Seizures are a topic not often brought up, and due to that many people only know the

             basics: it is a brain condition which causes muscles to spaz uncontrollably and the person often

                      falls unconscious during an episode.  But this is not the only type of epilepsy or seizure.  The

                      following is a list of some of the different types of seizures and a brief description of them:

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           Focal Offset Seizures

                Previously called partial seizures, they are the most common type of seizure which typically last               under two minutes.  There are two types of focal offset seizures:

• Focal Aware Seizures, which the person is fully aware and awake for, but is in a "frozen" state

• Focal Impaired Awareness Seizures, in which people may move their mouth, pick at clothing, preform involuntary actions, scream, cry, laugh or repeat words, and have no memory of the time during or before the seizure. 

 

Tonic Seizures

        Typically only last about 20 seconds and most commonly occurs while the person is sleeping, in a tonic seizure, the person's muscles will stiffen or tense (muscle tone).

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Clonic Seizures

        From the word "clonus" which means the rapid tensing and relaxing of muscles, these

seizures do not usually last longer than a minute.  Clonic seizures cannot be stopped by

someone trying to restrain them and are rare; tonic-clonic are more common.

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Tonic-Clonic Seizures

        Typically lasting 1-3 minutes, these seizures are made up of two parts. 

• The tonic phase: this first part is when the person appears to stiffen up.  In this part, the person may release a cry or groan, loose consciousness, bite their tongue or cheek drawing blood, drool, or appear blue.

• The clonic phase: in the second part, the person will begin to jerk their arms, legs and face quickly

If a tonic-clonic seizure lasts more than 5 minutes it is a medical emergency and you need to call 9-1-1

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    Absence Seizures

            Absence seizures are very short and can often go unnoticed or be mistaken for

    daydreaming.  There are two types of absence seizures:

• Typical Absence Seizure: most common, only lasts about 10 seconds.  The person will suddenly stop all activity and appear to stair at nothing with a blank expression

• Atypical Absence Seizures: These last a little longer, about 20-30 seconds, and involve small muscle movements such as blinking, rubbing fingers together, or chewing

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    Myoclonic Seizures

            Can occur in anyone, even those without epilepsy. These are small muscle jerks or

     twitches which only last a few seconds.  Common examples of a myoclonic seizure is hiccups

     or jerking awake right before you are about to fall asleep.

 

Gelastic and Dacrystic Seizures

        Gelastic seizures are uncontrollable laughter and dacrystic is uncontrollable crying.  They    are also called laughing and crying seizures, respectably.  The corresponding feelings (happiness, fear...) are often experienced during these seizures.

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Febrile Seizures

        These are tonic-clonic seizures experienced by children 3 months to 6 years brought on by a high fever.  Typically this occurs in children who have a family history of febrile seizures.

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For more information on epilepsy and seizures, please check out these resources:

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References

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Epilepsy Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 05, 2017, from http://www.epilepsy.com/ 

 

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