torso parts feels or looks different
Feeling of panic, fear, impending doom (intense feeling that something bad is going to happen)
Pleasant feelings

Concrete Changes

Difficulty talking (may stop talking, make nonsense or garbled sounds, keep talking or speech communication may not make sense)
Unable to eat, drooling
Repeated blinking of eyes, eyes may move to ane side or look upwards, or staring
Lack of movement or muscle tone (unable to move, loss of tone in neck and caput may drop frontwards, loss of muscle tone in body and person may slump or fall forward)
Tremors, twitching or jerking movements (may occur on one or both sides of face, arms, legs or whole trunk; may offset in 1 area then spread to other areas or stay in one place)
Rigid or tense muscles (part of the body or whole torso may feel very tight or tense and if standing, may fall "like a tree trunk")
Repeated non-purposeful movements, called automatisms, involve the face, artillery or legs, such as
- lipsmacking or chewing movements
- repeated movements of hands, similar wringing, playing with buttons or objects in hands, waving
- dressing or undressing
- walking or running
Repeated purposeful movements (person may proceed activity that was going on before the seizure)
Convulsion (person loses consciousness, body becomes rigid or tense, and then fast jerking movements occur)
Losing command of urine or stool unexpectedly
Sweating
Modify in skin color (looks pale or flushed)
Pupils may amplify or announced larger than normal
Bitter of tongue (from teeth clenching when muscles tighten)
Difficulty breathing
Centre racing

Catastrophe

As the seizure ends, the postictal stage occurs - this is the recovery period afterward the seizure. Some people recover immediately while others may take minutes to hours to feel like their usual self. The type of seizure, also every bit what office of the brain the seizure impacts, affects the recovery period – how long it may last and what may occur during it.

Common symptoms subsequently a seizure

Awareness, Sensory, Emotional, or Thought Changes

Irksome to respond or not able to respond right away
Sleepy
Confused
Retentiveness loss
Difficulty talking or writing
Feeling fuzzy, lightlheaded, or featherbrained
Feeling depressed, lamentable, upset
Scared
Anxious
Frustrated, embarrassed, ashamed

Physical Changes

May have injuries, such as bruising, cuts, cleaved bones, or head injury if cruel during seizure
May feel tired, wearied, or sleep for minutes or hours
Headache or other pain
Nausea or upset breadbasket
Thirsty
General weakness or weak in one part or side of the torso
Urge to go to the bathroom or lose control of bowel or float

Types of Seizures

In that location are 3 major groups of seizures:

Generalized onset seizures: These seizures affect both sides of the encephalon or groups of cells on both sides of the brain at the same fourth dimension. This term was used before and still includes seizures types like tonic-clonic, absence, or atonic to name a few.
Focal onset seizures: The term focal is used instead of fractional to be more accurate when talking nearly where seizures begin. Focal seizures can start in one expanse or group of cells in 1 side of the brain.
- Focal Onset Aware Seizures: When a person is awake and aware during a seizure, it's called a focal aware seizure. This used to be called a uncomplicated fractional seizure.
- Focal Onset Impaired Sensation: When a person is confused or their sensation is afflicted in some way during a focal seizure, it's called a focal dumb awareness seizure. This used to be chosen a complex partial seizure.
Unknown onset seizures: When the beginning of a seizure is not known, it'southward at present called an unknown onset seizure. A seizure could also be called an unknown onset if it'south not witnessed or seen by anyone, for example when seizures happen at night or in a person who lives alone.
As more information is learned, an unknown onset seizure may later be diagnosed as a focal or generalized seizure.

How are different symptoms during a seizure described?

Many different symptoms happen during a seizure. This new nomenclature separates them simply into groups that involve motion.

For generalized onset seizures:

Motor symptoms may include sustained rhythmical jerking movements (clonic), muscles becoming weak or limp (atonic), muscles becoming tense or rigid (tonic), brief muscle twitching (myoclonus), or epileptic spasms (body flexes and extends repeatedly).
Non-motor symptoms are usually called absence seizures. These tin can be typical or atypical absenteeism seizures (staring spells). Absence seizures tin also have cursory twitches (myoclonus) that can affect a specific function of the body or just the eyelids.

For focal onset seizures

Motor symptoms may also include jerking (clonic), muscles becoming limp or weak (atonic), tense or rigid muscles (tonic), brief muscle twitching (myoclonus), or epileptic spasms. There may too be automatisms or repeated automatic movements, similar clapping or rubbing of hands, lipsmacking or chewing, or running.
Non-motor symptoms: Examples of symptoms that don't affect motion could be changes in sensation, emotions, thinking or cognition, autonomic functions (such as gastrointestinal sensations, waves of rut or cold, goosebumps, centre racing, etc.), or lack of move (called behavior arrest).

For unknown onset seizures

Motor seizures are described as either tonic-clonic or epileptic spasms.
Non-motor seizures commonly include a behavior arrest. This means that movement stops – the person may only stare and not make any other movements.

What should I do if I have a seizure? What should I do if I run into someone else have a seizure?

What happens during a seizure may vary from 1 person to the next. The blazon of first aid needed can be tailored to what happens during the seizure and the person's safety. It helps to think most whether the person's alertness or awareness is afflicted, and if any physical movements occur that can place them at risk of injury.

E'er Stay With the Person Until the Seizure Is Over
- Seizures can be unpredictable and it'south difficult to tell how long they may last or what will occur during them. Some may start with minor symptoms, but lead to a loss of consciousness or fall. Other seizures may exist cursory and end in seconds.
- Injury can occur during or later a seizure, requiring help from other people.
Pay Attention to the Length of the Seizure
- Await at your watch and time the seizure – from beginning to the end of the active seizure.
- Time how long it takes for the person to recover and return to their usual activity.
- If the active seizure lasts longer than the person's typical events, phone call for help.
- Know when to give'as needed' or rescue treatments, if prescribed, and when to call for emergency help.
Stay At-home; Almost Seizures Only Terminal a Few Minutes
- A person's response to seizures tin can affect how other people human activity. If the offset person remains calm, it volition help others stay calm likewise.
- Talk calmly and reassuringly to the person during and after the seizure – it will assistance every bit they recover from the seizure.
Forestall Injury by Moving Nearby Objects Out of the Way
- Remove sharp objects.
- If you tin't move surrounding objects or a person is wandering or confused, help steer them articulate of unsafe situations, for example abroad from traffic, train or subway platforms, heights, or sharp objects.
Make the Person as Comfy every bit Possible
- Help them sit downwards in a prophylactic identify.
- If they are at risk of falling, call for help and lay them down on the floor.
- Support the person's head to prevent it from striking the floor.
Keep Onlookers Away
- Once the situation is nether command, encourage people to step dorsum and requite the person some room. Waking up to a oversupply can exist embarrassing and confusing for a person after a seizure.
- Ask someone to stay nearby in example further help is needed.
Do Not Forcibly Concur the Person Downward
- Trying to stop movements or forcibly holding a person down doesn't stop a seizure. Restraining a person tin lead to injuries and make the person more confused, agitated or aggressive. People don't fight on purpose during a seizure. Still if they are restrained when they are confused, they may answer aggressively.
- If a person tries to walk around, let them walk in a safety, enclosed expanse if possible.
Do Not Put Annihilation in the Person's Mouth!
- Jaw and face up muscles may tighten during a seizure, causing the person to bite down. If this happens when something is in the oral fissure, the person may break and swallow the object or break their teeth!
- Don't worry - a person can't swallow their natural language during a seizure.
Make Sure Their Breathing is Okay
- If the person is lying down, turn them on their side, with their mouth pointing to the ground. This prevents saliva from blocking their airway and helps the person breathe more easily.
- During a convulsive or tonic-clonic seizure, it may await like the person has stopped animate. This happens when the breast muscles tighten during the tonic phase of a seizure. Equally this part of a seizure ends, the muscles will relax and breathing volition resume normally.
- Rescue animate or CPR is generally not needed during these seizure-induced changes in a person'due south breathing.
Do Not Give Water, Pills, or Food by Oral cavity Unless the Person is Fully Alert
- If a person is not fully awake or aware of what is going on, they might not swallow correctly. Food, liquid or pills could go into the lungs instead of the stomach if they try to drink or eat at this time.
- If a person appears to exist choking, plough them on their side and phone call for help. If they are not able to coughing and clear their air passages on their own or are having breathing difficulties, telephone call 911 immediately.
Call for Emergency Medical Help When
- A seizure lasts 5 minutes or longer.
- One seizure occurs right later another without the person regaining consciousness or coming to between seizures.
- Seizures occur closer together than usual for that person.
- Breathing becomes hard or the person appears to be choking.
- The seizure occurs in water.
- Injury may accept occurred.
- The person asks for medical help.
Exist Sensitive and Supportive, and Ask Others to Practice the Same
- Seizures can be frightening for the person having one, as well as for others. People may feel embarrassed or dislocated about what happened. Keep this in mind as the person wakes upward.
- Reassure the person that they are rubber.
- One time they are alert and able to communicate, tell them what happened in very uncomplicated terms.
- Offering to stay with the person until they are ready to go back to normal activeness or call someone to stay with them.

Seizures Without Any Change in Awareness

Some people may remain fully awake and alert during a seizure and call up everything that occurs. For instance, sensation is not affected during simple fractional or myoclonic seizures. During these types of seizures, pay particular attention to the following:

Normally you don't need to do anything.
Stay calm and reassure the person they are safe.
If the person is frightened or anxious, encourage them to take slow deep breaths or do something that is calming or relaxing.
Stay with the person until the seizure is over. Make sure that they are fully aware of what is going on before they are left alone.

Seizures with Contradistinct Awareness

Sometimes people may await awake during a seizure, but they really are not aware of function or all of what is going on around them. They may not retrieve what happens during the seizure or take difficulty talking near it during or after information technology. The person may walk around during the seizure, merely not be in command of where they are going, and they may non exist able to protect themselves. These seizure behaviors may be seen with complex fractional seizures or clusters of absenteeism seizures. During these episodes, in addition to basic first assistance, pay detail attention to the following:

If the person has a warning before they lose awareness, help them to a rubber identify.
Stay with the person and don't let them wander away. Permit them walk in an enclosed area if possible.
Keep the person away from precipitous objects or dangerous places.
If the person tries to run or is in a unsafe situation, telephone call for assistance and hold them back if needed to go on them out of danger.
Do not presume that they can talk or that they can hear you and follow instructions. Assure them they are safe and repeat instructions on what they should do side by side.
Make sure that they are warning, oriented and safe later the upshot before they are left alone.
Time the seizure – these types of seizures are normally longer than convulsions or tonic clonic seizures. It may be hard to tell when the seizure ended and when the recovery period begins and ends.
If the seizure turns into a convulsive seizure, follow start aid steps for tonic-clonic seizures.

Seizures with Loss of Consciousness

Some types of seizures can touch a person'south awareness completely – they may be considered 'unconscious'. They are not able to talk, are not aware of what is going on around them, and may not realize what occurred afterwards. If they have a alert at the start of the seizure, they may be able to go to a safe place – otherwise they are at risk for injury during and afterward the seizure. Follow the steps for care and condolement first help with attention to the following:

Watch how long the seizure lasts – call for emergency medical assistance if a generalized seizure lasts 5 minutes or longer.
Protect the person from injury but don't restrain their movements.
Watch their breathing – turn them on the side to help keep the airway open. If animate problems occur, call 911.
Don't put anything in their oral fissure.
Know when to telephone call for emergency help.
Stay with the person after the seizure until they are enlightened and condom.

Posted on BrainLine Baronial ten, 2018.

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Source: https://www.brainline.org/article/seizures-and-epilepsy-frequently-asked-questions