Types Of Seizures
What are the different types of seizures? Seizures are defined as the reaction of the human body when electrical activity on the brain occurs. There are many different ways that the body reacts. Also, there are different electrical activities that happen on the brain. These define the two main types of seizures, generalized and partial.
The generalized types of seizures are the most common kinds of seizures. They are dramatic convulsions and are also called grand-mal seizures. When these types of seizures occur, the person who has it loses consciousness. The person who experiences the seizure usually collapses. This is why a lot of injuries take place when grand mal seizures occur. This includes tongue biting as well as incontinence of the urinary tract.
Absence seizures are the types of seizures that are characterized by a few seconds loss of consciousness. There are no symptoms of this. Children usually experience these types of seizures, which makes them stare blankly for a few seconds. The problem with these types of seizures is that the people who experience them don’t even remember having them. Instead, they get the sense of losing time.
Myoclonic seizures are the types of seizures where a patient experiences sporadic jerks. These are basically electric shocks that are brief. The worst part of these types of seizures is that they can make patients drop or throw objects involuntarily.
Clonic seizures are generalized kinds of seizures where there is a rhythmic and repetitive jerk that is experienced. Tonic seizures, on the other hand, are seizures that are characterized by muscle stiffening. Last of the generalized types of seizures are atonic seizures. These are the seizures that are consisted of either a sudden or a general muscle tone loss. This then leads to falling or collapsing.
The second major kinds of seizures are the partial seizures. As the name implies, these are the types of seizures wherein the person experiencing a less life threatening types as there are only partial occurrences of the seizure itself. Partial seizures are divided into two main types – simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures.
The simple partial seizures happen when the electronic activity in the brain affects the nervous system. They are called partial seizures because the person experiencing it is somehow aware of what is happening. The most common symptoms of the simple partial seizures include stiffening and jerking. Also, there are sensory symptoms that are experienced when this happens. This includes unusual sensations of the sense of touch, vision, hearing, smell, or taste.
The complex partial seizures, on the other hand, are seizures wherein the person experiencing it experience awareness that is impaired. They can seem to be straining into space when these seizures occur. These are mainly because of the involuntary movements of the body that are coordinated such as chewing, lip smacking, and fidgeting.
There is a third kind of impartial seizures. They are the ones that start to inhibit as focal seizures but then evolves into the grand mal seizures. These are the kinds of seizures that are experienced by people with epilepsy, therefore should be consulted to doctors right away.