It is estimated that close to 2 of the 3 million Americans with Epilepsy do not have complete seizure control, or only experience seizure control at the cost of debilitating side effects from medications. The need for a cure is clear.

Many of the patients are children, who can experience up to hundreds of seizures a day. The impact on the developing brain ranges from learning disabilities to retardation, and in a disturbingly large number of patients, even death.

There is an increasingly large incidence of new onset Epilepsy in the aging population as a result of strokes, brain tumors, and Alzheimer's disease. In addition, for many soldiers suffering traumatic brain injury on the battlefield, Epilepsy will be a long-term consequence.

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What is Epilepsy?

When a person has had two or more seizures which have not been provoked by specific events such as trauma, infection, fever, or chemical change, he or she is considered to have Epilepsy.

What Causes Epilepsy?

Epilepsy may develop because of an abnormality in brain wiring, an imbalance of nerve signaling chemicals (neurotransmitters), or a combination of these factors. Causes of Epilepsy may include head injuries, brain tumors, lead poisoning, certain genetic diseases and some infectious diseases. However, in more than half the patients with Epilepsy, the cause is still unknown.

What is a Seizure?

In normal brain function, millions of tiny electrical charges pass from nerve cells in the brain to the rest of the body. A seizure occurs when the normal pattern is interrupted by sudden and unusually intense bursts of electrical energy which may cause strange sensations, emotions, behaviors or convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. These unusual bursts are called seizures.

Types of Seizures:

There are many different types of seizures. Generally, different types of seizures are categorized based on what part of the brain is involved in a seizure. People might experience one type or more than one type of seizure.

Experts divide seizures into generalized seizures, which affect the entire brain, and partial seizures, which affect only a part of the brain. Each comprises a number of specific types of seizures, like tonic-clonic and absence seizures.

The four main sub-categories of seizures are:
● Generalized Seizures- which affect the entire brain
● Partial Seizures- which affect a part of the brain
● Non-Epileptic Seizures, which aren’t related to epilepsy at all, but are caused
By other things, like diabetes, a high fever, or something else entirely
● Status Epilepticus- which is a continuing seizure and one of the few reasons emergency personnel should be contacted

Medical attention is required when:
● Pregnant
● Injury sustained from seizure
(For instance, by falling or hitting something while they’re seizing)
● First time they’ve had a seizure
● Seizure continues for more than 5 minutes
(A condition known as status Epilepticus)

Partial Seizures

Partial seizures (simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures) are the most common type of seizures. They occur when only a part of one side of the brain is affected. With these seizures, the activity can start in one place in the brain, and then move to another, or it could just stay in the one area.

Partial seizures affect whatever function the part of the brain they’re occurring in controls. If the seizure happens in the brain’s speech area, a person’s ability to talk will be affected. Almost any sort of movement or feeling can be a part of a partial seizure. If the seizure starts off as a partial seizure, then spreads to include the entire brain, it’s referred to as a partial seizure secondarily generalized. This means it started as a partial seizure then became a generalized seizure. People retain consciousness during partial seizures. Sometimes they can even continue conversations through the seizure, and they’ll usually remember what happened after the seizure.

There are two main types of partial seizures:

● Simple partial seizures:
A person having a simple partial seizure will often stay awake and aware throughout the seizure—although they know what’s happening, are unable to speak and/or move until the seizure is over. Depending on the part of the brain affected during the seizure, the person might move uncontrollably.

For instance, they might twitch, roll their eyes, shake their hands or feet or blink rapidly. These movements might start slowly, and then increase in rapidity or in the parts of the body involved. What starts as a hand bobbing up and down might evolve to an arm moving up and down, or even half of the body moving in a rhythmic way? If the seizure affects a different part of the brain, the person’s emotions or senses might be affected instead. So they might have a feeling of déjà vu or that something terrible is about to happen. They might also suddenly become very angry or very happy. If their senses have been affected, they might hear, smell, taste, feel or see something that is not actually there. They might feel a breeze when they’re indoors; hear buzzing or talking that isn’t happening; think something is narrower or wider—or closer or farther—than it is. They could even hallucinate something from their past. They might even burst out laughing or crying, and, like movement-oriented seizures, these seizures might start small or mildly and then increase in intensity.

● Complex partial seizures:
These seizures affect a greater part of the brain than simple partial seizures and they also affect Consciousness. Although they can affect any part of the brain, they generally take place in one of the brain’s two temporal lobes. Because of this, people prone to complex partial seizures are often said to have temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Usually, when a person has a complex partial seizure, they’ll stop what they’re doing and stare blankly at nothing in particular. They’ll stop interacting with their environment and with other people. (During simple partial seizures they can interact with other people.) They will then often start chewing, picking at their clothes, mumbling nothing in particular, performing repetitive motions, or any combination of these simple, unorganized movements. During complex partial seizures, people might appear conscious and normal because they’ll usually move about and remain standing with their eyes open—but they’ll be experiencing an altered consciousness. In other words, it’ll be rather like they’re dreaming or in a trance. If they talk, which they might be able to, they’ll likely not make sense—and they won’t be able to respond appropriately to others. Generalized seizures (absence, atonic, tonic clonic, and myoclonic) involve both sides of the brain, while partial (simple and complex) seizures involve only a part of the brain.

● Absence seizures (formerly known as petit mal seizure):
These seizures usually last from 2 to15 seconds and may occur just a few times a day, or more than 100 times in a single day. They usually present as bland staring, which one might mistake for daydreaming, physical automatisms, such as lip smacking, fumbling or picking at clothes, or twitching of facial or body muscles. Afterward, the person will likely have no memory of what happened while he or she had the seizure. A lot of people won’t recognize absence seizures as seizures. They occur mostly among children, starting between the age of 4 and 12. They rarely begin after age 20.

● Generalized tonic clonic seizure
(Formerly known as grand mal seizures also known as convulsions or convulsive seizures):
When most people think of seizures or epilepsy, they’re thinking of this type of seizure. When a person has a tonic clonic seizure, his or her arms and legs will first stiffen. This is the tonic stage. His or her limbs and head will then begin jerking, which is the clonic phase. Like all seizures, these can vary, mostly with people experiencing either the tonic or clonic phase by itself. During the seizure, the person might bite their tongue or the inside of his or her mouth, experience incontinence, or even decrease or cease his or her breathing (in this case, his or her breathing should return to normal during the tonic (jerking) portion of the seizure).Afterward, the person will likely be confused, not remember what happened, need to sleep for a while and might have a headache. Depending on the person, it can take them from minutes to hours to fully recover. For people with tonic clonic seizures, it is especially important to make sure that those who spend much time around them know correct seizure first aid.

● Myoclonic seizures:
These seizures cause parts of a person’s body to jerk for instance, his or her arm or leg might suddenly twitch. If you’ve ever had a foot twitch suddenly when you’re asleep, that would be a lot like a Myoclonic jerk (but it does NOT mean you have epilepsy. The jerking of feet while you’re asleep is a type of nonepileptic behavior.) Someone who has myoclonic seizures might be thought of as clumsy. First aid is usually not required for myoclonic seizures, but if it is your first seizure of this type, you might want to visit a physician to determine what is causing it.

● Atonic seizures
(Also known as drop attacks or a static or a kinetic seizures):

These seizures make a part, or all, of a person’s body suddenly go limp. This means that the person’s head might suddenly drop, or he or she could slump down or even totally collapse, dropping to the floor (thus the name drop attack). Because of the sudden and complete nature of these types of seizures, they can be dangerous to the person having one. This is why children and adults who experience these types of seizures sometimes wear protective headgear. To make matters worse, these types of seizures often won’t respond to epilepsy medications. No first aid is needed for a person having an atonic seizure, unless the person has hurt himself or herself during a fall, or if this is the first time he or she has had an atonic seizure. This information is intended to provide basic information about epilepsy to the general public. It is not intended to be, nor is it, medical advice. Readers are warned against changing medical schedules or life activities based on this information without first consulting a physician.

How Do I Get More Information?

If you have further questions,
Contact: Wyoming Epilepsy Association 307-634-5329 or 1-866-634-5329.

Remember, a good, caring physician should either be willing to answer a person’s questions or be able to refer them to a place where they can get answers.