Introduction
Seizures can be split into two groups – generalised and focal (also called partial).
Generalised seizures involve epileptic activity in both halves of the brain. Focal seizures involve epileptic activity in just part of the brain.
Tonic-clonic seizures (which used to be called grand mal seizures) are the most common type of seizure.
What happens?
The muscles in your body contract. This forces air out of your lungs and causes your body to stiffen. You lose consciousness, fall down and make jerking movements. This usually only lasts for a few minutes.
A tonic-clonic seizure can look scary, but it’s good to remember that it isn’t painful at the time for the person having it.
When air is forced out of your lungs, it can make you sound like you’re crying out. You might also bite your tongue and may lose control of your bladder or bowels.
Your breathing can become irregular during a tonic-clonic seizure. Your skin might look pale or even slightly blue, especially around the lips and fingertips. This is normal and nothing to panic about. It’s happening because of the temporary lack of oxygen in your lungs.
After a seizure, it can take you a while to feel ‘back to normal’. You may feel confused and tired, and may need a sleep. Or you might have a headache.
It’s important that people let you deal with any after-effects of your seizures in your own way. There’s no ‘quick fix’ – your body needs time to recover. That means not rushing to get back to what you were doing until you feel ready.
Absence seizures (which used to be called petit mal seizures) cause you to have an ‘absence’, or blank moment. This type of seizure has been described as similar to someone turning the lights off and then on again.
Absence seizures are more common in young people, especially girls.
What happens?
If you watch someone have an absence seizure, they’ll probably stop what they’re doing and stare or blink for a few seconds. They’ll then carry on as normal. It can look like they are daydreaming or just not concentrating on what’s going on around them.
It’s quite common for absences to happen without anyone noticing at all.
Myoclonic seizures are brief jerks of a muscle or group of muscles.
What happens?
You experience brief but forceful jerks, similar to the ones you can get when you drop off to sleep. Although the jerk can affect your whole body, it usually just affects your arms, and sometimes your head.
Myoclonic seizures usually happen in the morning. The seizures are brief, but they can be extremely frustrating. For example, they can often result in spilt drinks or similar accidents. Sometimes, the jerking can be strong enough to make you fall down.
Auras
Some people experience something called an aura just before they have a seizure. There are loads of different symptoms of an aura. These include having a strange feeling in the stomach, getting a strange taste, or seeing, smelling or hearing something that isn’t there. Sometimes, it’s just a feeling that’s really hard to explain.
Auras can be very helpful as they give you time to prepare for what’s about to happen. You have time to tell someone, or go somewhere safe and comfortable to lie down.
Atonic seizures are also known as drop attacks because they cause you to drop to the floor suddenly.
What happens?
The muscles in your body suddenly lose their tone, so they can no longer support you. You fall to the floor and there’s a risk you’ll bang your head or get bruised. Atonic seizures are usually over within a few seconds and you can usually get up straight away after having one.
Tonic seizures usually, although not always, happen while people are asleep.
What happens?
Your body stiffens. If you are awake and standing, it usually causes you to fall over, unless you’re supported by something. Tonic seizures usually last less than 20 seconds.
Focal seizures can be completely different from one person to the next – it depends on which part of the brain is being affected by the epileptic activity.
What happens?
You might experience unusual jerking or twitching, numbness, pins and needles, sweating, dizziness or nausea. You might also notice changes to your hearing, vision, smell or taste. Sometimes things may seem larger or smaller than they actually are. You might also experience deja vu – the feeling that something has happened before.
During a focal seizure you may do odd things that you are unaware of. Some examples are tugging at your clothes, smacking your lips, swallowing more than normal, staggering around, taking off pieces of clothing or feeling affectionate towards strangers. These actions are known as automatisms.