Health Conditions

What are the symptoms?

Absence Seizures

Often mistaken for daydreaming, absence seizures usually occur during childhood. They are characterized by a sudden interruption of consciousness, which may be accompanied by a fixed stare, lip smacking, or chewing. Jerking is not associated with this type of seizure. The seizure only lasts a few seconds and a return to consciousness is immediate once the seizure is over, and there is no recovery period.

Myoclonic Seizures

Characterized by jerking of a single muscle group, most commonly in the face, arm, and chest, myoclonic seizures usually manifest as a shoulder shrug, a suddenly fling of the hand, an abrupt kick, or an entire body jerk. Myoclonic seizures are one of the few types of generalized seizures that don't lead to loss of consciousness. Although individuals are aware of what is going on, they can't control what they are doing.

Tonic-Clonic Seizures

When picturing a seizure, most people think of a tonic-clonic seizure. Tonic-clonic seizures are characterized by a period of stiffness affecting a group of muscles, followed by rapid, jerking motions of the same muscle group. Most commonly these seizures involve the entire body, but they can involve only the legs or arms.

Typically, when a tonic-clonic seizure begins, the individual lets out a short cry then falls to the floor. This event is followed by muscle contractions and jerking of the arms and legs lasting a couple seconds. This episode may occur just once or repeatedly.

After the seizure, the individual slowly regains consciousness, which usually takes anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours. In rare instances, it may take several days or even up to a week for the individual to feel completely healthy again.

Atonic Seizures

During an atonic seizure, the individual's muscles become completely limp. These seizures commonly affect the entire body but may affect only a group of muscles. Most often, the neck and arm muscles are affected.

When the muscles go limp, the individual can no longer support the weight of whatever is ordinarily supported by those muscles. Thus, if the neck muscles are affected by the seizure, the head will fall forward and rest on the individual's chest. If the seizure affects all of the individual's muscles, he or she will drop to the ground. During such falls, individuals are unable to protect themselves, which can lead to head injuries, broken limbs, or other injuries, depending on where and how they fall. To prevent injuries, affected individuals often take special precautions, such as wearing protective headgear.

Simple Partial Seizures

Simple partial seizures have a variety of symptoms, including:

• Jerking arms or legs
• Self-damaging actions
• Posturing
• Hallucinations
• Abnormal sense of smell
• Nervous stomach
• Dry eyes
• Deja vu (the feeling that places or situations that should be unfamiliar are normal or familiar)
• Jamais vu (the feeling that places or situations that should be familiar are strange and unrecognizable)
• Increased perception of fear or pleasure

Individuals who suffer simple partial seizures differ from those who suffer complex partial seizures in that, while the symptoms mentioned above are occurring, they are able to respond to their surroundings. They are aware of what they are doing but are unable to control themselves.

Complex Partial Seizures

Individuals who suffer complex partial seizures usually have an "aura," or a feeling that a seizure is going to occur. While the seizure is occurring, individuals become unconscious but may still interact with their surroundings. Common activities while unconscious include:

• Wandering around
• Lip smacking
• Buttoning or unbuttoning clothing
• Acts of violence
• Crying

Status Epilepticus

The symptoms of status epilepticus depend on the type of seizure involved. Most commonly, status epilepticus is associated with tonic-clonic seizures. These seizures occur in the same way that tonic-clonic seizures do except that there are multiple seizures and there is no recovery period between the seizures.